[Hallicrafters] SX-88 Value Controversy Continues

[WA1KBQ at aol.com]

>What difference does it make if the SX-88 is  or is not the best radio? 

>Harry, KT4AE
>Maryville,  Tennessee


I don't think anyone here is trying to say the  Hallicrafters SX-88 was so 
technically advanced in it's day that 55 years later  it's still pounding all 
the competition so there's no reason to own anything  else. This IS the 
Hallicrafters reflector and we recently had another round of  "I think the SX-88 is 
overrated" or "practically everything I have here in the  shack outperforms my 
buddies SX-88." Last month it was this little gem: "I got  to try an SX-88 at 
the Howard County Hamfest and I just don't see what the fuss  is all about, 
it's worse than a 75A-4 or something."

Opinions claimed to  be facts get posted on the internet and someone needs to 
counter these baseless  allegations with the attributes of this great 
receiver because good information  needs to be available to those who might be 
genuinely interested. There has been  several instances of misinformation posted 
that is no more than someone's  criticism based upon some hamfest relic they 
dragged home and thought suitable  for the basis of a performance test evaluation 
report after who knows what they  did to it. Take a look at my pictures on 
AMFONE.NET. This example is very  typical of what a lot of folks have out there 
attempting to operate. This  one was supposedly recapped and aligned and if I 
gave you the name of the ham  who did the work and proclaimed it ready to go 
you would all recognize the  individual. He replaced a few parts that were easy 
to get to, miss-adjusted the  IF's which made it worse and called it done. 
Truth is none of the original caps  were good and most of the carbon comps had 
drifted upward another 50% and many  were twice over the schematic values. 
During preliminary tests before teardown  IF transformer adjustment sensitivity 
exhibited wide lazy peaks. The receiver  was numb but it worked, on all bands, 
maybe like some others out there?? This is  the fourth SX-88 I have gone through 
to this degree and from practical  experience I can say all were in about 
this condition when obtained and all four  demonstrated a remarkable level of 
improvement when the work was finished. I  also noticed these things don't drift 
after a short warm-up. This one attribute  alone is often enough to make a 
receiver become someone's favorite. Who wants to  have to put on running shoes to 
keep up with the tuning every two minutes which  is the case with so many 
vintage receivers?

The SX-88 was actually a top  of the line benchmark receiver for 
Hallicrafters in it's day much as the Pro-310  was for Hammarlund and though a little late 
to dinner, so too the NC-400 for  National. Not one of these three was a 
sales success for the companies, however.  Does this mean they all had problems as 
another poster suspected was the case  for SX-88 or were deficient in some 
way? I tend to think these expensive "halo"  receivers failed in the marketplace 
because hams earned a reputation over the  years of being tightfisted. Since 
1934 Hallicrafters steadily built a reputation  for offering the most features 
at the lowest price and then suddenly in 1954  there appears this $5000 
(equiv. 2008 dollars) Hallicrafters version! In  subsequent years the amateur 
marketplace backed this up by pointing out most  hams will buy a Heathkit or an 
import before shelling out the equivalent of  $5000 for a Hallicrafters receiver. 

If you ask hobbyists this question:  "which single piece of equipment is the 
best representation of a vintage  boatanchor?" the Hallicrafters SX-28 will 
get the most votes by a wide margin.  The SX-88 is actually an SX-28 on 
steroids. SX-88 is a Hallicrafters only  more-so.

-Greg  Gore





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