[Hallicrafters] Hallicrafters S-38 similar looking radio.

Sun Feb 3 16:37:26 EST 2013

The Lafayette (Laffinyat?) KT-200, aka HE-10 (factory wired version; KT-200 was a kit) has the double half moon dials like the S-38 A-B-C.  The knobs are direct copies of Halli knobs, too.

Not only does it have a power transformer; it also has an S-meter.  It is ten times as good a radio as the S-38!  Probably more on a par with the S-40 series, but the S-40s had no S-meter.

Given the choice of an S-38 vs the HE-10/KT-200, I would leave the S-38 in the dust!  (Even if it were certified as having Raymond Loewey's and Bill Halligan's actual autographs on it some place.)  Our JA friends got it much "righter."

Actually the HE-10 may have been the first receiver to be imported from Japan.  I think it hit the US market about 1957-58.

Its younger brother, the HE-30 aka KT-320 aka Trio 9R59 (first marketed in 1961), is even better, as entry level receivers go.  The HE-30 has a dial obviously inspired by the National NC-125 (double slide rule), and has a built-in Q-multiplier.  In fact the "BFO" in the HE-30 is the Q-multiplier allowed to oscillate.  Sounds crude, but it works reasonably well; the HE-30 is better for tuning SSB than the HE-10.

Both the HE-10 and HE-30 are reasonably stable.  I can't remember if the HE-10/KT-200 has a VR tube to feed the local oscillator; the HE-30/KT-320 does.  

And, if you have access to a 100 KHz calibrator so you can figure out exactly where you are on the main dial, the HE-30 has excellent and pretty well calibrated bandspread (and plenty of it) on 80 and 40 meters.  (The HE-10's bandspread dial is a simple 0-100 scale.)  The higher bands, however, are so-so.... as is the performance there; but back in the day one of my friends used an HE-30 on 15 meters as a Novice, and it did a reasonable job for him (he had a 2-element home brew quad if I remember right).  It was his Christmas present in 1961... hmm, his parents had ordered the HE-10, and that's what the invoice showed;  but were actually sent an HE-30.  Nobody said a word.... Wow, what are the odds of such a fortuitous accident happening today?

All the Lafayette receivers should be considered as "beginner" or "entry level" radios, but they are not bottom feeder quality like the S-38 or National NC-60.  Actually, far from it!

By the way, the Japanese company which made these radios for Lafayette was none other than Trio/KENWOOD.

73

Mike
W4DSE

--- On Sun, 2/3/13, Tom Lewis <n4tl2 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Tom Lewis <n4tl2 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Hallicrafters] Hallicrafters S-38 similar looking radio.
> To: "hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net" <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
> Date: Sunday, February 3, 2013, 12:57 PM
> Gerry,
> 
> Do a search for a Lafayette KT-200. It looks simular to the
> Hallicrafters S-38 but it has a transformer. 
> 
> 
> I just re read your email and you are looking for a similar
> radio to the S-38E. I don't know about that one.
> 
> 
> 73
> 
> Tom
> 
> 
> ________________________________
>  From: "hallicrafters-request at mailman.qth.net"
> <hallicrafters-request at mailman.qth.net>
> To: hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
> 
> Sent: Sunday, February 3, 2013 12:00 PM
> Subject: Hallicrafters Digest, Vol 109, Issue 1
>  
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> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. S-38E knockoff (Gerry Steffens)
>    2. FS: Groups of Tube-era Terminals (Bry Carling)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2013 19:24:57 -0600
> From: "Gerry Steffens" <gsteffens at pitel.net>
> To: <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: [Hallicrafters] S-38E knockoff
> Message-ID:
> <[email protected]>
> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="us-ascii"
> 
> I am attempting to identify and possibly find an S-38E
> knock-off from circa
> 1961 or thereabouts.
> 
> This was the first then modern radio my buddy got.  We were
> both kids in
> junior high school or later.  I had progressed from a
> Detrola model 585
> table radio with one SW band of about 6 to 18 Mc. to a
> Hallicrafters S-38E.
> He had progressed from an old Delco floor model with two SW
> bands from Bcst
> to about 18 Mc. with a green tuning eye (I really envied him
> with that green
> eye) to the subject radio.  Later, we both moved on to a
> Knightkit R-100 in
> his case and a Knightkit R-100A in my case.
> 
> He doesn't remember that first radio so I hope to refresh
> his memory with a
> picture or two  and possibly present him with one, if I can
> find one.
> 
> The radio was identical in configuration (four controls and
> the switch panel
> above it with the same three switches).  The cabinet front,
> top and sides
> were all blond wood, not blond colored metal as the
> S-38EB.  It was a light
> blond finish (shellac, varnish or something) and the
> workmanship on the
> bottom and rear was not superb.  I think the rear and
> bottom were the same
> fibrous material as the S-38E back.  It did have one
> improvement over the
> Hallicrafters, it had a dial light on each end of the large
> dial.
> 
> I am not certain if it was an AA5 AC/DC radio or not.  I
> have a vague
> remembrance that when we took it apart to touch up the rf
> alignment (dial
> calibration) that it had a transformer; but I will not sign
> that in blood.
> It also seems that the two dial lights came on nice and
> bright and stayed
> that way, not like the AC/DC S-38E.
> 
> I have been through period Allied catalogs to no avail (I
> figured as much).
> I think it came from McGee with BA as a second guess.  I
> have no catalogs
> from McGee and the only BA catalog I have is from 1977, far
> too late.
> 
> Just wondering if this might ring any bells with you list
> folks.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Gerry
> 
> Radio Historian, collecting E.H. Scott,
> McMurdo Silver, Hallicrafters, National,
> Zenith Transoceanic, & any other interesting radios
> & classic Oldsmobiles
> Collection stands about 275 radios, 5 Olds.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 03 Feb 2013 08:56:07 -0500
> From: "Bry Carling" <bcarling at cfl.rr.com>
> To: Galaxy-WRL at yahoogroups.com,
> tetrode at googlegroups.com,
>     glowbugsmailinglist at yahoogroups.com,
> hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [Hallicrafters] FS: Groups of Tube-era Terminals
> Message-ID: <510E6C77.23110.DC4186 at bcarling.cfl.rr.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> 
> FOR SALE: Two Groups of Tube-era Terminals, sockets plugs
> etc.
> 
> Group 1 = Approx. 60 pieces of USA-made terminals and
> connectors, banana jacks, plugs, 
> xtal socket, other sockets, terminals and adapters as shown.
> All are new or in very close to 
> new condx.
> 
> Group 1 Picture is shown here:
> http://af4k.com/terminals1.jpg
> 
> 
> Group 2 = Approx. 60 pieces of USA-made terminals and
> connectors, banana jacks, plugs, 
> xtal socket, other sockets, terminals and adapters as shown.
> All are new or in very close to 
> new condx.
> 
> Group 2 Picture is shown here:
> http://af4k.com/terminals2.jpg
> 
> Each group is available for $16.00 plus shipping.
> 
> 73 - Bry AF4K
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
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