[Hallicrafters] OLD OR VINTAGE OR ANTIQUE

[Leland Bahr]

You are so correct, Dick.  As a kid (age 13) I bought a S-38C new.  I
worked the world with it on 10 meters.  I worked over 100 countries with it
and worked almost anyone I called on 40 and 80 meter CW.  (My brain was the
filter for interfearing stations.  Back then we did not have to have a AM,
SSB, or CW filter in a radio to use it.  Our skill levels improved greatly
because of this).   My S-38C cost me around $40.00 and it listed for $49.95
back then.  Today I must have twenty S-38s of one form or another.  If
these radios are "junk" as mentioned, the demand and price for them sure
does not indicate this to be true.  On the contrary the radio is a marvel
of skilled engineering.  The radio is of the "All American Five" design
which in itself is a engineering marvel.  To get such performance out of so
few inexpensive parts is amazing.  Then Hallicraftes took it a step further
and added a band scale tuning dial and included 4 shortwave bands in
addition to the broadcast band.  The look of a S-38 through the S-38C
series is wonderful.  Even though I bought a S-38C as a kid new, my
greatest love is for the S-38B with wrinkle black cabinet and green dials. 
So what is "junk"?  Maybe it is Yaesu FT-2000 selling for $3000 with more
flaws and bugs in it then you can count.  Here we are today, 60 years later
and you can still easily fix a S-38.  Let's see how easy it is to fix a new
Japanese  radio 60 years from now let alone 5 years from now.  "(Sorry,
display no longer available)".  Most all parts that would ever wear out in
a S-38 are still today available.  So, is a S-38 a piece of junk?  I don't
think so.  To me it is a marvelous piece of American engineering.



> DEM'S FIGHTIN' WORDS, Sonny!!!! I'm a' callin' you out to the middle of
Main 
> Street at high noon.  We'll settle this matter with six  shooters.  Since 
> 1946 I've owned at least one S-38, and now have six, including that
original 
> that I bought from Concord Radio in Chicago in 1946.  The only ones I've 
> seen that were "junk" had been abused and misused by some jerk that
didn't 
> know what a Hallicrafter Radio was or represented, no matter what model 
> number it carried.  Of course, you are entitled to your opinion, but I'm 
> reminded that "Opinions are like hemorrhoids, only A.. Ho... have them
> Dick, WB8MHE
>