[HBR] HBR-16 Sighting

[whitebear1122 at comcast.net]

Kees wrote: "......and that they were never stripped for parts to build other projects. Shows a lot of pride in the resulting receiver." 

How true! I think I told the story here earlier in the summer when a local OT'er gave me his HBR-17. A mutual friend had been telling me about the old gent who built his own equipment. So one day the friend stops by and says lets go visit the good doctor. We did. I think I was being "interviewed" by the doctor to find out if I was worthy I guess. After the end of the discussion the OT tells me he'd like to give me his homemade receiver that he built in the early 60's. Turns out it is an HBR-17,(the HBR-16 that was hotrodded by Bill McKay W7QBR with the Q-multiplier, plus LSB,USB,CW selector, plus other fine tuning. The OT said it was as hot as any receiver today. I figured he might be embellishing the performance just a tad. hi hi 

It came with a full set of coils from 10m - 80m. The coil box was handwritten with words like "Precious! Coils for my homemade receiver, irreplaceable".He had stopped using it around 1973 and set it on the floor next to his operating desk, and there it sat until I moved all the junk off of it and pulled it out. 

It is very dusty and all knobs have some sort of fuzz or white growth on the top 180 degrees of the knob. The undersides are clean. While the shack has mega evidence of mice infestation, luckily there wasn't a single turd on the receiver. He also gave me all of the original design details including Bill McKays chassis layout and schematic, plus Ed Kents original offering of HBR notes. The receiver came with a homemade speaker cabinet has well, nicely done. 

I brought it home and brought it up slowly on a variac to make sure the HV caps were charging up and not shoring. It was still coiled up for 40m as it was when it was last used in the early 70's. 40m came to life and I was greeted with nice sounding cw signals. Wow the OT wasn't exaggerating at all, it was a hot performer. Signals that popped out of the low noise, great cw and SSB, stable. I popped in the 20m coils and listened around there. 20m was abuzz with some CW contest and the HBR held it's own as I picked my way through the bedlam. He was right, it was an amazing receiver. I have a brief youtube.com video of it, look for w0wb hbr-17 on youtube.com. 

So these guys like W7QBR, W6TC, W0WB were building quality ham receivers back in the 60's, no junk, no compromised radios, no toys, but communication quality receivers.. I think most hams just don't realize how good those receivers are (not were but ARE). 

Summer is a slow radio time for me as I do most of my radio'n in the Fall, Winter, and Spring. Till, I've collected nearly all the components now to build my own HBR receiver starting sometime this Fall. While I am planning to build an HBR-11, I must admit that the OT's HBR-17 has made me think about building that version instead based on its fabulous performance. 

I just took delivery yesterday of a superb radio cabinet and blank front panel and NOS Eddystone dial from a list member here. I haven't opened the box yet. I won't mention names yet until I get the ok. He had been saving it for his own HBR and decided that he may never get around to building it, so he gave it to me with the promise that I would build an HBR with it. Gads I can hardly wait to get started on my own HBR-11 or 17 this Fall, once I start and finish the walkout basement and shack remodeling project that my wife is asking for. hi hi 

I am buying passive parts including caps and resistors for two receivers, this one and a future end game HBR-13C. 

So yes there is alot of pride around those old HBR's and new HBR's. 

73, Scott WA9WFA in Saint Paul MN