[DCboatanchors] HYGAIN 3750 = oddball

[Bry Carling]

Wow Stan - this is utterly fascinating!

THANK YOU so much for sharing this information with us!

I owned one of the blue Hygain HTs - I think I even may have bought it at an Orlando 
hamfest while visiting down here from TN in the late 1970s with the XYL for a 
vacation/hamcation. Not sure now. 

If I didn't buy it there, I forget where it came from. On one of our trips I brought along a 
borrowed Regency 2m FM rig owned by a doctor friend (Amy Grant's dad, Burton) in 
Nashville.  We couldn't afford to buy any radios in those days of the mid 1970s, unless we 
sold something else first. 2m FM was great in those days. Thousands of hams were eager to 
talk on 2m everywhere you went. Evenin the rural areas on simplex! You just squelched it 
and made new friends everywhere. It;ls not like that now. Hundreds of dead repeaters! 

I was wondering if the Hygain 3750 was made at either the Kenwood or Yaesu factory. It 
seems to have some things in common with the Tempo / Yaesu / Sommerkamp / Kenwood 
gear of the period. S2001 tube - was that like a 6JS6 or a 6146?

Thanks again so much for sharing your memories of that period!

HNY 2013 to all - Bry AF4K

CC: DC Boatanchors. Glowbugs

On 1 Jan 2013 at 14:46, w8nnx wrote:

To:  FLBOATANCHORS at yahoogroups.com

> Seasons greetings Bry
> 
> You have found a rare one.  Perhaps I can shed a bit more knowledge
> upon this topic:
> 
> Right around 1978 - 1980 period, HyGain was having a very tough time
> with funding.  Andy Andros, the president, hired a Martin Marietta
> engineer, Martin Barton, to turn the company back in the direction
> of profitability.  HyGain had some luck rebranding and reselling a
> handheld transceiver, the 3860 I believe, intended for marine
> communications.  This was a Japanese unit well designed and well
> built for the time period.  
> 
> Judging from the model number, the transceiver had come just before
> the arrival of Martin Barton.  The engineering department at that
> time was very small....probably less than a dozen technical and
> support personnel with very limited engineering and test equipment. 
> It did not have the capability to design or support any unit having
> those fairly decent specifications.  The only reason to sell that
> piece of equipment was a huge markup in price that could keep the
> business afloat.  
> 
> HyGain probably had a relationship with a Japanese company unknown
> to me that produced both the 3750 and the 3860.  The PA tubes
> mentioned in the brochure ( S2002 ) may give a clue to the origins
> of the transceiver:  If I remember correctly, that was the same tube
> used in early tube / transistor hybrid transceivers such as some
> TS-820 units.  I would suggest that the Kenwood units and the HyGain
> units have a common engineering source.
> 
> An interesting tidbit:  Just weeks before the bankruptcy filing,
> HyGain opened an engineering office in Cranes Roost office complex
> in Altamonte (Orlando area) hoping to capitalize on the pool of
> Martin engineering talent.  That was very short lived.
> 
> Sadly, all the survival efforts did not help.  HyGain disappeared in
> the very early 1980 time frame.
> 
> 73
> Stan W8NNX
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- In FLBOATANCHORS at yahoogroups.com, "Bry Carling" <bcarling at ...>
> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks Phil. 
> > 
> > Back when these were sold, they were VERY expensive, Phil. 
> Compared to the other radios 
> > of the day anyway...   As you can see it has a ton of bells and
> whistles on it compared to  
> > MOST HF transceivers of the 1970s. I think that they did NOT sell
> many of these.  Most guys 
> > were buying radios in the $500 - 800 range back then. I think that
> the Hygain 3750 was  
> > probably like $1300.00 just by itself without a power supply or
> accessories such as the  
> > remote VFO or external speaker.
> > 
> > I am guessing that VERY VERY few of these were ever sold. Maybe
> only a handful. I could  
> > be wrong. There were just so many other better deals at that time,
> and HyGain did not stay in  
> > the HF radio business after this as we all saw.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On 29 Dec 2012 at 15:42, Phil LaMarche wrote:
> > 
> >     Bry,
> >     
> >     I've been licensed for 64 years and I have never seen this
> radio. Actually 
> >     attractive. I was manager of AES in Orlando in the early 60's
> and don't 
> >     remember it. Thanks for sharing.
> >     
> >     Phil
> >     
> >     Philip LaMarche
> >      
> >     
> >      
> >     Here's an oddball one for sure!!
> >     
> >     "The Finest Amateur Transceiver You Can Buy!!"
> >     
> >     eBay item 160934618139
> >     
> >     Years ago, I remember thinking this radio would be a dream to
> own, but not now. 
> >     Nostalgia may be at play if anyone bites now. I don't think it
> will be an easy project.
> >     
> >     I used to have their crystal controlled 2-meter "brick" HT
> back in the old old days, 
> >     and added a dtmf tonepad kit on the front of it. We hams were
> WAY ahead of the 
> >     cell phones with our VHF pohone patch calls, back in the
> 1970s.
> >     
> >     http://www.ebay.com/itm/160934618139
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >  ------------------------------------
> 
> TELL YOUR HAM FRIENDS ABOUT FL BA.
> 
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