[HBR] HBR-17 On Youtube

[whitebear1122 at comcast.net]

Out of the blue I was recently given an HBR receiver that the OT called an HBR-17. He said it's Bill McKay's variation of the HBR-16 with the addition of a Q-Multiplier and some other improvements. He also built it with the rare Eddystone dial. In fact the receiver came with the Eddystone receipt as well. Gosh those Eddystone dials are just fabulous albeit kind of a mechanical pain in the butt to implement. 

He had been looking for just the right ham to give the HBR to, one who knew what it was and appreciated it. A mutual friend introduced us. When we met I was sort of grilled about radios and the talk turned to the homemade radios. Lucky for me I knew alot about the history of the HBR's and a little about TC. The OT must have been satisfied because he decided to give it to me. 

The OT's family had told him that his stuff would go into the trash when the time came so the OT wasn't taking any chances. 

It hasn't been used since 1973 and kind of looks like it too. It had been sitting on the floor next to his operating bench all that time. I didn't clean it all for the video so you're seeing it in all it's glory. The receiver is coiled up for 20m in the video. I must say the Eddystone is still smooth after all these unused years. It came with a complete set of coils from 10m through 80m. I will mention that the coil box was marked "Precious" and irreplaceable coils for the HBR receiver. 

The youtube video is located at: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqRSI99g1x8 

To power it after 38 years of being powered down, I brought it up over several minutes in a variac. I wasn't trying to reform the capacitors, but instead I wanted to avoid the sudden inrush currents that might occur from just plugging it in and turning it on. 

The receiver worked right off the bat and I found it to be completely stable, very sensitive, good audio although the AGC audio was a bit low in amplitude. I'm still learning how to use it. 

So as I now own a Bill McKay HBR-17, I can hardly wait to build my own receivers. I think I've finally nailed down the plan. I want to build an HBR-11 first and then an HBR-13. 

I'm still looking for a few of the unobtainium HBR parts. Looking for three Miller 1709 or 1710 ( I have one so far), 100 KC IF, and two 1730 1800 kc IF. 

73, Scott WA9WFA