[Hallicrafters] Posts Were Fair, Certainly No Hi-Jack as Bob Young Claims

[WA1KBQ at aol.com]

Copied from amforum; this was the first  post and a very fair contribution to 
the subject of the thread and  certainly no hi-jack as Bob Young is 
attempting to spin it: 

The  question of which equipment manufacturer actually made the best overall 
receiver  is a very difficult, subjective and extremely controversial subject. 
Raymond S  Moore pursued this challenge with a lot of effort several years 
ago which  resulted in extensive research and testing and the culmination of a 
lot of data  on even the most obscure brands eventually being summed up in four 
editions he  authored on the subject entitled "Communications Receivers of 
the Vacuum Tube  Era."

Raymond S Moore's answer: (drum roll please...) "it all  depends!"

I have managed to obtain over the course of the past 14 years  one or more of 
nearly all the vintage receivers Moore mentions and after working  on and 
with and trying everything my hands down favorite is the Hallicrafters  SX-88. 
This is after a lot of careful work (including removing all RF modular  sections 
and the second converter deck for access) to replace original  capacitors and 
drifted resistors which then allows a precise alignment. To me  there is 
nothing that matches the audio quality of a wide open (10KC bandwidth)  SX-88 but 
when nearby QRM makes copy difficult just start clipping the sidebands  all 
the way down to 250 cycles if need be which is accomplished without the  
associated "ringing" of a crystal filter. The SX-88 utilizes special litz wound  50KC 
IF transformers with ferrite sleeves and threaded ferrite cores which  
results in an impressive "Q" of over 180. While certain other Hallicrafters  models 
also have a 50KC IF scheme none has IF transformers quite like the SX-88.  
S-76, SX-100, SX-101, SX-122, SX-117, and even the SX-115 all use single strand  
wound transformers with threaded brass rod adjusters which achieve a "Q" of no 
 more than 140.

In addition the SX-88 was the first commercially produced  receiver to have 
an "SSB" function marked on its front panel. Admittedly this  was very early 
SSB technology and the later developed Product Detectors were  better than the 
SX-88's amplified BFO.

Still, all things considered a  carefully refurbished and precisely aligned 
SX-88 is usually the receiver of  choice here in spite of having many others 
also set up and ready to go. Maybe  it's because after a very short 15 minute 
warm-up period there is zero drift  which is very much appreciated when so many 
others require a constant and  annoying retouching of the tuning setting every 
couple of minutes even after an  hour!

Long live the King!!

In a message dated 2/9/2009 1:43:20  P.M. US Eastern Standard Time, 
youngbob53 at msn.com writes:
Just to set the  record straight: they was no fray on AMfone, you did try 
hard though, you  decided to try to hijack the discussion and demand that we all 
bow down to you  and agree about how superior the SX-88 was, in fact there was 
no fray at all  because we all left, saw it coming, another good promising 
thread ruined because  of a contrary, instigating hijacker. The thread stopped 
short because most of us  know a hijacker when we see one and also know that it 
is useless to try to  change a hijackers mind and know what happens when we 
indulge one, case in  point: look what's happened here over the past few days, 
everyone's all riled  up. Now why can't we stop this ridiculous thread about 
which receiver is best.  We all have our favorites but most of us have enough 
brains to keep it to  ourselves and not drive each other nuts with our personal 
preferences. I  guarantee that if we all stop this SX-88 hijacker will try to 
start it up again,  guys like this live to irritate others, don't let him. 
The next time he posts  let there be silence, hijack ended, peace starts, 
another beautiful day, y  punto.

http://almostdiamonds.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-hijack-thread.html

Bob  Young
Analog, MA
KB1OKL
**************The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy 
Awards.  AOL Music takes you there. 
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