The HQ 180 is a good band cruser, but I was spoiled with my 51J3 and racal
6217A ... to me it takes alot of skill to design a good analog radio.....no
phase
noise or birdies like a digital radio.......I still like how the HQ 180
light up the room at night....GC



"AComarow" wrote in message
...
George Craig hath opined:

The thing about the HQ 180 I didn't like was the lack of accurate
frequency
read out and the radio woud drift... but it was the technology of the
time.....GC

I don't recall any of the '50s-'60s Hammarlunds as drifty, but then there
are a
lot of things I don't recall from that period. My 145AX, 170A, and 180AX
hardly
drift after warmup.

As for readout, my first ham receiver was a Zenith Transoceanic. Not only
did
it not have a BFO, meaning I had to read CW from the presence or lack of a
carrier, but the whole of the Novice portion of 40M couldn't have been
more
than a quarter-inch wide. The dial pointer took up a fair chunk of that.
The
Hammarlunds of the era felt like they had infinite bandspread by
comparison.
Interpolating to within a few kHz was plenty for me.

Now, of course, digital has spoiled all of us, including me. But when I
get
away from my Grundig Satellit 800 and Sony 7600 and back to my
boatanchors, I
feel like I've gotten home from high school in the afternoon and it's time
for
some serious knob-twiddling.

Cheers,
Avery W3AVE
Potomac, Md.

Kachina 78 wrote:

Leonard, It has many more good points vs. bad points. My favorite feature, is
the Slot Frequency control, which really comes in handy when you encounter the
need to eliminate adjacent or co-channel interference. The receiver has a low
noise floor, and a great noise limiter circuit, to knock out man-made hash. The
smooth bandspread tuning capacitor, is a pleasure to use, and it also helps
when you're trying to pull a weak signal out of the muck. Some may consider
it's size and weight a bad point, but if you have the room and a sturdy bench
in the shack, it's not a problem. Main tuning dial calibration can be a
problem, but the crystal oscillator helps to establish reference points on each
band, so you know what frequency you're tuned into. Some may grow weary of the
need to peak the antenna trimmer for each band, but I've allways liked this
feature in a receiver. My HQ-180 often outperforms my JRC NRD-535D, which sits
next to it, and that says a lot in itself. If you have any questions about the
HQ-180, send me an e-mail, and I'll try to answer them. Good DXing to you, Gary

I've used an HQ-180AC. It's a fun receiver that satisfies the urge to
twiddle knobs but I wouldn't trade a modern receiver like my R8B for the
'180'. A friend has the HQ-145x which is almost a '180'. He uses a
digital frequency display with it that takes all the guess work out of
the tuning.


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I recently bought an HQ 180 and LOVE it. It is soooo quiet , but very
sensitive. Stability is just OK after warmup, but I probably have been spoiled
by PLLs PTOs etc. With the 180 you need to touch up the tuning every 20 min or
so to keep an SSB signal sounding the same. Even when left on for days it
drifts a tiny bit. It is so much fun to use and it takes the chill off a small
room in the winter with those glowing filaments. I have "cheated" and bought a
digital readout kit, but I'll only use it when I cant find what I want using
analog tuning dials. I have always preferred the looks of Hallicrafters (SX 100
especially), but the HQ 180 blows away the Halli performance wise. You can
still find semi-cheap HQ 180s if you look hard. Mine was $150 in great shape
at a local ham swap. If you have room for one, they really make SWLing fun. I
have a DSP Ten Tec 320 but its not nearly as much fun to use as the HQ 180.

It has a product detector and you can select LSB/USB and not have to fiddle with a
BFO.

The HQ-180's are fun to use. I'm thinking of adding a Q-Multiplier and external
digital frequency display to mine for that added extra edge.

Good DX

John Barnard

Leonard Martin wrote:

In article ,
(BOEING377) wrote:

I recently bought an HQ 180 and LOVE it. It is soooo quiet , but very
sensitive. Stability is just OK after warmup, but I probably have been
spoiled
by PLLs PTOs etc. With the 180 you need to touch up the tuning every 20 min
or
so to keep an SSB signal sounding the same. Even when left on for days it
drifts a tiny bit. It is so much fun to use and it takes the chill off a
small
room in the winter with those glowing filaments. I have "cheated" and bought
a
digital readout kit, but I'll only use it when I cant find what I want using
analog tuning dials. I have always preferred the looks of Hallicrafters (SX
100
especially), but the HQ 180 blows away the Halli performance wise. You can
still find semi-cheap HQ 180s if you look hard. Mine was $150 in great shape
at a local ham swap. If you have room for one, they really make SWLing fun. I
have a DSP Ten Tec 320 but its not nearly as much fun to use as the HQ 180.

Here's the BIG question: Does it have a product detector (so you can
tune in a sideband station by just turning a control to upper or lower
sideband), or do you have to jiggle a BFO knob to tune in an SSB signal?

Leonard

--
"Everything that rises must converge"
--Flannery O'Connor