My earliest exposure to the HF bands was listening to a Hammarlund SP-600 when I was in junior high school, so the early 1970’s. My friend’s dad was a ham (Milosh, VE6ANY) and he’d let us tune around the bands. The SP-600 blew me away. I was into electronics and one look at that radio told me that it was really something. And then using it! Even at that young age I could feel the quality in the controls. The flywheel tuning, the butter-smooth gain controls, the precise clicks of the selector switches. And a proper meter!
A few years later in high school I listened to the RCA AR-88LF owned by my friend Grant (now VE6GNH). That was 1976 or 1977. I got the bug and bought a Realistic DX-160B general coverage receiver shortly thereafter. In those days there was a lot of shortwave broadcast stations around the globe and I spent many winter nights listening to them.
The old DX-160B was not great at dealing with SSB but I heard enough amateur radio chatter to pique my interest. I acquired a Heathkit HR-10B shortly thereafter (from the same friend noted above) as my first ham receiver. Then there was another Heathkit, an HR-1680 (yep, from the same friend). A few radios and other bits and pieces went back and forth between us. And, yes, we’re still good friends and still do ham radio stuff together.
My interest, however, has always leaned away from the solid state rigs and towards the vacuum tube radios. Solid state radios are great performers but for me the vacuum tube rigs provide a more pleasurable experience and are more interesting. Flywheel tuning, the smell of warm electronics, the warm glow of the dials. You know what I’m talking about.
As such, I have acquired a few tube receivers and transmitters. They all need some kind of work. All old stuff does, yes? Some require a lot, some only a little. For me, repairing and restoring these old beauties to service is at least as much fun as operating them.
Presently the HF radios in the shack are as follows. In order of acquisition.
Collins 32RA-8 (HF transmitter, CW/AM)
This was the first HF transmitter I ever owned. I bought it for $50 in 1983 or 1984 and while it was complete I couldn’t test that as I did not yet have a license and I didn’t have any crystals for the ham bands either (I still don’t!) But I knew I would have an amateur radio license soon and I knew that I wanted some Collins equipment. So I bought it. I’ve been hauling it around since then and have yet to put it on the air. I will do so one day.
In the intervening years I have done some work to it. At one point I got about 35W out of it into a dummy load. I’ve done some work to the power supply and changed out some weak tubes. I need to go through the modulator and power amp sections next. One doesn’t want to rush into these things.
This behemoth has not yet migrated into the latest incarnation of my ham shack. It’s been residing in our garage since 2002, which is why I don’t have a picture of it. Here’s an ad from QST in 1939:
Kenwood TS-680S (HF/6m transceiver, mostly working)
I got my license in 1985 and so in 1988 or 1989 I acquired a new Kenwood TS-680S. It was technologically far superior to anything I’d owned before and I considered it to be my first “real” radio. I still have it and it has some problems now but nothing I can’t fix.
It’s on the to-do list at present. If it powers on it receives well. It generally doesn’t want to transmit. The problem is the mechanical switches and relays in this unit. And the stinkin’ slider pots. I bought this radio to do 6m as my digital class license gave me privileges from 50 MHz upwards. I was thrilled to have an accurate VFO that told you right where you were and stayed there!
Heathkit HW-7800 (general coverage receiver, works fine)
I built the SW-7800 in 1987 or 1988 to fill the need of an HF receiver for camping. We camped a lot back then and this radio ran on 12VDC (0r 120VAC) and it had a built-in telescopic antenna.
This is not a great radio for weak-signals or for dealing with interference. It’s an average performer. I think it could be improved quite a bit with a little effort. I put it in the class with the DX-160 but with a frequency counter display. The counter tends to lose it’s marbles on the higher frequencies. I made some mods to help that but they were so long ago I can’t recall what I did.
But it could easily receive all the “big” shortwave broadcast stations of the day and the AM bandwidth was wide so it sounded pretty good.
Collins R-390A (general coverage receiver, needs some TLC)
Fast forward to 2022 and I acquired my second Collins radio. I’ve wanted an R-390A for a long time. This one works but does need going through. I haven’t dug into it yet but I suspect it will need a re-capping, some tubes and an alignment.
Collins 75A-4 (HF amateur band receiver)
I acquired this in 2022 and it had already been re-capped and seems to work very well. All the tubes checked good. At some point I will give it an alignment just to make sure everything is peaked and lined up. What a magnificent piece of engineering. There is Collins and there is everyone else.
Hammarlund HQ-129-X (general coverage receiver, all fixed up)
This was acquired in 2022 and it was in excellent physical condition. It worked pretty well, too, which was surprising once I got inside. I bought the HQ-129X because Hammarlund makes really good radios and this was the last of their receivers to use octal tubes, which I have a fondness for.
This radio needed some work, which I have done, and which you can read about in my main section of my blog. It was great fun putting this unit back to working like new and it’s an excellent performer. This thing excels at AM broadcast band DX work!
Johnson Viking Adventurer (HF CW transmitter, all fixed up)
I love the Johnson Viking gear and this one spoke to me. Simple and basic as can be, with one of my favourite tubes, a 807, doing the heavy lifting. I replaced the electrolytic caps in the power supply, changed out a weak tube and it puts out RF.
This is a CW transmitter and my plan is to build a plate modulator for it and one day have it as my AM transmitter.
Johnson Viking VFO (complete but untested)
Because the Viking Adventurer above is crystal controlled I also acquired the Viking VFO for use with it. This unit is complete but untested as of yet. I can’t wait to get to work on it!
Johnson Matchbox (275W antenna tuner)
I acquired this in 2023 and it is in excellent physical condition and it works just as good as it looks. This was one that set the benchmark for all to follow. It does balanced and unbalanced lines, has a robust design both electrically and mechanically. It will definitely handle much more power than it’s rating suggests.
Central Electronics 100V (HF all-mode transmitter)
Now this one is special. I had never heard of Central Electronics before I ran across this radio. There is quite story behind this company. They were a startup that was going to make radios that would top the Collins Radio Company. A tall order to be sure. And I think it is safe to say that in many ways they did.
This transmitter has a whopping 10 emission modes: FSK, CW, PM, AM, USC, LSC, DSB, USB, USB and NULL. Thus far I’ve checked all the tubes and replaced a few, installed a new meter face (thanks to the Central Electronics guru Nick, K5EF).
Yet to be done: replace any bad caps (there are surely some) and do an alignment. These units are challenging to work on so the re-cap job is a big one!
Belka-DX (general coverage HF receiver, SDR)
This is a great radio. You should buy one.
Collins 51S-1 and 555G-1 (general coverage HF receiver and LF/MF preselector/amplifier)
Of my old HF radios I think this is my favorite, for a number of reasons. Esthetics, design, construction, performance and how it feels to use. Tubes are good, caps are original, alignment seems very close to perfect. I will re-cap and align it at some point. It’s whistle-clean inside. And it came with the 55G-1 LF/MF pre-selector! A rare piece and very useful to me as I now have a receiver for the 630m band.
Central Electronics 200V (HF all-mode transmitter)
The 200V followed the 100V with some engineering refinements. I actually prefer the 100V. This unit is in excellent condition. It works but could likely benefit from some new caps and an alignment. The 100V and 200V are complex units that are very vchallenging to work on. This job will likely wait until I am retired.
Ten-Tec Jupiter (HF with DSP IF and built-in antenna tuner)
I’ve always admired Ten-Tec so when one became available locally I picked it up. It is in like-new condition and came with all the goodies: the built-in automatic antenna tuner, the matching speaker and power supply and a Heil Studio One microphone (branded as Ten-Tec).
It’s a joy to use with a quiet receiver and 39 IF bandwidths to choose from! There is an on-screen menu for the less-used functions but it is only one layer deep and that is a treat. Note the vintage Collins directional watt meter atop it. A flea market special that is un-restored and works perfectly.
