[Boatanchors] A question about your boatanchor purchase suggestions

[Chris Bower]

Wow! Thank you all so much for the great info, opinions, and facts on my
recent request for a boat anchor purchase suggestion! I'm going to send a
donation to the list owner because this info is priceless; you can't get
info like this just anywhere. I've learned more about the better boat
anchors in the past two days than I have in the past year. By doing Google
searches on the models you folks have suggested, I have almost doubled the
number of bookmarks I have and I have a great deal of reading to do.

However, I do have another question, if you don't mind. Many of you
suggested one model or another and then suggested different model for "band
cruising". May I ask why? My first impression was that it could be because
some radios are more difficult to tune than others, but after thinking about
it, I wasn't so sure. I hope I'm not embarrassing myself by asking this
question. Give me a break; I'm not as experienced as most of you folks :-)

Maybe I should mention that I have no problem with a radio that is fussy to
tune. Heck, that's half the fun. I currently use a little Sangean ATS-909
and a Hammarlund HQ-100 as my general purpose receivers. (I have other ham
transceivers for run-of-the-mill QSO's.) The Sangean is about as much fun to
tune as a peanut butter sandwich. It works well, especially for its size,
but it's.well...for lack of a better word, flat and boring. It makes a great
backup unit, though. It really is just an overgrown plastic piece of
consumer fodder. The Hammarlund is a helluva lot more fun to use, seems more
sensitive, and sounds tons better. It's not easier to use, just better. Al
Klase made the comment that "if you want to find them, use a Collins, if you
want to listen to them, use a Super-Pro or AR-88". Well, although I fully
appreciate and love the sound of a good quality tube amp and front end, I
really want a boat anchor that will "find them". In other words, I would
sacrifice some audio quality to get a truly sensitive and selective front
end. 

I should also mention that the reason I'm looking for an already restored
unit is that I simply am not good enough yet to attempt something as
complicated as a higher-end boat anchor. Not to mention, I don't have all
the needed test equipment.yet. I'd hate to buy a restorable unit only to
find that I couldn't fix it or worse yet, make it un-restorable. 

Right now, I'm considering a Collins 51J-3. A list member has a fully
restored one available that seems to be a nearly perfect restoration. I
don't know a whole lot about Collins equipment, but this is a gorgeous radio
to my eye and the specs seem very impressive. Of course, there's that
certain mystique and prestige in the Collins name tag. I still haven't made
a final decision, though, and won't until the beginning of the year. Thanks
again for all the great info, I really appreciate this mailing list! 

As Always,
Chris
W1CMB
cmbower@cox.net
Non construo, nec emo, nec frango, sed tantum reparo.