[Hallicrafters] SP-600 JX-26 & SX-42

[Edward B Richards]

Hi Craig;

I just finished reconditioning a SX-42. Took me 7 months (I work slow). I
replaced all of the paper caps and all resistors out of tolerance. It
works great. Actually, replacing the caps is not that bad, except for a
couple in the RF section. Namely, the RF amplifier cathode bypasses. It
is best to remove the complete side panel and the band 6 transformers to
gain access to these caps. I used  .05 @ 50 volt radial mica's with 1/8 "
leads by soldering them from the cathode pin to the tube ground pin.
Apparently lead inductance is a factor as a revision changed them to caps
with braided leads, hence the short leads on the replacements which are
much smaller. Changing the caps was not as bad as the other problem it
had. The band-switch was arcing on two wafers. I had to cut the long
screws that hold the wafers together to remove the offending wafers to
clean out the carbon and seal the wound. Then replace the 5-40 screw and
make a couple of couplers to join the screws  back together. The rivets
are too close together and they arc from one side of the wafer to the
other. Especially the H wafer, which has the first RF amp plate voltage
on one side and the second RF grid voltage on the other.  If you or
anyone else has an arcing band-switch, contact me and I can give you some
do's and don't's. You can profit from my mistakes. Good luck.

73, Ed Richards K6UUZ


On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:53:26 -0500 Craig Roberts <crgrbrts at verizon.net>
writes:
> Of his new SP-600 JX-26 DAN COTSIRILOS wrote:
> 
> "...super receiver!!!"
> 
> You say that because you didn't have the unparalleled pleasure of 
> replacing the 50+ Black Beauty capacitors contained within the 
> bowels of 
> the earlier versions.
> Now that that task is completed, however, I love my very early 
> SP-600 
> JX. It's a friendly companion.
> 
> I've just purchased a receiver that may be even more challenging to 
> restore.  It's a Hallicrafters SX-42.  My very first shortwave 
> receiver 
> was an SX-42, back when I was an "official" Popular Electronics 
> Monitor 
> (WPE0BKI, if I remember correctly). My Dad gave it to me for my 13th 
> 
> birthday after purchasing it from my Boy Scout Radio Merit Badge 
> counselor for $75 which, when you think about it, wasn't all that 
> cheap 
> in 1959.  I saved up earnings from my paper route and eventually 
> added 
> the R46 "reproducer" to the radio.
> 
> I "toured the world" with that machine, basking nightly in the eerie 
> 
> green glow of its Raymond Loewy-designed dials. I became an avid SWL 
> and 
> collected QSL cards from all over the planet, including one that 
> would 
> revisit me in a bizarre way a few years later. Sometime during the 
> early 
> days of my Navy career (probably when I entered flight school in 
> Pensacola), Navy intelligence officers did a background check on me. 
> I 
> was subsequently interrogated (mildly) about the volume of mail I 
> had 
> once been receiving from Moscow -- according to a nosy neighbor.  
> The 
> letters in question were Radio Moscow program schedules and 
> souvenirs, 
> of course, but they did raise an eyebrow or two during the frostiest 
> 
> days of the Cold War.
> 
> At any rate, I sold the ancient SX-42 and speaker in the '70's when 
> I 
> modernized to new fangled solid-state gear. In recent years, I've 
> regretted that move and have now "put it right."  Sound familar??
> 
> Enjoy your SP-600, Dan.  You're right. It is a "super receiver".  
> Just 
> be careful about which QSL cards you collect.
> 
> 73,
> Craig
> W3CRR
> www.aerialacts.com
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