[Hammarlund] Hammarlund SP-600 History Item

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <jdteske at verizon.net>
To: <Hammarlund at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 6:08 AM
Subject: [Hammarlund] Hammarlund SP-600 History Item

      I sent Jon a rather rambling recollection of what I 
know about the history of the SP-600 but realize that there 
is a lot I don't know.  I wonder if anyone on this list has 
any inside information about why Hammarlund decided to make 
this receiver.  They advertized it, sort of, in about 1948 
in the back of the ARRL handbook, the ad features a picture 
that is probably either a drawing or a heavily retouched 
photo of a mock-up or prototype.  The specs and tube list 
are rather different from what was actually sold a couple of 
years later.  Collins seems to have have gotten the beat on 
a double-conversion receiver with the 75A-1 and shortly 
thereafter the 51J-1, the general coverage version. The 
SP-600 is a more conventional design in that it uses a fixed 
second conversion oscillator and a tunable first conversion 
oscillator where the Collins receivers use crystal 
controlled first conversion and a tunable second conversion 
oscillator, essentially a tunable IF. Since the two 
receivers must have been in the works at about the same time 
one wonders about what inspired each of them.  The history 
of anything can't be understood in isolation so I think some 
understanding of the economic conditions of the just 
post-war time is of some interest. Remember that there was a 
pretty severe re-adjustment to peace time conditions with 
rather rapid inflation and a lot of labor trouble.  Many 
companies who had been living on government contracts found 
them suddenly discontinued.  I suspect Hammarlund must have 
been struggling a bit.  Remember that this is around the 
time the HQ-129-X was announced (at $129) only to be 
discontinued very quickly and then re-released after several 
months at a higher price.  What, I wonder, was going on at 
Hammarlund.


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