[Hallicrafters] Vintage Production

[k0myw at att.net]

I doubt that, as someone suggested, Hallicrafters manufactured anywhere near 500 examples of the DD-1. While not intended for the mainstream ham market, it certainly was/is an impressive collection of hardware. But I would bet total production was closer to 100 than 500.

A couple of other candidates that I haven't seen mentioned yet:

The Hallicrafters SR-75 of 1950, which was an S-38B slightly modified to serve as a low-budget receiver/transmitter aimed at the then-new Novice class of licensees. The SR-75 didn't stay on the market long. Its design was necessarily klugey (reaching in among hot tubes from the rear of the set to change plug-in coils could be painful) and it arrived about the same time home TV sets were proliferating. Making ham-band contacts was a bit dicey, but working TV sets in the neighborhood was easy. Hallicrafters may have produced 500 of these little devils, but there couldn't have been many, if any, more than that made.

The Cosmophones of the late 1950s. The Cosmophone 35 circa 1957) rig really was two receivers and a 6146-powered transmitter with a "tracking" feature that allowed the transmitter to follow the receivers. Later came the Cosmophone 1000, a kilowatt version with a pair of 4CX-300As. The rigs were well-constructed, using Collins mechanical filters and other mil-spec components. Many hams of the day couldn't imagine the usefulness of having two receivers in one box -- a classic example of an idea ahead of its time.

The list goes on...

73,
Mike, KØMYW