[Milsurplus] The R-392 saga

[ED SHARPE]

I had one of these during my adventure in the late 70s with rtty swl fun
.. the 392 was more stable than the 390 or the r 388 I had
.. wish I had not gotten rid of my 392... need to find another clean one someday.  Ed archivist at smecc....
On Tuesday, December 24, 2019 David Olean <k1whs at metrocast.net> wrote:
Hello Hue,

I like the R-392 a lot.   It has the feel of the R-390 but that front 
panel just looks dangerous. It sure stands out in a crowd. I had to buy 
an RF deck to finish work on my unit. I used the 3-2 MHz variable IF 
rack and slugs, but have plenty of other parts here including most of 
the other slugs. I was going to make a list, but decided that was too 
much work, but I do want to inform people that I do have some parts if 
they come up short.  Tubes and resistors and capacitors are available, 
but the racks, slugs and coils are not off the shelf items.

I do not see many 392 sub assemblies for sale, but I know that those 
radios were everywhere back in the 60's. There must be a stash of parts 
around. I did call Fair Radio, and they have a stock of parts for the 
r-392. I did order a set of slugs from them.

My last operation on the R-392s will be a paint job. I got out my 
sander, rubber gloves, and Stripeze to remove 35 layers of OD paint.  
Along those lines, I got to reading about spray painting and black 
wrinkle varnish in particular. I concluded that a paint oven was needed 
for good results. I found a very neat Blue M lab oven at a surplus place 
in NH. The price was very right for an oven that would fit an R-392 case 
just fine. It has stainless racks and interior and a digital readout 
temp control so I can adjust the heat for best drying. It has presets 
and I set it to 50C for baking paint.  The 392 does not need a wrinkle 
finish, but baking the paint is a big plus for any paint job. (No 
mosquitoes inside the oven!) I bought a couple of gravity feed spray 
guns and am getting ready to try my hand at re finishing the three 392 
cases. My "F.T.A." unit  (R-392 #3)has much of the front panel lettering 
worn off. I asked my Artsie Craftsie brother about silk screening.  He 
advised me to leave it alone as it adds to the provenance of the radio.  
Still, screen printing is an option. He told me about the process. It 
gets difficult without a flat panel, but still can be done. I know some 
restorers have screens for R-390 panels. Is there any one who can do an 
R-392?  Making a good new screen is not that trivial. All three of my 
radios are early Collins units and are not engraved, and all suffer from 
less than perfect lettering.

Merry Christmas to all. I have a BC-342N that I am restoring for a 
Christmas present. The plan is to gift it to my oldest grandson to use 
in his house along with a long wire antenna. We made a crystal set 
together, and he used that for awhile, but ran out of stations to hear. 
We converted it to have a transistor audio amplifier. That made a huge 
improvement. He could separate WABC at 770 with the Toronto station at 
740 KHz. So now it is time to get him a real radio! I'll put a red bow 
on it.

Dave K1WHS

On 12/24/2019 9:15 AM, Hubert Miller wrote:
> Thanks for posting this, David. It is interesting and helpful. I have a hacked R-392 in storage and I think I have now decided against getting rid of it;
> instead, after reading your experience and results, I think I'm going to repair and restore it, and cast the evil eye at some other receivers I have.
> -Hue
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