[Milsurplus] Japanese Boatanchors

[Hue Miller]

I too had the Lafayette as a first receiver, and i was very impressed with its 
construction quality - less so with the operational ability, as time went on.
I still don't understand why the engineer knuckleheads would have some
of the dial scale numbers upside down. The numbers would  be okay if
the semicircle dial was horizontal, not vertical. I think my disgust with that
is maybe the main reason i have no desire to own one again, maybe that and
the weenie dial touch, i mean the tuning feel is just not impressive. However,
if you look inside, the quality of the parts is very good, including the large
IF cans, especially compared to parts US radios in the same price class. The
Lafayette with the slide rule dial, KT-320 / HE-30, as i see it, is a takeoff on the
National NC-105. The similarities are the sliderule dial, the part-time BFO /
Q mult, and the grey crinkle finish. Again, the Lafayette is better quality and
better price, i think. If i recall, the National used little IF cans like from any 
plastic kitchen radio, the ones held in by a clip. I happen to like this styling
on this one a lot, nice looking machine. Of course, it suffers from what all those
ones did, poor bandspread and dial resolution. And actually, that part-time BFO
/ Q mult is a dumb idea, like you don't need selectivity when using cw or SSB ??
Another triode part of a tube would not have been that expensive.
-Hue Miller