[Hallicrafters] [Boatanchors] HT-20

[Robert Nickels]

On 6/18/2010 5:38 PM, Brian Harris wrote:
> I have been offered an HT-20 that is minus the cabinet and has front paint that's peeling.  As I have never owned/used/seen one before I am clueless as to its value or desireability.

Brian,

They're fairly rare, and a very desirable transmitter in my opinion.  
Mine was in such bad shape due to years of storage in a humid area that 
not a single shaft could be turned, and I ended up having to drill out 
both setscrews in each knob!   Before I committed to restoration I 
checked out all the iron, thinking that a bad transformer would be a 
deal-killer.  But they all checked OK, and other than the normal R and C 
replacements, restoration went pretty well.  I did end up having to 
replace the two variable caps in the driver stages due to excessive 
corrosion that resulted in arcing, but I thought this was a pretty good 
testimony to the quality of the design and construction, in light of the 
shape it was in when I got it.   My front panel was redone by W3HM when 
WØYVA was restoring a couple of HT-20s and with the powder-coat finish 
it now looks better than new.   I have it paired with an SX-88 and an 
HT-18 VFO and get excellent reports on the air and it's solid as a rock 
when putting out 120 watts of carrier.

I put a few pics up when I was working on it:  
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v652/ranickel/HT-20/

The HT-20 is basically Hallicrafters version of a Johnson Viking I, 
built to co-exist with TV-watching neighbors.   Unless you find major 
problems I'd sure restore it!

73, Bob W9RAN