[Hallicrafters] Good Ebay experience

[Mike Everette]

I haven't had a "bad" eBay experience yet, but have endured a couple of near misses.  

Several years ago I bought a nice SX-28 from someone "up north," and thank goodness I had the presence of mind to ask him how he planned to pack it.  Well, it was evident that he was totally clueless.  I told him to wait to ship it, that I'd try to find a suitable method.  As it happened, I had a large carton with blown-foam inserts left over from shipping a large and heavy communications service monitor at work.  I thought it'd be about right for an SX-28, which was confirmed by measurements.  I also had a bunch of pink-foam 2x4s from a shipping crate containing a 6-foot rack of microwave gear.  I put a bunch of this into the carton all around and under the opening for the equipment, drew the guy a diagram of how to pack it, and sent it to him, which cost about $14 via Parcel Post.  That was money well spent.  He packed the radio according to my instructions but bitched about it in an e-mail, claiming it took him about 1-1/2 hours to do the
 job.  But, when I got the radio, it was perfect.  In fact, it could probably have taken a fifteen-foot (or more) dead-fall drop, and bounced, without harming the radio or busting the box.

I also breathed a huge sigh of relief when an RME-69 arrived in a box that was literally falling apart.  The radio was single-boxed, packed only in peanuts, and indeed the cabinet was crammed full of peanuts.  They had "bled" all over the inside of the UPS truck.  The radio, however, was uninjured.  I don't know how it survived, but it did.

On the other hand, another receiver (National) was packed so well that it probably exceeded US Mil packing guidelines.  This one was a cream-puff, and was perfect when it arrived.  Best packing job I ever saw.  Despite talking with the seller before shipment and being assured there'd be no problems, I'd been worried about it, but there was no need to have been.

73

Mike
W4DSE






________________________________
 From: "Todd, KA1KAQ" <ka1kaq at gmail.com>
To: Jim Marshall <jmarshall1945 at yahoo.com> 
Cc: "hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net" <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net> 
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 8:22 PM
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] Good Ebay experience
 

On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 3:56 PM, Jim Marshall <jmarshall1945 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> With all the posts about negative Ebay purchases, I have to include my
> very positive post. I recently bid an a Hallicrafters SX-115 receiver, and
> luckily won the bid. The pictures looked good, both inside and out, albeit
> a little dust. Received the radio the other day, and was double boxed with
> bubble wrap and "Popcorn". What I got is almost beyond belief. It had no
> scratches, no dents, no corrosion, and still had the serial number tag on
> the back. After a little cleaning the dust off the chassis, the radio looks
> like it had just come off the Halli assembly line. In fact, the rubber two
> wire power cord was not even cracked or brittle. All the tubes are
> Hallicrafters tubes.
>


Congrats on the purchase, Jim. I looked it up, it's item # 221255100348 if
anyone wants to have a peek. Looks like the worst of it is the cabinet
paint, which is the easiest part to deal with. It appears someone stored it
on its side at some point in its life and slid it around some. Bottom has
some nasties too, but a good paint job will cure it all. The silver cover
looks like it would clean up pretty well with just the typical 'something
heavy stacked on it' bow in the front.

They are great little(!) receivers, one of the best tube-type SSB receivers
I've ever used. Very stable after a brief warm up period with
flywheel-weighted, gear-driven tuning. AM is a bit marginal as the max
bandwidth is 5kcs, either upper or lower sideband. Since it was designed as
a sideband receiver at a time when AM was falling from favor, it's no
surprise. You'll be surprised how sensitive and quiet it is once you go
through it and align it. Triple conversion done right.

I purchased my '115 from its original owner back in the mid-late 90s for
$500 and $40 shipping if I remember right. Original manual, like new
inside, all the rear apron labels, one small nick in the black cabinet edge
paint, original cord still supple (though I managed to break the plug a
couple years back) and, like yours, all the original Hallicrafters-branded
tubes inside. In fact, there was a little bonus.

Prior to finding the '115 I'd bought a nice SX-62B that had all of its
original Halli tubes except one. When the '115 arrived and I unpacked it, I
heard a noise somewhere inside the cabinet like something was rolling
around. It was under the chassis which meant removing it from the cabinet.
When I did, there was a tube....a Hallicrafters tube, the one needed for
the SX-62B. And it still had excellent emission!

Compared to a few years ago, you stole that radio. They've been coming down
steadily like everything else, but there was a time they were routinely
bringing four figures. The highest I saw on ebay sold for over $6K. So
smile as you admire your new toy, appreciating the market correction that,
combined with a little dust and a few scratches, brought you a great
receiver for a very fair price. Certainly one of Halli's better efforts.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4

BTW. Charlie Talbot N3ICH sells the aluminum inserts for the tuning knobs
if you ever decide to replace them. They're cheap and Charlie's service is
excellent. I need to get some spares for mine just in case.
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