[Hammarlund] Favorite Hammerlund Receiver

[Carl]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Todd, KA1KAQ" <ka1kaq at gmail.com>
To: <kgordon2006 at frontier.com>
Cc: "Hammarlund Radios" <hammarlund at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2011 1:07 AM
Subject: Re: [Hammarlund] Favorite Hammerlund Receiver


> On Sat, Dec 10, 2011 at 9:21 PM, Kenneth G. Gordon
> <kgordon2006 at frontier.com> wrote:
>> In my opinion, the HQ-129X was the very best in its price class at
>> the time. I have one of those too. Really like it.
>
> I agree with that. Same with its earlier version, the 120X. Carl and I
> were discussing a while back what a great "entry level" rig Hammarlund
> offered. Had a 120X years ago that I loved. Sent it down the road but
> have a 129X in its place. Once it's done, it will stay here. Gotta
> love the look of those streamlined chickenhead knobs, as impractical
> as they can be to use. The tuning knobs are a bit small too, but they
> look right, and it was all about a new post-war look for a pre-war
> rig.
>
>> But the SP-200 line is still my favorite.
>
> Mine too. Well, the early pre-war Super Pro be it SP-10, -100, or
> -200. Had a bunch of these over the years and never kept them around
> until W3JN convinced me to take a second look, and how to use one as
> designed. Been a rabid fan for nearly a decade since!
>
> The WWII versions got a bad rap after the war for numerous reasons,
> which Henry Rogers explains well on his Western Historic Radio Museum
> site. He also does numerous side-by-side comparisons with other
> popular receivers of the day, all there to be read.
>
> There are plenty of receivers that have come along since that beat
> them in areas like dial readout, stability, and so on. But for its
> day, it was the top of the heap. The military thought enough of it to
> take it off the shelf in high quantities, along with the SX-28, and
> HROs. Even after "better" purpose-built military sets came along, they
> remained in service.
>
> ~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4

The high end ham sets had one important advantage over most military 
versions. They were purpose built with the highest sensitivity at the time 
for the DX chasers. Military sets were point to point and channelized and 
the war changed that.

The Brits found out quickly that their own sets and the RCA AR's didnt have 
what it took to sniff out weak signals in an intercept enviroment such as at 
Bletchley Park. Enter the HRO which is still available in the UK in 
quantity.

Carl
KM1H