[Hallicrafters] RE:S-38's

[Jim Tripp]

Great, just when I thought I had the full line up of S-38's I now find
out I need an S-38EM and an S-38EB....thanks a lot....hahah

Sorry to hear about all the damage.  I just collected a claim from UPS
for two damaged radios, that I packed and shipped to myself so no one
to blame for poor packing. One had a broken dial glass and one had a
cracked case. Yours sounds like it was dropped from a bridge or
something.

Jim/Castroville, CA

----------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 06 Jul 2005 21:47:54 -0400
From: Bill Gerhold <k2wh at optonline.net>
Subject: [Hallicrafters] S-38EB
To: hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
Message-ID: <0IJ800EXFI6LW2R0 at mta1.srv.hcvlny.cv.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I now have the complete S-38E line.  The S-38E, S-38EM and now the
S-38EB.
I received a very nice S-38EB. "B" stands for Blond believe it or not.
Anyway, the rig was very close to mint prior to my receipt of it.

I received it with the following problems:

1) Shattered front glass
2) Shattered 50C5 and 35W4 vacuum tubes
3) Bent chassis
4) Dial string all tangled and off rollers
5) Main tuning cap mounting bracket bent.
6) Dial light smashed
7) DC filter cap mounting bracket broken loose

The radio was packed very well, but the USPS used this box as a
football
probably because it was marked as "Fragile", "Glass" and "Sensitive
Electronic Equipment".  The box itself looked like hell but it was
sealed.

As hard as this is to believe, the case (fortunately) was untouched.
I say fortunately because, repainting this case would have been very
difficult with this color and pattern.

I straightened out the chassis, cleaned up and picked up the broken
shards
of glass, replaced both tubes, replaced the # 47 bulb and re-strung
the
original dial cord.  The main tuning caps sheave was at a 5 degrees
angle
off center with the other sheaves so the dial cord would just slip off
the
edge of the sheave.  So, I unbolted the main tuning cap and
straightened out
the main tuning cap mounting bracket which brought the sheave into
alignment
with the others.  How this bracket got bent is a real mystery since it
is
deep into the radio and did not take a direct impact - it just bent
from a
sudden stop.

However, after these fixes, the radio really does work great.  It
needs an
alignment and a new piece of glass which I will have Sears make
tomorrow.  I
still can't believe the amount of damage this radio received.  And
with that
damage, remarkably, the case was untouched and is very near mint
condition.
Not a scratch.  It is as though someone hit the glass with a baseball
bat
but went no further since the scale and fragile slide rule pointers
directly
behind the glass are also untouched.

Another strange thing, I tried to put the pieces of the broken glass
together (like a puzzle) to measure the original size for the
replacement
glass but guess what!  All the pieces are not there, yet when received
the
box was sealed!  I'll bet this box was opened at the USPS and
inspected for
damage or some other reason.  Anyway, I will save this beauty for the
next
generation of vacuum tube lovers, its an obsession.

K2WH