FW: [Hallicrafters] History

[Rich Oliver]

And I have one of those potted "ice cube" style FM transmitters still in 
the bag.  I spotted it at a yard sale a couple of years ago.  Back in 
the day I really wanted one of those to play with but couldn't afford 
the $2.99.  That was real money to a kid!

I grew up in a town too small to have a parts outlet, so my first and 
only such experience was when I went to Purdue in the late 60's.  Across 
the river in Lafayette there was McHaley's Surplus.  They were not 
geared to radio but had a few surplus sets around plus some accessories. 
  My first real Ham Radio purchase was a J-37 key at McHaley's.  I still 
have it and occasionally use it.  BTW there is a simple, reversible mod 
to get rid of the sliding friction of the leaf spring - I'll happily 
share that with anyone interested.  Makes it a really sweet key!

The real treat, though, was Lafayette Radio.  No, not *that* Lafayette 
Radio; this was a an unrelated local operation with a small store on the 
north side of downtown Lafayette, IN.  It wasn't much - maybe 15 to 20% 
of the stock that AES had at its peak when the Fathauers were still 
running it - but it was the first such operation I ever saw, and for a 
few wonderful years it was my candy store.  Ultimately they tried to 
switch to audiophile equipment, then had to shut the doors soon after 
that.  In retrospect I believe they they had quite a bit of stuff that 
came from Hallicrafters (Marion, IN factory??).  I recall boxes of knobs 
that I believe were for HT-20's and similar gear.

I moved to Flagstaff in 1980 and did make a reconnaissance trip to 
Phoenix soon after that to look for parts stores.  I found two or three 
decent ones but I believe they all faded away soon after that.  Hope I'm 
wrong - can anybody from Phoenix comment?

My last parts store experience was about a decade ago when I dropped in 
at Fair Radio in Lima, Ohio.  They seemed to be moving away from 
components in favor of selling radios and complete radio suites, etc.  I 
did spot a box of Hallicrafters knobs, though, and brought a few of 
those home to AZ.  They were older ones - the style used on the S-20.

73, Rich

David C. Hallam wrote:
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David C. Hallam [mailto:dhallam at rapidsys.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 7:00 AM
> To: E C Moxon
> Subject: RE: [Hallicrafters] History
> 
> 
> Just the other day I ran across some PolyPaks bags in my junk box containing
> nixie tubes and BCD switches for a digital read out I had intended to build
> a long time ago.
> 
> David
> KC2JD