As SWL Boys and Girls, we all had dreams of saving up and finally getting that perfect radio. What was your Dream Receiver? You might want to sit down for this, if you were one of those excited shortwave listeners.
When I was 12 or 13 in 1962 I helped my next-door neighbor, who had a TV repair shop in his garage. I cleaned cabinets, vaccumed out inside chassis, tested tubes, swept the floor, etc. I did it just for fun because I found radio fascinating. After helping him on and off for a month or so he gave me a used Hallicrafters SX-25 that he got on a trade-in on a new TV. It weighed almost as much as I did. I took it home in my little sister's wagon. I was so elated I thought I'd explode. A 12 tube Hallicrafters shortwave for a poor, rural 12 year-old kid! I cut down and trimmed the limbs from 3 young trees from the woods and dragged them up to the house, dug some holes, and put a north/south and an east/west wire antenna up at 15 feet all the way from the edge of the yard to my bedroom, about 100 feet. From my home in rural Michigan I quite literally heard the world on that rig. The BBC, Radio Moscow, Radio Peking, South America, the Canary Islands, everywhere. I heard a ham in Aachen, Germany who was running a 40 mW 2 transistor AM transmitter. I listened to the SX-25 every single night until I graduated from HS and left for college, selling it for what I could get to add to my tuition money. Now I listen to AM or SW on an old Hammarlund HQ-150. But the bands are no longer the treasure trove of interesting stations they once were to a 12 to 17 year old kid back in the 1960's. I don't think I ever even mentioned my shortwave to the other kids at school. They were all interested in football and hunting. But I'll never forget when I was on top of the world with a battleship gray Hallicrafters SX-25 in my little sister's American-Flyer wagon, pulling it home down a country road.
@JOHN WEST you & i are same age. My story is very similar. Served my apprenticeship also in a radio-tv repair shop. Now im VA3ROD for 29yr. Just getting back into the hobby after 7yr hiatus, im 75yo now
I was born in '49, so I'm near in age to you and Rod. In 1969 I picked up an unbranded red and white plastic SW radio I got cheap in a pawn shop which was next to useless, but it intrigued me Soon after I got a Sears radio at a clearance center which looked much like the S120 Classic shown in the video. Then on to a DX160, Yaesu FRG 7, and to aYaesu FRG7700 which I am still using. I miss the old days of SW with the whole world beaming through, the tropical bands that would come in at nightfall with Radio Rumbos, Ecos Del Torbes etc and as night advanced the African regionals would push through. And of course RN Happy Station and all the Soviet Republics bad mouthing Nixon. Sometimes only VOA, RHC , HCJB, BBC and Deutsche Welle would be there, other nights the whole world!
I spent a lot of my youth listening to SW and it's nearly all gone by now. Maybe Russia's attack on Ukraine will bring some back. It was certainly a better age for radio content all around.
My dad built me the Heathkit GR-91. As a recall, it required a long antenna to be effective. We had a flat roof, so he strung a wire between two pieces of wood and nailed them to either side of the house at about two feet above roof line. Another wire was connected to the “antenna “ which hung down the side of the house into my bedroom window where it was connected to the radio. Spent many hours listening to the BBC and English language broadcasts from eastern bloc countries and Radio Moscow. Every once and awhile the radio would give out a long honking sound but a good slap to the side fixed it. My Dad never figured out what caused it.
Could be feedback from the "microphone effect", probably a loose pin on one of the tube sockets, the speaker vibrates it and it starts a feedback at the resonant frequency of the chassis /speaker. Percussive maintenance actually works for problems like that.
@@projectartichoke I had an old valve radio years ago I cant even remember what it was it was found at the tip, it worked but every so often it would make this screeching sound and stop. I used to listen to short wave on that and it would on some parts of the dial interfere with the TV set in the lounge room and make the picture go all funny.
I remember getting into really big trouble in the mid 70's when my parents figured I had strung a longwire from our electric mast to a hook that I had anchored by tapping into the masonry of the brick on our chimney. I was about 12 at the time and I knew the answer would be no, so I waited until they had gone grocery shopping before I sprung into action with a ladder, drill, masonry bit, and about 50 feet of extension cord. I got busted by the neighbor who asked my dad what I was doing alone up on the roof drilling into the house.
Back in 1965, I built a Knight-Kit Star Roamer. That little radio gave me years of listening enjoyment and I still have it to this day. I gave it a well deserved restoration a few years back and it now sits proudly within my vintage radio collection.
Here in the UK my first 'serious' receiver was the Codar CR70A. I bought it used from Derwent Radio our local amateur radio shop owned by Des Wood G3HKO. As a 14 year old school kid in 1971 I was working on Saturdays in a barbers shop sweeping up and generally keeping things tidy getting paid £1. The receiver cost £19 and Des very kindly agreed for me to pay him weekly. I had great fun with that set and so did my Dad! He was an ex Navy radio man and could stiil copy CW and one day about 18 months later he came home with a Trio 9R59DS. I was in heaven!
Wow, I mowed lawns and did odd jobs around my neighborhood to buy that Knight Kit Star Roamer radio. Spent many hours listening to that radio. Most kids today won't get off the couch and work for anything. They just expect it to be given to them.
I’m 76 years old . Obtained my novice ticket in 1958. My first receiver was a BC348 army surplus receiver. I built a 15 watt Ameco kit transmitter with a 6L6 oscillator. ...plug in crystal 40 meters . I remember erecting a dipole over the garage. Big fun for a shy and awkward kid.
Now you are talking! Made the mistake of bringing a girl into my ham shack at 16. This would scare many, but she was a music nut and played viola obsessively, so we remain friends to this day. Its OK to be an obsessed nerd I guess!
8:54 Yeah! The Heathkit GR-64! This radio was a gift to my Dad in the mid-60s from a close friend, a priest who was an avid shortwave enthusiast. For years it was our living room radio and for fun we kids would attach a long wire to the antenna terminals and see what we could pick up. It ended up in my hands and a few years ago and I had it repaired as a gift for my older brother. Happy memories!
Yup I still listen to the one I built when I was 14 in 1964. I have a number of these older Hallicrafter and Hammarlund receivers but the old GR-64 still has a place on the shelf.
My Dad, a former Navy radar tech in WWII, got me a GR-64 for Christmas in '67 when I first got interested in shortwave and a couple years before I got my Novice ticket. Had great fun, and made my first QSO with it on 80 Meters. My older son now has it and maybe someday he'll pass it on, too. Great memories indeed!
Well done presentation! In the late fifties at age 15 I talked my Dad into a "father-son" hobby and upon being licensed started with a borrowed, single tube, 25 watt CW transmitter which was tuned with a small bulb on a loop of wire held over the coil feeding into a long wire antenna and listening with borrowed receivers until we found an used SX99 to buy. We skipped the AM equipment in favor of the new SSB revolution when we upgraded to General and in the late 1950's acquired an SX101 and HT32 driving a homebrew 300 watt grounded grid 6146's that my Dad (by then K5JWY) built. One night when I was operating about 2am I kept feeling an eerie glow behind me when I was transmitting but nothing when I turned around. Finally, I turned while talking and found I was lighting up a light in the hallway 20 feet away the RF was so strong from the amp, which had a front panel but no cabinet. Now, at 79 years old, I apparently suffered no ill effects but I will bet the neighbors TV's suffered but we never heard from them if so. Paul K5KMX
OMG Paul I forgot when I got my first ARC-5 transmitter loaded and caused my fathers paper reading light downstairs to turn from on to BRIGHTLY ON as I keyed causing a yell!
Brings Back Memories ! I recall the Wonderful Kits from Allied Radio, Yes you had to put it together, But that's How we learned about Electronics, and Soldering, Etc.--- HeThkit was good as well----As kids, we would collect deposit bottles, Cut Grass, Shovel Snow in winter, Whatever--- We didn't get these Big Allowences like kids nowadays---
My Dad built the Knight Kit Star Roamer. I started using it in 1965. I used a wire out my bedroom window. Got me started! I still have a number of QSL cards I received at that time.
Radio, The coziness you felt at home among the family and listening to the waves coming from kilometres away some times from the other side of the world, Wow,The new years gifts, the smell , the mysteries and magic that is happening before your eyes in your hand , The snow gathered outside your window and you see it reflected through the street lamp and the love you felt by combining all of these... You are someone with very active and beautiful inner child and you are bringing it up making it alive in other people who understand it on this planet. I live in Iran and yet I feel so close to you. Thank you. EP2ADC
@@MIKROWAVE1 Your reply made me very happy. Please bring us more of this honest lovely vision of yours. Wish you and your family health and Happiness for years to come MICROEAVE1 ( searched for your name couldn't"t find it !🙃). Ali Dabiri EP2ADC P.S. I will post some Radio question later if you don't Mind. And I will be happy to send you Pics of some of the radios I have built.
My first shortwave receiver was homebrew, from a Practical Wireless article. The single transistor took all my pocket money! It was also an effective top-band transmitter! Still have a working CR70A!
Just came across your video on receiver kits. As a kid I dreamed and drooled over the Knightkit Star Roamer. Years later I found one on eBay and it now sits proudly on my bench in the shack.
Ahhh, the flashbacks! That Sears shortwave (Unelco 1914) was my first shortwave radio in 1970. I delivered many newspapers to buy a used National 60 special! It has a BFO and I was in heaven. I added a Hallicrafters S-40B shortly after, which was gifted to me by a local ham.
I had one of those Halicrafter just recently gave it away to Radio Museum in Dulwich south London and ours was used as domestic radio until the 1979s my father disposed of it , it came back into my possession 2 years ago , it surfaced in local tv shop ,that was closing down, almost ended in the skip! I am Using SDR Radio now but the bands are much quieter these days, all those places around the world marked on the Dial Hilversum Lisbon dare I say Moscow! Great days, long gone it seems.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I recall all of these radios and their cousins. I lived in the Allied Radio catalog in the late 1950's going over all the ones they sold. For Christmas 1960 I received a hallicrafters S38-E, a silver one. That really opened up the world of radio for me. Lots of AM still on the ham bands in those days. Got a kick out of Radio Moscow as it had the most incredible signal strength of all the shortwave stations and their audio had Wow factor. Speaking of Lafayette Radio. They had a store near me on Rt 17 in Paramus, NJ. They had a dedicated ham radio room as soon as one walked in the door. Spent lots of visits there. Back in those days, even Parts Unlimited, a local electronics supplier with multiple locations, carried a few ham radio lines. Over the years I have had countless receivers of all types, from furniture to desktops to mobiles. My first major ham receiver was the hallicrafters SX 101a that I purchased off a one armed ham at the West Paterson, NJ hamfest in '71 for a hundred bucks. It weighed a ton. Had it for many years. Getting older has by necessity required me to have lighter radios, Hi Hi. I have the latest radios that weigh around 10 pounds and that is heavy enough. I also have an SDR Uno RSP 1a and I can take it anywhere with my laptop and a cheap MLA 30 loop antenna. I tell my friends I no longer listen to radio. I watch it instead. Thank you for this great video.
Hi Mike, relly enjoyed this one so thanks. In my younger day a lot of these Radios were not available here in Australia and required importing. However we did have Tandy Electronics outlet's everywhere, so many DX-150's and more DX-160's made their way into our bedrooms. I always fancied the Racal RA-17 (Wadley Loop) and you flashed one up with that amusing "not on your life mate" comment. LOL..
My older brother had the Heathkit Mohican GC-1A. It was a really nice radio, both main and bandspread tuning had a flywheel, making tuning a real pleasure. Thanks for showing a great selection of early radios.
Wow, a great trip down memory lane! I collect vintage radios and have or have had many of the radios mentioned, including S-120, S-38, Star Roamer, Span Master, NC-60, SW-54, SX-122, HQ-170/180, etc. My first shortwave radio was a Span Master built a very young me! Thanks for the great vid!! 73 ES GUD DX DE K0CRX/WPE0CFK
I still have all of my Knight Kit radios and manuals, plus the complete Heath SB line ham station. What memories. And yes, I worked hard at my paper route to save money so my parents could place my order with Allied Radio.
I had it soooo good in the 70's. I went from the Sears Plug-In Coil unit, to a Halicrafters S-40B in the 60's. Then got ridiculously lucky when I was offered a Collins R-388 for $150. Finally sold it on ebay around 2005. Should have kept it. What an incredible receiver.
Thet Elenco Sears radio was also a Christmas present. 5 transistors! And plugin coils? Great radio. The 388 is a classic boatanchor. I eventually got a 51-J3 which is the commercial version. I too was not using it andsold it off. But I have no regrets. You can always find one again, if you really want one.
Thanks for hitting the nail on the head for me. I'm from the same era and dreamed many dreams of shortwave receivers. Loved your video. One of the best for me!
While my shortwave receiver isn’t anything from the 60’s or 70’s, I love my Tecsun PL-880. Taking it out to my patio and tuning around the bands never get old!
You struck so many chords with me that I guess we are pretty well contemporary. Here in the UK as a lad in my early teens I used to drool over the ads in "Practical Wireless" and "Short Wave Magazine", and once I was able to procure some second-hand back issues of "QST" I became familiar with the US market. Happy days! However what really thrilled me is that you (one of my favourite RU-vid channels) have used one of my photos - the Codar CR70A - this was a photo I took in my loft back in 2009 not long after I had acquired the set from eBay. This was always on my "teenage bucket list", but in the intervening years my expectations had moved on somewhat, and I remember being "underwhelmed" by its performance once I eventually owned one! Having said that, wasn't outrageously expensive even when new, though its performance in the advertisements of the time was somewhat hyped up. It is a very stylish set, and still is, in my opinion. I still have the radio, and it still works (I subsequently had to replace a cracked cathode resistor which had probably been mechanically overstressed since the radio was first manufactured), and it gets wheeled out occasionally to warm the shack a little! Some of these shenanigans are documented on my FlickR site. 73 Martin, G4FUI
I had forgotten about my old DX-150 receiver until I saw the pictures. Thanks for bringing it back to life. I had a college roommate with some old funky Lafeyette receiver, who only used a coiled up bundle of old wire for an antenna that got so many more stations than my DX-150, even with my fancy antenna. For a while we had strung up a 150 foot antenna between dorm towers up, 150 feet above ground level. What an experience that was! But it didn't last for long - some bad weather soon cut it down and we were afraid to restring it between two towers at Iowa State University. Those were the days!
loved this video ! It really took me back . I enjoy older radio so much . I had a Heathkit Mohican and at night I would turn off the lights anb let the dial light be my only light . it was a great way to DX. Thanks for the video .
The 1970s and early 1980s C band analog satellite dish those big 12-footers, back when there was no scrambling were absolutely incredible and I had a c/ku band dish and different analog and digital receivers right up until 2015 when I moved They were amazing
I started SWL in 1971 with a domestic Ekco Receiver of 1950's vintage that covered 16M - 49M. Finally bought a Realistic DX150 Comms Receiver in around 1978. I still have both
When I was living and working in the Middle East in the 1970s the shortwave radio kept me in touch with the English speaking world. It was a Grundig. Still got it. It sits in the garage permanently tuned to Classic FM. It was always interesting to tune into the many stations available at that time now superseded by the internet. I've not listened to SW for years. Perhaps I should rig up an antenna and see what I can find.
I started listening to radio as a young lad here in the UK during the mid 70s, casually tuning around the SW bands listening to AM broadcast stations on a Cossor tube radio. I knew nothing about Ham radio until my dad bought me a Heathkit HR-10B to build and so followed a steep learning curve in trying to get it to work, which I did suprisingly. Then after a few years of listening, my second receiver was the Trio 9R59DS, which as I remember was a cracking looker with a large S meter. The VFO drifted a bit as did the HR-10B, but that was OK, because readjustment of the VFO was what you did as an SWL as you filled in the log book. I heard many interesting stations as well as Hams in all those years, number stations, UK/US aeronautical, ships, coastguard, trawlers and pirate radio were just a few. Those early halcyon SWL years were quite incredible looking back. Great video, really brought back some happy memories for me.
@@MIKROWAVE1 Yes the Trio 9R was a popular budget SWL receiver, it was advertised in all the radio magazines and sold well in the UK. That says a lot for the Japanese marketing approach of the 70s. It has quite a sensitive receiver, but leaves a lot to be desired regarding VFO stability, especially on the Ham bands. The electrical bandspread is a good feature, enabling ease of tuning over the main tuning dial. If I'd had the choice in the 70s, between the more expensive Trio JR310 with improved SSB IF mechanical filtering, it would have been that one instead. The Trio JR599 was another good receiver of that time. My favourite tube receiver though and still is, has to the Yaesu FRdx400. I had the chance once, to play with a Hallicrafters S20R at a friends shack. It was the only Hallicrafters I listened to as an SWL, looks a very nice looking receiver with it's low key illuminated tuning dial and S meter. As I remember, it's higher tuning range extended into the old 40Mhz European TV band.
When I turned 10 years old, in 1978, my dad came home with a Trio 9r59de. I've been hooked ever since!! I find those radios more fun, because you have to work at it!! In fact I just jumped off listening with a Realistic DX 200, my cylinder dials are always spot on, and the 500hz calibration was ahead of its time.
Thank you so very much. I remember for myself in about 1967 or so I was super excited about am radio and long range of radio stations like WBAP and KBOX and KLIF that could be heard from 100 to 700 miles away at night..... Just a short while I because aware of building a basic a. Radio sit and afterwards I found the golden cow Short Wave Radio from Sears and Roebuck and Radio Shack. And pretty quickly my allowance lost change I found in the counch and odd jobs for neighbors and mowing yards....I had my fist SWR from Sears with 6 bands ..... Then I got a big SWR upgrade from Radio Shack..... And by 73 I was onto CB Radio and shortly wave alike....then my grandfather who was a lifetime trucker introduced me to single side band ...upper and lower..... Then I became a cop and learned about Motorola Commercial Radios and Towers.... I still have everything except for my old SWR sets.....I somehow lost them during a move or it was taken away by some good friend 🙃 ha ha.... I plan to get the very best Multi Band SWR receiver.... And antenna...soon now that I am Retired ... What would you recommend. ???
I say get one like you had and loved and get back to it. Then an sdr receiver. As you begin your hobby again and read on the internet you can decide what might be best for you both in features and capabilities plus what you like aesthetically and utility. Good luck and enjoy your retirement!
@@johnnytacokleinschmidt515I wonder if you have any idea of what would be the best type radio that has the most bands ..like cb, upper and lower SSB The full short wave spectrum??? I want to get a transceiver unit. Also what License is needed from FCC ?? If you know great. If not ok. Be safe..... BTW did you know my old French Art Bell from Pahrump, Nevada I knew him personally, but he passed a few years back... RIP Brother Art Bell
@@DCJNewsMedia It's backwards, but get an SDR Software Defined Radio dongle or a stand-alone. That will give you much to study and try as there are different modes and bandwidths all selectable in software i.e a click of the mouse. Some do not go below 30 MHz so you'll have to check the spec's. Then you can narrow your search after you decide which bands and modes you want to work on. As for license try to find a ham club in your area. They can walk you through the procedure. I do not have a license myself. I should have done it when I was a kid.
I bought a Lafayette AM and SW communications grade receiver in 1965 at age 15. I think it cost around $50, which was a lot then for a teenager. Metal case and vacuum tubes. Uses external speaker and antenna. I still have it in storage if anyone is interested in it.
Thanks for the fond memories!! I had built a Knight Kit Star-Roamer & the a Heathkit GR-64 as a kid. My dad & I had many fun nights listening to these radios. Thanks for making such a fine video.
I was a swl before my first ham ticket in 1967. Went from a home brew regen set to the slick looking but pretty poor performing (on cw anyway) Hallicrafters S-120. With this, I made my first ham QSO's on 40 meters. I talked my dad in to going half and half on a new Heath SB-301 kit, including the accessory CW filter. I used the Heath SB series 301/401/220 for many years. Decades later I rekindled my interest in Boatanchors, aka old tube radios, and was prone to raiding every hamfest within 3 hours of central Illinois. Fun to restore, use, and eventually just sit on shelves in a climate controlled storage building. I was adverse to shipping anything that weighted more than 20 lbs.
The S-120 really defines the era. I love the feel and compactness. But Hallicrafters stuck with that horrible IF Feedback BFO idea way too long. It was cute, but did not ever work properly.
I started as a ham in 1967, age 14 and I remember many of these radios. My brother built the Heathkit AR-3 and Q multiplier that you show in the video. My first station was the Knight R55-A receiver and T-60 transmitter. I have a Realistic DX-160 which I plan to give to my grandson, and I have a GPR-90 in the basement. Thanks for the video!
I have to reply to your parallel experience. I, too, bought a R55-A and T-60 with my paper route money when I was 14 in 1965. I had a lot of trouble getting the right combination of tuners on the transmitter, resulting in harmonics that brought warnings in the mail from the FCC (not to mention low power output). I also hated those kits that initially didn't work after all the soldering due to one unknown mistake. If I remember the R-55A didn't have a BFO, so I used the transmitter as a substitute. Strange. WA3AKJ
When I was about 14 my piano teachers’ husband had an SX-99. Loved the look of it. Finally ended up with two 99s, two 51J 3s , a 100, a 170 and a 180. Took me a while, but finally was able to get an AR-88. I can heat the house with them;-))
My first boat anchor was a National NC-183D that I bought at a yard sale. That beauty may be long gone but I still have my Telefunken Princess 5374MX that I warm up from time to time...
Interesting stuff. My father bought a Hallicrafters S-76 with an R-46 speaker back in the 1950's. I was about 8 and my brother about 15. This was a spectacularly expensive purchase as we just didn't have that sort of disposable income (couldn't afford a car, lived in a small apartment, etc.). Maybe he bought it on time payments. I remember they had ads at the time targeted to the general public, not just radio geeks. Each add had a drawing of people in local dress, perhaps dancing, and two radios promoted. One (I forget the model) had a slide rule dial for about $100 and the other was the S-76 for $200. I think it might have been my brother who pushed for it, but then didn't do anything with it. I remember my father sitting in front of it a few times tuning around, but I don't think he knew what he was doing. I absolutely remember tuning around myself, also not knowing. But being fascinated by the "Naval Observatory" time announcements. And these werid outer space sounds sometimes. Later, as an Electronic Technician in the Navy, I learned what those "outer space" sounds were. The "growling sound" was multiplexed RTTY on single sideband transmitters. And the high pitch warbling tone with periodic clicks was facsimile. (Back when they put the heat paper on a revolving drum - like you see in old movies - and the tone frequency meant intensity of the line by drawn.) And the observatory time transmissions weren't just any old clicks but a specific number of cycles and equipment used the transmission for syncing various equipment. Some trivia: The industrial design (appearance) of many Hallicrafters radios, including the S-76, was by famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy.
Wow what a story. And yes Hallicrafters was super sexy with all kinds of mod designs. The serials of the 30's that promoted coast guard and mystery island adventures and ships at sea all used hallicrafters!
My best radio ever was a soviet OKEAN 209 (or Selena as it was sold on the West market). It had MW, FM (OIRT band), LW and 5 SW bands. I listened many nights on SW with a long wire antenna; I received (from East Europe) radio stations from China, Australia, USA, West Europe, USSR and maybe more that I don`t remember now. However, it was built like a tank and worked very well, was very sensitive. Inside it was all transistors, Germanium mostly.
I remember going in an electronics shop in the 1980s. There was a very nice looking radio right on the top shelf. It had a digital display which I'd never seen before. You could type in any frequency from around 100kHz to 29,999 and it would go there instantly. It even did SSB. It was great for tuning in to Radio Moscow, Voice of America, etc etc. You could also tune into ship-to-shore telephone calls (not that interesting) as well as every amateur band below 29,999kHz. The airwaves were full to bursting back then. Last time I tuned through shortwave I seriously thought the radio was broken. Nothing but noises but nobody there at all at night and I only managed to get three radio stations during the day. Of course you can get pocket radios that will cover 100-29,999 nowadays but back in the day it seemed like a real luxury. PS I remember visiting elderly relatives when I was a kid. They tended to have radios with the actual station names printed on the dial, cities all throughout Europe, including Eastern Europe which was behind the Iron Curtain at the time: Belgrade, Berne, Sophia, Paris... Luxembourg, of course. That's what they had before satellite TV and the internet.
Actually, they were still putting those country names on the dials as late as the 1960s! They were meaningless. I tried of course, to pick up those stations, never with success. The hobbiest radio magazines published SW radio schedules every month. They were pretty accurate, but usually not especially useful, because of the variabilities in propagation.
I find 20+ stations with my 20$ SW portable and a 12 foot wire. Most isn't entertainment or in english though. I can get cuba, turkey, NL, AUS etc here from Maine.
Mine was a Hallicrafters S-38E. I bought it from a neighbor when I was 13 in 1967. It cost me $40 that I earned from a paper route and mowing lawns. It was one of the best things I had in my teen years.
Thanks for the video. Timeline was just a little early for me and late for what we inherited from my grandfather in the 70s - a 1935 RCA console. I built one of the early 70s Radio Shack solid state regen kits, I think it was less than $30. Several factory built SW radios followed, one which I converted to a fuzz-box for my guitar and later used by our keyboard player... hobbies change. When I finally got my HAM license in '94 things had changed and I saved up for a Yaesu FT840 - the cheapest HF transceiver I could find but still a major purchase for me (I was a Radio Shack store manager at the time so it was half a months salary).
What a flashback. I grew up in the Chicago area so Allied Knight kit was a big part of my childhood. The Regen Ocean Hopper was my first SW receiver. One of my friend's dad had a WWII BC-348. In high school I graduated to a Lafayette HE80. After I got out of the military had a R-392 general coverage receiver and kludged up a Baudot to ASCII converter to print out RTTY messages.
@@MIKROWAVE1 Agree about the R392, I was amazed the engineers were able to create a vacuum tube radio where the plate circuit was only 28 volts. I don't remember what happened to the Ocean Hopper, probably sold it at a hamfest so I could buy someone else's junk :)
I had learned some about shortwave listening via some CB radios which offered 5 or 10 channels for transmitting, while advertising full 23 channel coverage (on receive) via a tunable receiver which on some models could tune up into the shortwave bands. But for my own, all I could afford was the Eico 711 Space Ranger kit! My sole experience in electronic kits was building a Heathkit HD-16 code oscillator by myself (I wanted my ham license too), and didn't realize the leap in complexity I was making. I got to the end of the kit then SUDDENLY was told in the instructions that I would need a signal generator and some other test gear to align it. My whole budget was exhausted from purchasing the Eico 711!! But I made some connections through a friend of a friend of a friend, and found a ham operator who was willing to help me align it. He said I did a good job on the construction, we got it aligned and it worked well. A little broad bandwidth for listing to code practice from W1AW (several other stations would come in at the same time), but this ham also helped me become WN4LHI and 54 years later, I'm still enjoying ham radio and shortwave listening. And YES, I still have the Eico 711 and it still works!!
Some really nice receivers there Mike! I have a few Eddystones but neither I nor my parents would have been able to afford them at that time in the UK. The selection for us was much smaller and we craved the American radios which we saw in magazines but rarely in real life. You say it was not the era of war surplus and boat anchors but here in Britain it was and the receiver many new hams started with was the RCA AR88 (I still have mine) this was because it took Britain a long time to recover from the war and because of the American lend/lease agreement. The British military rounded up AR88s to send back to America when RCA told the US government that RCA did not want the radios back as they would flood the market and hamper sales of new radios. The AR88s were not to be released here, presumably for the same reasons, so many were dumped down disused mine shafts to get rid of them. The lorry (truck) drivers soon found a lucrative sideline in selling them to UK radio hams! They became more obtainable than the mouthwatering radios you have shown in the video. Even today, you can find an AR88 easily and cheaply if you really want one. Your side of the pond, I believe they fetch quite serious money for an old radio. PS Your copyright banner has slipped back to 21.
I have recently acquired an Eddystone 940 receiver and like you, there is no way I could have afforded one back in the 60's, back then shortwave listening was on a WS22 and homemade regen. The Eddystone is now used to listen to the VMARS (Vintage & Military Amateur Radio Society) Saturday morning AM net. This in turn is causing me much hard work, because I'm having to build an AM transmitter so I can join in with the fun. 73 Steve M0KOV
@@oilydigits Eddystone 940, nice receiver. I am new to this side of the hobby and the live chassis of Eddystones are beyond my competence and confidence but love things to own and use. Would be interested to hear more about the AM transmetter and I'm sure you are learning a lot of good stuff from Mike, Mikrowave 1. 73, G6XIB
The Eddystone 940 has a mains isolation transformer. For information about the AM transmitter build, lookup s9plus class E. Not a valve/tube insight I'm afraid, but there's a few of these mosfet class E transmitters to be heard on the airwaves and they sound rather good. 73 Steve M0KOV
My dad built the Knight Star Roamer and I had bought the Realistic DX-160 used. We had a lot of fun back when every developed country had a flagship SW station. I didn't get into Amateur Radio until much later.
Great video. I'd love a hammerland. I have a collins 75A-4 from my wife's grandfather. I have 3 Knight Starroamer ( my 1st receiver I found at a pawn shop). 2 Hallicrafters S-28 . A Hallicrafters S-99 and a Sky Champion. My go to receiver is a transceiver Henry Tempo One with an external vfo.
There was a Hallicrafters SX-120 in the electronics shop in my high school. I remember listening in to a QSO between a couple of hams in the LA area in the early afternoon (must have been on 20 meters?). I was in Minnesota. Amazed that we heard them clearly, especially as one was mobile in his car.
I built the Knight-Kit Space Spanner, Ocean Hopper and Span Master radios in the early 60's and used the super regenative oscillator to communicate next door to a friend. A carbon microphone between the antenna terminal and the antenna gives one amplitude modulation on whatever frequency that is tuned in.
Thank you for the nostalgic look back in history. I had the Knight-kit star roamer and thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish I hadn't given it away, but you can't keep them all. I also have an Ocean Hopper in the original (moldy) cardboard box with all the coils. I think I'll replace the caps and get it back on the air one of these days!
I was a kid and my dad bought me the Collins 75S-3C radio in the 60's. People were shocked that a kid would be given a radio that cost $800, which was a huge sum of money back then. I had a lot of fun with it. Probably the best designed tube radios ever made. So many brilliant innovations, and attention to ergonomics. Collins was a genius; in 1959 he tried to sell the Air Force on his nuclear war proof communication system, based on message passing, where it would route the signal through different nodes. A forerunner of the internet! poor guy went bankrupt because nobody in the govt could understand his system.
In the late 1990s, I was given the use of a military tube receiver R-311, which had been produced in the USSR since the 1950s. Ever since then, I've been wanting to get one for myself. And it was recently given to me in excellent condition. Greetings from Belarus.
Got my novice 'ticket' in 1969. As a novice I learned code and SWLed with a converted BC-348Q, moved up (15 meters) to a Hallicrafters S-40B with Heathkit QF-1 Q- multiplier, and eventually built the Heathkit SB-301 and SB-401 'poor man's S-Line." Thanks and 73s.
Very nice progression! My buddy had the 348 given to him by his elmer. I was very jealous. I just had the old Tank BC-652 receiver. Later I got the DX150.
Wow-oh-wow! A perfect job of capturing the excitement of my youth and a fascinating look back at the best of the best shortwave receiver kits. Still have my Heathkit GR-64 built as a summer project in 1970. Will watch your video again for my birthday to rekindle those special memories. Thanks so much!
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. A great video about the golden age of radio and electronics. There is just not the magic of those days anymore, and it's wonderful to look back in time. Cheers.
I had one of those Sears Japanese imports. My best friend (with a rich uncle) had an SB-310. I was envious! I have to say, though, that the cheapo set ended up being educational. I added a power supply (stuffed the filter caps into the battery compartment), an S meter (poked around with my Olson VOM until I found the AGC signal), and an bandspread control (with a nice vernier knob from Radio Shack) to it.
My first ready made new receiver was the Codar CR70A. Paid for with my first wages in 1970 at the age of 15, working as an Apprentice Electrician. Had to save for weeks. Great memories. Thanks M0MBG 73s.
My Dad made the Knight Kit Space Spanner from a kit. I thought it was just the neatest thing on my desk for a 10 year old. Sadly, it is no where to be found now, having moved a few times and de-cluttered over the years (68 now). But it was magic, listening in to stations from mainly all over NA, as well as the Beatles on CKRC or CKY in Winnipeg back in 1964. Thanks for the memories my friend. Miss you dad! - ss Vancouver now.
Wow ... you opened with a newer version of the Lafayette HE- 30 that I saved all of my allowance and got it when I was in the sixth grade. Thanks for taking me back to the start of my enjoyment of Ham Radio. 73 - KF6IF
I found a Knight Star Roamer at a Goodwill for 7 bucks and some change. That was before I knew anything about sw or before I had a real interest. I regret that I no longer have that radio. Thanks for the great video.
WOW a blast from the past. I still use my Lafayette kt-340 and later as I grew older I got a Kenwood R-2000, I love them both. Thanks for the video, I got the KT-340 as a trade for my Lafayette Comstat 25A. CB. Never sorry I did. Thank you.!!
The electronics magazines of the '70s? That phrase.... it was like a thousand memories coming back. In the UK we had Electronics Today International. Glad to see someone of my vintage still alive an' kicking!
The radio you showed at the start of your video was my 1st shortwave receiver. It is the Heathkit AR - 3 with Q multiplier. I bought this receiver in Houston for $10 at an amateur radio store. They wanted more but the salesman took pity on me and sold it to me As that was all the money I had. I wasn't even a teenager yet but got many years of enjoyment with it sitting on my window sill and a wire at the window. Thanks for your video bring us back some good memories 73 KG5IF
My brother was really into ham radio and short wave back in the day. He became very successful in 2-way radio sales and as a result began collecting sets from his childhood. His absolute holy grail is the Hallicrafters SX-88. He now has two of them, both fully restored.
Boy, that was fun. In 53 I was 11 and my dad gave me a regen kit. I soldered it together with a soldering iron heated up with a blowtorch. I went through a lot of A and B batteries listening to that sucker. I could get everything in the world and did listen to Radio Moscow a lot. My Dad put up a great wire antenna that really worked well. thanks for your time on this, Lee
I had an Hammarlund 129X I found in the dump. I repaired it, cleaned it and replaced the audio tube because of the echo wnen I hollered into the top. I really loved that boat anchor.
That first receiver brings back memories! First CW I ever heard as a boy was on one of those. Caught the bug and am still pounding brass 44 years later. 73 DE NØIP
Hi Mile, this brings back memories. My first restore/rebuild was the TS 820. It had a ton of problems but the seller told me of all the problems and what he had done to repair it. I am no EE just a hobbyist. But I jumped in head first. Learned A LOT fixing it. Like you said lots of bad connection problems. Display only showed even numbers. I added an X lock to the VFO and up with ZERO drift! I also recapped it! Over 110 ecaps. Ill be watching your series with great interest. 73 and thanks again, Carl AB1ZI
Thanks for bringing back so many memories. I lusted after those Hammarlands and had to settle for kits from Allied (got a R-55A and a T-60). What I REALLY wanted were the Collins sets, but I couldn't imagine coming up with that much moola, so I converted my longing for them into a disdain (real hams don't buy the best --- they make them). WA3AKJ
I always wanted a DX160, as a kid I never managed to afford one and instead ended up inheriting my grandfathers FRG-7 which more than filled the bill in the early 80's. Then one day around 20 years ago I spotted a DX160 on the sidewalk atop a pile of rubbish for kerbside collection. Fast pacing back from the skid marks where I stopped, I rescued it on the spot, it was obviously calling out to me... I took it home to find it worked perfectly. I still have both and use them occasionally, and probably always will, but I also wonder at the mindless disposal of such a great radio, but thankfully they had the sense to place it with the front facing the road for me to see.
I could not show the FRG because it is just a bit later than the spirit of this video. Wow that is a solid receiver that you fell into! Thank's Gramps! The amount of DX-150-160s out there is almost like ARC-5s - seemingly inexhausible - untill they are not!
@@MIKROWAVE1 Yep, I have not seen another since, apart from recently on the internet with it's global base, but before long they'll probably vanish... when the next throw away generation can't work out what this wholly analogue thing actually does, after a careful examination for a usb port...
Many years ago I went to a swap meet where someone was selling a Knight Star Roamer. He had the 1965 Allied Radio catalog next to it, open the the Star Roamer page. Nobody was interested in the radio, but lots of guys were offering to buy the catalog!
Fantastic video, I remembered my desire when I was young to have good shortwave receivers, something that at the time was very difficult, over time I was able to find each one I wanted to have, my favorites are NC183D, SP600, R392, R390A, Marconi apollo and 51J4. 73 PU3WWV
