BubbaBob wrote:

Jim wrote:

On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 17:22:03 GMT, David
wrote:

Unless you are a truly hard-core DXer with tube electronics
maintenance skills and equipment, you are asking for trouble.

The things are difficult to tune, require annual tweaks, use
parts no longer made, burn copious amounts of electricity and
will ruin any piece of furniture you put them on top of.

Amen to all of that. I used to have both (390 and 390A). They
are a perfect example of Rube Goldberg-ish design, the reception
is nothing spectacular and the audio quality is mediocre at
best.

I bought them just so I could say I had owned them, and sold
them both after about 6 months. This was about 15 years ago.
Every "radio owner/collector" should own one or the other at
some point, just to see one in action. They are marvels of
mechanical complexity, but no match for even a $150 portable.
My Radio Shack DX-440 is a better radio.

Jim




I used to repair R-392's when I was in the Army. If one is set up
properly, its performance is astounding. However, I've never seen one
in civilian life that was properly maintained (other than my own and
the ones I set up for friends). The 392 and its sister R-390's are
high maintainence items and almost no one takes the time or has the
knowledge and technique to make them sing.

What's the best source of information on getting the most out of these
receivers?


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

starman wrote:
What's the best source of information on getting the most out of these
receivers?

A good place is the *second* link at the following URL. (The first link,
Al's page, is also good. Lots of good links on both.)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...A+OR+%22R-390A
22%29&btnG=Google+Search

(If your mail reader splits the link into two lines, it may be necessary to
cut and paste.)

--
John Miller
Email address: domain, n4vu.com; username, jsm

I'd love to kiss you, but I just washed my hair.
-Bette Davis, "Cabin in the Cotton"

My Radio Shack DX-440 is a better radio.

Whaaa ?.... while an R-390A isn't for the "electronically challenged" it is
far from a maintenance problem once properly aligned. A healthy, properly
aligned R-390A should have sensitivity at 4 KHz of under .5 microvolts in
AM.... and they are remarkably stable. My R-390A is still in perfect tune
and it's been up and running 24/7 (except during storms) for 2 years now.
The R-390 series is NOT a difficult radio to work on... especially compared
to some solid state radios of late with their surface mount components.

What's the best source of information on getting the most out of these

First, there are a few R-390/R-390A gurus out there.

The "Grand Master" Rick Mish (Toledo,OH) http://www.dxing.com/r390/mish.htm

Chuck Ripple (Myock, NC) http://www.r390a.com

Walter Wilson (Augusta,GA) http://r-390a.us/

Excellent info available here too:
http://r-390a.net/
http://www.r-390a.net/Pearls/

The R-390 / R-390A receivers are arguablly one of the finest HF receivers
ever built. I have used them both as a hobbiest and professional.... along
with Racal, Harris, Watkins-Johnson, Cubic and other receivers. The
military went so far as to call several hundred out of mothballs in 1991/92
for use. What other military receiver can you name that has been
manufactured from 1951 through 1986 ? BTW.... check out the links on my web
page to my R-390A listening post..... "X2" all the way baby !

Mike
--
Michael Melland, W9WIS
Winneconne, WI USA
http://webpages.charter.net/w9wis

Michael Melland wrote in message
...
My Radio Shack DX-440 is a better radio.

Whaaa ?.... while an R-390A isn't for the "electronically challenged" it
is
far from a maintenance problem once properly aligned. A healthy, properly
aligned R-390A should have sensitivity at 4 KHz of under .5 microvolts in
AM.... and they are remarkably stable. My R-390A is still in perfect tune
and it's been up and running 24/7 (except during storms) for 2 years now.
The R-390 series is NOT a difficult radio to work on... especially
compared
to some solid state radios of late with their surface mount components.

What's the best source of information on getting the most out of these

First, there are a few R-390/R-390A gurus out there.

The "Grand Master" Rick Mish (Toledo,OH)
http://www.dxing.com/r390/mish.htm

Chuck Ripple (Myock, NC) http://www.r390a.com

Walter Wilson (Augusta,GA) http://r-390a.us/

Excellent info available here too:
http://r-390a.net/
http://www.r-390a.net/Pearls/

The R-390 / R-390A receivers are arguablly one of the finest HF receivers
ever built. I have used them both as a hobbiest and professional....
along
with Racal, Harris, Watkins-Johnson, Cubic and other receivers. The
military went so far as to call several hundred out of mothballs in
1991/92
for use. What other military receiver can you name that has been
manufactured from 1951 through 1986 ? BTW.... check out the links on my
web
page to my R-390A listening post..... "X2" all the way baby !

Mike
--
Michael Melland, W9WIS
Winneconne, WI USA
http://webpages.charter.net/w9wis

SO... now I have to ask... again...

Was it five years back that there was a big flap at the Pentagon?

Some hams raised a big noise about all those 390's, 390a's and assorted
Collins gear that was being destroyed---even had photographs on the web of
hundreds of those rigs strapped together on pallets in the salvage yards
waiting to be crushed. Some fellow, Top Brass, was also a ham and said that
gear was going to turned over to the ham community instead of being
destroyed. What happened to all that stuff? I have yet to see it on the
shelves of surplus dealers.

Maybe it made it's way to Russia or China perhaps.

RG

RadioGuy wrote:
SO... now I have to ask... again...

Was it five years back that there was a big flap at the Pentagon?

Some hams raised a big noise about all those 390's, 390a's and assorted
Collins gear that was being destroyed---even had photographs on the web of
hundreds of those rigs strapped together on pallets in the salvage yards
waiting to be crushed. Some fellow, Top Brass, was also a ham and said
that gear was going to turned over to the ham community instead of being
destroyed. What happened to all that stuff? I have yet to see it on the
shelves of surplus dealers.

Maybe it made it's way to Russia or China perhaps.

Naah...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...-1&safe=off&q=
28R390A+OR+%22R-390A%22%29+%22fair+radio%22&btnG=Google+Search

--
John Miller
Email address: domain, n4vu.com; username, jsm

A memorandum is written not to inform the reader, but to protect the writer.
-Dean Acheson

That was the St Julian's Creek Massacre.

Many of the radios ended up at Fair Radio. They were distinguishable by a
broad blue paint stripe down the front.... and lots of sand and debris
inside from being stored outside in a heap for over a year.

Mike, W9WIS

"Michael Melland" wrote in message
...
That was the St Julian's Creek Massacre.

Many of the radios ended up at Fair Radio. They were distinguishable
by a
broad blue paint stripe down the front.... and lots of sand and debris
inside from being stored outside in a heap for over a year.

Mike, W9WIS



Here's the pictu

http://www.r390a.com/html/radio_rape.html

Frank Dresser

J999w wrote:

They can be shipped by truck. Nothing else like having a semi-truck pull up in
front of the house and knowing your new receiver has arrived !

jw
wb9uai

It's also possible to ship it by bus, like Trailways. This is one of the
safest ways to ship heavy/fragile equipment.


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

Thanks, Frank, for the link. Sad.

The R390A/URR Ultimate Performance, General Coverage AM & CW Receiver

It works fine for SSB, too. In 1960, during a sea trial on the USS Little Rock
as a Philco Tech Rep, I used one to run phone patches. The rig was a 1500 watt
TMC vfo phasing rig. (It had an 8 Hz frequency variation due to the vibration
on the variable capacitor caused by a bent propeller shaft. LOL)

I had such great luck with the stock R390A (in the main transmitter room) and
the Navy guys in Radio Central were having so much trouble with the TMC ssb
adapters they had down there, they started using the 390's without the adapters
as I suggested. G

Bill, K5BY

"WShoots1" wrote in message
...
Thanks, Frank, for the link. Sad.



I suppose that's how the government treats much of it's oblselete
surplus. Not as something which will be useful and valueable to someone
else, but as scrap. Anyway, the picture was taken years ago, and it
seems Fair Radio ended up with many of these radios.

I was seriously considering getting a R-390 a few years ago. I have
some test equipment, and the servicing documentation is excellent. I
figured I could get it going very nicely. I didn't. Hobby money's a
little tight now, and I really don't have the space. Oh, well.

Other radios are more practical, but few are so cool.

Frank Dresser