[HBR] Fw: Re: Fw: HBR-16

[Walt Hutchens]

Tim's thinking mirrors mine:
> Labor value (condidering workmanship and knowledge etc.) in building a
> HBR-16 from scratch is in the several thousand dollar range (assuming
> you can get all the parts off-the-shelf and it can be assembled/
> aligned in a 40 hour work week).  

I built a receiver along the lines of the HBR 13's a couple of years back.   The 'one month 
HBR' turned out to take about six weeks from start to (near) finish.   I probably averaged 4 
hours a day, seven days a week -- 170 hours would be close.   It works fine but still needs a 
diagram, has coils for 160 through 20M but not 10 or 6M, it has a decent home made 
cabinet but dial has only been roughly calibrated.   Say another 30 hours to finish it?    

Except for minor items available from modern stock (disk ceramics ...) I had all the parts.   
The only real innovation was the use of (rewound) command receiver coil sets mounted 
through the panel rather than three individual coils going in from the top.  There were few 
problems, and those were minor.   

Doing a nearly identical design again, I'd guess I could shave a quarter from the total time -- 
150 hours to a finished job.   

That's ASSUMING all the parts are on hand.  Since I built that one, I don't expect they 
would be, so we should add the time (and expense) to find them.   I have no idea how you'd 
price that -- I often go to a couple of hamfests looking for something specific and don't find 
it, but then maybe I'll get enough at the next 'fleafest to build several receivers.

(I've been looking for 3" to 5" speakers, 4 ohm, for the last 3-4 'fests, found none until the 
recent Berryville VA one, from which I brought back ~8 and could have had more.   I still 
need small p-p plate to 4-8 ohm voice coil transformers ...)

> Most of use do much more puttering and tinkering and realistically it
> is several hundreds of hours put into a HBR-16 with all the "fun" of
> fooling around with it. 

Yep.  It's a hobby.   

> Resulting cost ... would have to be in the $20K or more range. 

I would deal with the digital readout and similar improvements by saying this will be a 
reasonably faithful rendition of the HBR-16 design because that's what I know how to do; I 
am afraid I am unable to negotiate changes to a 40-some year old design.  You can make 
whatever enhancements you like, once you receive it.

Considering the parts issue -- prices for the many 'vintage' parts must all include labor and 
overhead (travel/lodging to go to hamfests) cost to locate them, disassembly and cleanup 
on those from trash equipment, 'shrinkage' due to those that are fatally defective -- I think 
your price is in the  right ballpark.   I'd suggest that this person bid $1000 each on every 
HBR that shows up on eBay for the next year or two, save the packing, pick the best and put 
the rest of them back on eBay for a buy-it-now of $10.   We'd all get cheap HBR's and he'd 
have a genuine(and NICE) vintage HBR for less than the cost to build.

I found a set of small plug-in coil forms the other day.   I wonder if anyone out there has 
built a battery operated HBR?   It might take ~20 tubes to do it right.  

Just another of Walt's nutty ideas ...

Walt Hutchens
KJ4KV