[Heathkit] The AR-3

[Richard Force]

Every time I hear of an AR-3 it reminds me of my friend who got one for
Christmas back in 1957 or so. We were just kids. His father worked for
Daystrum, which at the time was the parent company of Heathkit.  Well,
my friend built the kit but could not get it working so he took it to
the local TV repair guy down the street to see if he could fix it.  When
he got it back it seems the guy had hack sawed the rotor plates on the
main tuning cap to get it on frequency. Needless to say, the guy told my
friend that he couldn't get it working.  Fortunately, my friend's father
managed to get a brand new kit from the factory for him. I often wonder
how many TVs this guy ever fixed.

Rich, WB1ASL

-----Original Message-----
From: heathkit-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:heathkit-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Glen Zook
Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2005 7:47 PM 
To: Kenneth G. Gordon; Heathkit at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Heathkit] The AR-3

The AR-3 was my first "real" receiver.  My parents
bought me a used one from Allied Radio (100 North
Western Avenue, Chicago, Illinois) for Christmas 1957.
 It replaced an old Western Auto broadcast plus
shortwave receiver that I had salvaged.

I replaced it with a Hallicrafters S-107 in the Spring
of 1959 between the time I took my Novice examination
and actually received the license in the mail.  The
S-107 is basically a repackaged S-53A and is a
slightly better receiver than the AR-3.

I got another AR-3 a few years ago to "re-create" my
pre-Novice "shack".  Frankly, although it is better
than the S-38/SW-54 series, it still is a pretty
lousey receiver when compared with those of today. 
However, no one told us how lousey our receivers were
back in the late 1950s and early 1960s (drifty,
insensitive, broad as a barn) so we just made a lot of
QSOs and had a lot of fun.  

Sometimes, when I hear someone complaining about QRM
from an SSB station over 3 KHz away, a CW station over
1 KHz away, etc., I want to require every new amateur
to spend at least 6 months using the "typical" Novice
receiver from the late 1950s (not Collins, etc., but
the real "low end" stuff).  After that they wouldn't
complain one bit about how the "modern" stuff works.

Glen, K9STH

--- "Kenneth G. Gordon" <kgordon at moscow.com> wrote: I
am curious how the other members of this list look
> upon the AR-3?

Glen, K9STH

Web sites

http://home.comcast.net/~k9sth
http://home.comcast.net/~zcomco

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