[Boatanchors] Help ID an early HRO

[jeremy-ca]

As a result of a chance comment with a customer I wound up with what appears 
to be a very early HRO. He had no idea what it was and the description was 
vague but the price was right and I took a chance.

The tubes are 6.3V but the sockets all have 2.5V designations. Since this 
came from the (still) boonies of Pine Valley, NY it may have been sold as a 
battery unit ??

The PS/speaker/coil rack is homebrew.  The PS is very old, built on a black 
wrinkle chassis and uses an 80, doesnt look HB.

Looking over Barry Williams info and the Western Historic Radio Museum site 
I come up with the following:

No pilot lamp
No B+ switch
Meter goes to S-5 at mid scale just a small  "PLUS" above that
Round IF cans
Black chassis
No standby terminals
4 rows of small holes on the cabinet back
Tuning condensor insulators have sharp edges

Differences/flaws:

Meter switch was changed to a toggle switch by some past owner.
PW dial is painted black
The .48-.96 MC coil appears to be a later 30's and has a M299 serial. The A 
& B coils are from the HRO-5 era. No other coils.

However I cant find a serial #. The only thing I can find anywhere near the 
antenna terminals is a stamped "7" between the audio tube and the cabinet 
and a "0" right next to that tube. Is the serial stamped in the chassis or 
rubber stamped as on the coil?

The cabinet is straight but needs a complete refinish. The dial indicator is 
missing. The topside interior is decent with some scattered rust spots but 
all shields and covers are in place and nothing is dented or missing. I 
didnt take the bottom plate off but the few paper caps I see thru the coil 
openings are oldie Micamolds; dont know if original. Cant see the resistors. 
I'll get to that tomorrow, its past my bed time!

Barry or anybody else help narrowing the ID down, especially the serial #?

Is this worth doing a full original appearance restoration or are modern 
caps and resistors acceptable?

Anybody have an original nickel plated PW dial, a dial pointer and S meter 
switch?

Carl
KM1H
National Radio 1963-69