[Hallicrafters] SX-117

[Freeberg, Scott (STP)]

 I've only owned one Hallicrafters radio and that was my 2nd short wave, the S-85, back in the 60's.  I bought an SX-117/HT-44 combo from the original owner this past spring for the nostalgia and the chance to use them on the air.  I always thought the pair looked cool, and thats good enough for me.

I think the SX-117 is a great receiver!  First off it looks cool, attractive styling, nice 60's period look. I've found it to be very sensitive on the bands that I've used it on, including 80,40,20, and the audio characteristics are pleasant.  The inherent background noise level is oddly very low.  I heard others mention this and didn't appreciate it until I actually experienced it myself.  With the low background noise, as a signal is tuned in, it sort of jumps out at you.  The passband tuning is incredibly sharp.

The SX-117 seems plenty stable to me as well. Nice tuning.  I like it alot.  And yeah, I think of it as a high quality receiver.  Sure, maybe not Collins milspec quality, but still good quality for the money.   My receiver worked right away, though there is a little hum in the audio that I'd like to reduce.  I don't notice any of the ssb filtering problems discussed on here.

I don't have much run time on the HT-44 yet, as I was interrupted by summer.  I did recap the PS-150 power supply, make a couple of 20 meter SSB contacts, and then took it apart for a shack remodeling.  The ssb balanced modulator was out of whack with a carrier the first time I fired the transmitter up, a little tweaking, and its ok now.    

I'll have the pair back up and running later this fall.  I was never able to find the matching HT-45 for it.

73, Scott WA9WFA