[Hallicrafters] Why I'm a Hallicrafters Guy

[Gary Pewitt]

Dave, the airplane engine sound was Soviet jamming.  When I was attending 
electronics school at Keesler AFB in the early '60's the morse intercept 
operator trainees had to copy 25 wpm through that very noise and it was 
quite difficult.  They had a number of nervous breakdowns.
73  Gary  de N9ZSV


At 01:09 AM 4/30/05, David Hollander wrote:

>Ah...the "airplane sound"  I remember that sound  well but to this day
>have no idea what it was. I remember hearing it on my S-41W that my dad
>gave me to use at age 10. He was working at Collins Radio in Newport
>Beach and he gave me a lousy S-41W!!!!!! He was not a ham at that time.
>
>My dad also said something about the receiver really being an
>Echophone but I had no idea as to what he was talking about.
>
>About 18 months later I got my novice WN6IWX and he than happened to be 
>working at Hallicrafters' Pacific division in Santa Ana, California. He 
>bought me an HT-40 kit which I built but I still had the S-41W receiver. 
>About the sixth week of my novice (I still had not made a single QSO), he 
>shows up with an SX-115. "Where did that come from?" I asked. "We needed 
>space at work so we dismantled the ham station.  My boss took the HT-32 
>and HT-33 and I took the SX-115"  he said. When they closed up 
>Hallicrafters Pacific division to move it back to Chicago in 1965, his 
>boss reminded him that we had the receiver. He also informed him that the 
>SX-115 would be expensive to ship back to Chicago plus it would have to be 
>refurbished before it could be sold so he suggested that my dad make him 
>an offer. He offered $50 and his boss said that would be fine.
>
>My dad finally got his ticket 3 years after me. He is now N6UC and has had 
>that call since 1977.
>
>I finally got an SX-115 a few weeks ago and already have the HT-40 so I 
>can now re-assemble my Novice station.
>
>As far as older Hallicrafters gear, I don't think they used the highest 
>quality components compared to National. Of course National had a distinct 
>advantage since they also made components and had Millen as their chief 
>engineer in the 1930's. The 1930's National receivers run circles around 
>Hallicrafters of that era and they are much easier to work on. I have 
>recapped an SX-28 - what a nightmare! I do enjoy using my Hallicrafters 
>stuff have quite a bit of it. I also have a lot of national, some Collins, 
>RME, RCA, Johnson, military and it is all fun to use. I also got the 
>original S-41W back a few months ago when my dad was cleaning out the 
>garage. It still works.
>
>I would still like to know what  that airplane sound was that we used to 
>hear between the ham bands in the early 1960's.. That sound, WWV and 
>teletype were magical to me at 10 years old.
>
>Dave N7RK
>
>--
>***********************************************************
>Dave  N7RK          Boatanchors Home Page: http://members.cox.net/n7rk
>Phoenix, Arizona         *DXCC Honor Roll*    *WAZ#22 - 75 Meter SSB*
>
>ex-XE2/N7RK, N7RK/ZB2, VK2ERK, ZM0AJN, WB6NRK, WN6IWX
>
>Boatanchor and Antique Radio Collector
>
>
>
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Gary Pewitt  N9ZSV
Sturgeon's Law: "Ninety percent of everything is crap."


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