[Boatanchors] HQ-170/NC-300

[Jim Wilhite]

Both are pretty good receivers.  The downside to the NC 300 is the 
second conversion oscillator.  From the factory it had a tunable 
coil to set frequency.  It gave so much trouble they dropped it in 
the 303 and put a crystal in the circuit.  They also issued a 
factory errata sheet for 300 owners to modify their sets.

I owned a 300 for several years and made the mod.  It fixed 
stability and calibration since movement of the slug caused 
everything to move.  I have never owned a HQ 180 but the sparky 
coils and tendency for the slugs in the coils to stick and break 
when you try to align doesn't turn me on.  Break a slug and you are 
almost SOL.  I have tuned around on a HQ 170 but don't particularly 
like them either.

If they were the only two boatanchor receivers available, I would 
choose the 300.  Both had fair audio if you used a large enough 
speaker.

Jim/W5JO

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <telegrapher at att.net>



>I bought a pretty nice HQ-170A at a yard sale about 15 years or so 
>ago.  Was going to keep it for use with AM but other things came 
>into the picture.  IIRc i had to keep one hand on the tuning to 
>keep a SSB signal in the window.  Don't remember much more about it 
>nor how long it sat and warmed up(?) before i used it.
>
> Back in the odd year of 1969 i bought an HQ-180, my first 
> commercially built for hams radio.  Might have been an A, don't 
> recall but it did have the clock,  One day i turned it on, this 
> was in the early to mid 70's, and it had this horrible ac note to 
> anything i tried to listen to with the BFO on like SSB or CW. 
> never could find out what was causing it.  Had a good friend who 
> was a very good radio tech who looked it over, tried this and 
> that, couldn't find out what was causing it.  Traded it off for a 
> Drake R-4B/T-4X with AC supply (little extra cash here) and have 
> not missed it since.  Love that Drake gear for stability and just 
> plain good operation.
>
> Had an NC-300 in the early 90's but didn't keep it around long 
> enough to evaluate it.  What little i did use it, seemed to be ok 
> but then i wasn't real hep on what it took to make a real 
> receiver.  Others were looking for NC-303 types.
>
> Have fun with all the evaluations.  Kind of like sorting nuts and 
> bolts out of a glass jar.
>
> Larry
> W0OGH