[Hammarlund] SP-400X and 210

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <djed1 at aol.com>
To: <ve3ajm at gmail.com>; <hammarlund at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 2:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Hammarlund] SP-400X and 210


>I have one of each, and enjoy listening to them.  The 
>SP-400 is virtually identical to the 200, except that the 
>bands are different frequencies (covers .54 to 30 MHz). 
>I've got the BC-779, which is the SP-200 that covers LF as 
>well as the HF bands to 20 MHz. They both should be 
>recapped before using.  The -400 is a bit easier because 
>you don't have to pull the RF tuner to get at the caps, and 
>it doesn't have the "bathtub" caps in the IF section.
> I have a sentimental attachment to the BC-779, because I 
> had one as a kid, but I'd go with the -400 if you're only 
> going to get one.  You can build a power supply, or keep 
> an eye on eBay.  They do show up once in a while.  Depends 
> if your a purist or not.
>
> There's a guy who has been offering transformers on eBay 
> for a while.  Too expensive for my needs but maybe he'll 
> make a deal.
> As far as information on restoration, radioblvd.com is THE 
> place to go for old super-pro information.  You can see a 
> photo of my SP-400 way down his page.
> Ed  W2EMN
>
>
     FWIW, I found some catalogue information and a couple 
of service notes.  The 200 series Super-Pro was offered in 
three frequency ranges, the standard one going from 540khz 
to 20Mhz, another version, the SP-400-SX went from 1250khz 
to 40mhz and had shunt-fed rather than series fed RF stages. 
A third version, the SP-200-LX had the lowest band changed 
to 150khz to 300khz. The military BC-779 constitutes a forth 
version with the two lowest bands changed to 100-200khz and 
200-400khz, which covered marine and aircraft use.
   The X in the model number indicates the presense of the 
crystal filter. In the SP-400-X an S was added for the 
"special" version which was identical to the old SP-210 that 
went from 1250 khz to 40Mhz. These are probably identical or 
nearly so.
   210 receivers came with a 10" Jensen speaker, 220 
receivers came with a 12" Jensen speaker.
   Normal power supplies were for 50/60 hz but a special 
which worked down to 25hz was available at extra cost.  I 
have one of these and it weighs a ton.
   Earlier versions of the receiver, the SP-100 series came 
originally without a crystal filter but one could be added. 
The 200 series used the same filter as the HQ-120-X.  The 
Rider's handbook for the SP-110 series also indicates X in 
the model number meant a crystal filter but its not the same 
circuit as in the later receivers, does not have a phasing 
(notch) adjustment,  and likely does not perform as well.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com