I'm thinking more and more about the beautiful vintage tube receivers of the
past.
I love the purposeful look, the glow of the tubes, and, of course, the
performance.
So, I'm looking for suggestions on some of the best tube SW receivers that
are readily available on
E Bay and elsewhere.
Specifically, the Collins's, the Hammarlunds, and the Hallicrafters.(Please
educate me on the other classic makes)
My price limit is $500 give or take.
Oh, and I know nothing about poking around the insides of these things so I
need one in turnkey condition.
Right now, I own an Icom R75 with all the Kiwa mods.
Is it possible that some of the old receivers offer similar performance?
I'm mainly interested in international broadcasts and to a lesser extent,
ham and utility monitoring.
So, start recommending.
Thanks, and I hope this can be a fun topic.
Lenny

Lenny,

7 years ago I got rid of all my newer "state of the art" stuff. You are
right on the mark!---the lowly, maligned tube gear is a lot more fun to use.
What I didn't know until I seriously started using 35 year old receivers was
that performance was JUST AS GOOD as the newer stuff. As I see it, the only
thing you lose is the digital readout of frequency and to anyone who ever
learned how to use a slide rule in 7th grade, THAT should not be an issue.
A few years back, in the IEEE Spectrum Magazine they ran a wonderful
article titled, "Tubes Versus Transistors" in which, from an electrical
engineering standpoint, clinically compared the two. The result? Tubes
provided better audio.
Anyway, there are several receivers I have bought and sold over the
past 40 years. At one time I have just about owned every general coverage
receiver made by Hallicrafters, Hammarlund, Collins, National, RME, newer
companies like Drake and some of the kit companies like Heath, Knight and
Lafayette (although Hallicrafters did produce kits on some of their
products).
The GENERAL COVERAGE receivers that I keep going back to and buying
again a National NC-183 or NC-183D, Hallicrafters SX-42 and any Collins
gear with the model number starting with "51" (51S1, 51J, 51J3). A very
close second place is the Hammarlund HQ-180, HQ-180A or HQ-180AC and
Hallicrafters SX-100.
Obviously these are only my subjective opinions. Good luck!

Smokey

"Lenny" wrote in message
news
I'm thinking more and more about the beautiful vintage tube receivers of
the
past.
I love the purposeful look, the glow of the tubes, and, of course, the
performance.
So, I'm looking for suggestions on some of the best tube SW receivers that
are readily available on
E Bay and elsewhere.
Specifically, the Collins's, the Hammarlunds, and the
Hallicrafters.(Please
educate me on the other classic makes)
My price limit is $500 give or take.
Oh, and I know nothing about poking around the insides of these things so
I
need one in turnkey condition.
Right now, I own an Icom R75 with all the Kiwa mods.
Is it possible that some of the old receivers offer similar performance?
I'm mainly interested in international broadcasts and to a lesser extent,
ham and utility monitoring.
So, start recommending.
Thanks, and I hope this can be a fun topic.
Lenny

P.S.

I have also owned the military R-390/A. While an excellent receiver ,
I found cranking on the heavy tuning dial (which moves a complex Rube
Goldberg mechanical assembly) too cumbersome for serious DXing. It's more of
a "sittin'" receiver and not a "tune-in'" receiver.

Smokey

"Smokey" wrote in message
...
Lenny,

7 years ago I got rid of all my newer "state of the art" stuff. You
are
right on the mark!---the lowly, maligned tube gear is a lot more fun to
use.
What I didn't know until I seriously started using 35 year old receivers
was
that performance was JUST AS GOOD as the newer stuff. As I see it, the
only
thing you lose is the digital readout of frequency and to anyone who ever
learned how to use a slide rule in 7th grade, THAT should not be an issue.
A few years back, in the IEEE Spectrum Magazine they ran a wonderful
article titled, "Tubes Versus Transistors" in which, from an electrical
engineering standpoint, clinically compared the two. The result? Tubes
provided better audio.
Anyway, there are several receivers I have bought and sold over the
past 40 years. At one time I have just about owned every general coverage
receiver made by Hallicrafters, Hammarlund, Collins, National, RME, newer
companies like Drake and some of the kit companies like Heath, Knight and
Lafayette (although Hallicrafters did produce kits on some of their
products).
The GENERAL COVERAGE receivers that I keep going back to and buying
again a National NC-183 or NC-183D, Hallicrafters SX-42 and any Collins
gear with the model number starting with "51" (51S1, 51J, 51J3). A very
close second place is the Hammarlund HQ-180, HQ-180A or HQ-180AC and
Hallicrafters SX-100.
Obviously these are only my subjective opinions. Good luck!

Smokey

"Lenny" wrote in message
news
I'm thinking more and more about the beautiful vintage tube receivers of
the
past.
I love the purposeful look, the glow of the tubes, and, of course, the
performance.
So, I'm looking for suggestions on some of the best tube SW receivers
that
are readily available on
E Bay and elsewhere.
Specifically, the Collins's, the Hammarlunds, and the
Hallicrafters.(Please
educate me on the other classic makes)
My price limit is $500 give or take.
Oh, and I know nothing about poking around the insides of these things
so
I
need one in turnkey condition.
Right now, I own an Icom R75 with all the Kiwa mods.
Is it possible that some of the old receivers offer similar performance?
I'm mainly interested in international broadcasts and to a lesser
extent,
ham and utility monitoring.
So, start recommending.
Thanks, and I hope this can be a fun topic.
Lenny

"Lenny" wrote in message
news
I'm thinking more and more about the beautiful vintage tube receivers of
the past.
I love the purposeful look, the glow of the tubes, and, of course, the
performance.
So, I'm looking for suggestions on some of the best tube SW receivers that
are readily available on
E Bay and elsewhere.
Specifically, the Collins's, the Hammarlunds, and the
Hallicrafters.(Please educate me on the other classic makes)
My price limit is $500 give or take.
Oh, and I know nothing about poking around the insides of these things so
I need one in turnkey condition.
Right now, I own an Icom R75 with all the Kiwa mods.
Is it possible that some of the old receivers offer similar performance?
I'm mainly interested in international broadcasts and to a lesser extent,
ham and utility monitoring.
So, start recommending.
Thanks, and I hope this can be a fun topic.
Lenny


Hi Lenny,
Put the Drake R-4 line on your list ( R-4/R-4B/R-4C). Five nice advantages
of the Drake 4 line over the Hallicrafters and Hammarlund:
1. Calibration/resolution is the same on each band- easy to resolve 1 KHz.
On the Hally and Hammarlund, they have decent enough resolution on the 80
(maybe each 5KHz) , but by the time you get to 15 and 10M, it's a
guesstimate.
2. The ultimate in passband tuning
3. Multiple crystal filter options
4. An optional NB that actually works.
5. They're small compared to many of the true boatanchors
73,

Dale W4OP

Downside is you will have to buy xtals for the SW bands you want to listen
to

Thanks folks.
Keep em coming.
Lenny

"Dale Parfitt" wrote in message
news:2vTtf.7292$7x.3997@trnddc03...

"Lenny" wrote in message
news
I'm thinking more and more about the beautiful vintage tube receivers of
the past.
I love the purposeful look, the glow of the tubes, and, of course, the
performance.
So, I'm looking for suggestions on some of the best tube SW receivers
that are readily available on
E Bay and elsewhere.
Specifically, the Collins's, the Hammarlunds, and the
Hallicrafters.(Please educate me on the other classic makes)
My price limit is $500 give or take.
Oh, and I know nothing about poking around the insides of these things so
I need one in turnkey condition.
Right now, I own an Icom R75 with all the Kiwa mods.
Is it possible that some of the old receivers offer similar performance?
I'm mainly interested in international broadcasts and to a lesser extent,
ham and utility monitoring.
So, start recommending.
Thanks, and I hope this can be a fun topic.
Lenny


Hi Lenny,
Put the Drake R-4 line on your list ( R-4/R-4B/R-4C). Five nice advantages
of the Drake 4 line over the Hallicrafters and Hammarlund:
1. Calibration/resolution is the same on each band- easy to resolve 1 KHz.
On the Hally and Hammarlund, they have decent enough resolution on the 80
(maybe each 5KHz) , but by the time you get to 15 and 10M, it's a
guesstimate.
2. The ultimate in passband tuning
3. Multiple crystal filter options
4. An optional NB that actually works.
5. They're small compared to many of the true boatanchors
73,

Dale W4OP

Downside is you will have to buy xtals for the SW bands you want to listen
to

Dale Parfitt wrote:

"Lenny" wrote in message
news
I'm thinking more and more about the beautiful vintage tube receivers of
the past.
I love the purposeful look, the glow of the tubes, and, of course, the
performance.
So, I'm looking for suggestions on some of the best tube SW receivers that
are readily available on
E Bay and elsewhere.
Specifically, the Collins's, the Hammarlunds, and the
Hallicrafters.(Please educate me on the other classic makes)
My price limit is $500 give or take.
Oh, and I know nothing about poking around the insides of these things so
I need one in turnkey condition.
Right now, I own an Icom R75 with all the Kiwa mods.
Is it possible that some of the old receivers offer similar performance?
I'm mainly interested in international broadcasts and to a lesser extent,
ham and utility monitoring.
So, start recommending.
Thanks, and I hope this can be a fun topic.
Lenny


Hi Lenny,
Put the Drake R-4 line on your list ( R-4/R-4B/R-4C). Five nice advantages
of the Drake 4 line over the Hallicrafters and Hammarlund:
1. Calibration/resolution is the same on each band- easy to resolve 1 KHz.
On the Hally and Hammarlund, they have decent enough resolution on the 80
(maybe each 5KHz) , but by the time you get to 15 and 10M, it's a
guesstimate.
2. The ultimate in passband tuning
3. Multiple crystal filter options
4. An optional NB that actually works.
5. They're small compared to many of the true boatanchors
73,

Dale W4OP

Downside is you will have to buy xtals for the SW bands you want to listen
to

I really wouldn't recommend the R-4C for SWBC use, the R-4B would be the
preferred of the three. And, the R-4 and R-4B DO NOT have a choice in crystal
filter options, also, the noise blanker is standard in the R-4 and R4-B.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

Dear Lenny,

This is indeed a "fun" topic and I find all the comments posted thus
far to be very interesting and enjoyable to read.

Therefore, I hope that you and everyone ese here, will take my comments
in the spirit in which they're meant.

Back when I was in high school (three weeks after they had invented
fire!?!) there were several of us who got involved in shortwave
listening. One fellow had a National SW-54 (as I remember), another had
a Hammarlund HQ-100, another had a Blaupunkt, another had a Grundig,
one particularly wealthy fellow had a Zenith Trans-Oceanic (a tube
model), and I, being the "poorest," had an old Philco console. (But I
had the best antenna and ground!)

Later, after high school, I was able to save up enough money to buy a
Lafayette HE-10, a Lafayette HE-11 speaker, and a pair of Clevite Brush
BA-200 headphones. Total price was $102.60 (and NO sales tax at the
time!). I still have them all and they are still in superb condition -
they work as well as they did when new. (I had the receiver last
aligned and tested about fifteen years ago. The technician stated at
the time that, while he made some adjustments, they were all very minor
and the internals were really in very fine shape.)

I used that set as my main receiver up until 2000 when I got a Grundig
Satellit 800. In 2004 I purchased my AOR AR7030 Plus, which was
customized by the factory.

I have to tell you that, though I still "trot out" the Lafayette once
or twice a year (for old-times' sake) and though I never had a great
deal of experience with most of the better tube shortwave sets (I did
have an acquaintance later on who owned a Hammarlund HQ-180A which I
listened to quite a bit until he moved away), there is ABSOLUTELY NO
WAY I would ever go back to those tube sets for daily use.

For collection purposes, for impressive "looks," and for "cachet," they
can't be beat. But NONE of them can even approach the performance of my
AR7030 Plus and that includes sound quality. I run my AOR through my
Hafler DH-101 Preamplifier and my Hafler DH-200 Power Amplifier into my
Klipschorn speakers and, as the man said, "you ain't heard nothing
yet!"

Even with my cheap ($29.95) Radio Shack RCA-labeled external speaker,
which I use when listening to news or talk programs, the sound is far
better and far more intelligible than that of my Lafayette or any other
tube radio I have ever heard.

I hate to "bust" anybody's bubble, and please note that I have the
greatest respect for others' serious opinions which may differ from
mine, but it is my firm opinion that today's shortwave receivers are
far, far better than anything I could have bought, regardless of price,
back in 1958.

They're far more reliable too. You younger guys can't remember a time
when the radio/tv repairman was like a member of the family. He came to
your house more often than your favorite uncle!

I often wish that I could have a "time machine" and take one of today's
radios back to that young kid who was just starting out in shortwave
back in 1958. He'd have been absolutely astounded!

But I do agree with those who state that those radios looked better
than today's and their tuning knobs, heavily fly-weighted, were far
more pleasurable to use than todays "lightweights."

However, nostalgia aside, they just don't perform like today's!

Best,

Joe (Opinionated but Lovable)

On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 20:23:37 -0500, "Lenny"
wrote:

I'm thinking more and more about the beautiful vintage tube receivers of the
past.
I love the purposeful look, the glow of the tubes, and, of course, the
performance.
So, I'm looking for suggestions on some of the best tube SW receivers that
are readily available on
E Bay and elsewhere.
Specifically, the Collins's, the Hammarlunds, and the Hallicrafters.(Please
educate me on the other classic makes)
My price limit is $500 give or take.
Oh, and I know nothing about poking around the insides of these things so I
need one in turnkey condition.
Right now, I own an Icom R75 with all the Kiwa mods.
Is it possible that some of the old receivers offer similar performance?
I'm mainly interested in international broadcasts and to a lesser extent,
ham and utility monitoring.
So, start recommending.
Thanks, and I hope this can be a fun topic.
Lenny



Scott made the best looking radios ever, IMHO.

http://antiqueradio.org/scot03.htm

Like that guy once told Mr.Packard,,, If you want a better
Automobile,build it yourself,and Mr.Packard did.Packard,Peerless,and
Pierce Arrow Automobiles.But,Mr.Henry Ford put the World on Wheels.
cuhulin

Seems to me that was a Scott radio my older brother brought home in
1948.
cuhulin