[Milsurplus] [MMRCG] "Radio Prepares for War"

Mon Apr 27 12:15:58 EDT 2020

I should have said "state of the art" - Al

On 4/27/2020 12:11 PM, Al Klase wrote:
> Hi Ray,
>
> The things you say are true, but my point of view focuses on "the 
> state of the ."  James Millen had hams believing that the HRO was the 
> best receiver in the world, when the truth was it was the best 
> receiver they could afford.  (Well, for a lot of hams that might have 
> been an SW-3 or FB-7, both National products.)
>
> The HRO may have led the industry for a short time, but was completely 
> out classed by the Hammarlund Super-Pro.  From my vantage point, as an 
> all-wave SWL kinda guy, the HRO's uncalibrated dial and plug-in coils 
> are an unacceptable PITA. As to affordability , the Hammarlund HQ-120 
> was the best pre-war ham set.
>
> Meanwhile, RCA was the 700-pound gorilla of SW receiver design, but 
> most of that was high-buck stuff for the military..
>
> I feel the HRO design persisted as long as it did, through HRO-50 and 
> HRO-60, because the interchangeable coils, and LF coverage made it a 
> desirable receiver in the lab.
>
> My further two cents,
> Al
>
> On 4/27/2020 11:24 AM, Ray Fantini wrote:
>>
>> Come on man, give me a brake.
>>
>> The HRO receivers were a pre war product that has excellent 
>> performance, low noise, selective and most important of all a simple 
>> efficient clean design. Remember we are talking about pre war design 
>> so a fair comparison would be something like the RCA AR-60 a good 
>> receiver but cost almost three times as much and was more complex and 
>> harder to build. The AR-88 did not appear until 1940 and it’s a fine 
>> radio but looking at it you can see it was produced with how to build 
>> something faster and cheaper then the radios of the late thirties. 
>> Don’t know the sale price of the AR-88 but suspect it was more then 
>> the HRO.
>>
>> Don’t want to get into comparison with the way over built and 
>> overweight RAK/RAL TRF monsters or the RBA/RBB and RBC that 
>> demonstrate just how complex, heavy and large you can make a 
>> receiver. Ok, before anyone gets offended I understand that on a war 
>> ship you need mass for stability and to counter act the effect of gun 
>> fire and poor voltage regulation but who will not admit that those 
>> are all really heavy radios.
>>
>> The HRO family including the striped down RAS was pound for pound and 
>> dollar for dollar the best value and level of performance in any 
>> radio of its price class imagine you were able to buy at least four 
>> or five complete HRO sets for the cost of one RBB or RBC.
>>
>> And as far as Hammarlund goes what receiver are you referring to? 
>> Maybe Hallicrafters and the SX-28 but its not easy to find may items 
>> like the National HRO that was able to make the transition from the 
>> Ham Commercial market to the military world with a minimum of 
>> changes, radios like the National HRO and others like the 
>> Hallicrafters family of transmitters including the HT-1, HT-14 and 
>> the HT-4, BC-610 demonstrated how some of the best of the Ham world 
>> like the HRO served almost as well as the over designed and over 
>> priced hardware produced just for military applications.
>>
>> My 1939 HRO RAS despite its image problem is still one of my favorite 
>> receivers to use for AM, and I will stand up for it any day of the week!
>>
>> Ray F/KA3EKH
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *From:* MMRCG at groups.io <MMRCG at groups.io> on behalf of Al Klase via 
>> groups.io <ark=ar88.net at groups.io>
>> *Sent:* Sunday, April 26, 2020 7:42 PM
>> *To:* MMRCG at groups.io <MMRCG at groups.io>; milsurplus at mailman 
>> <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
>> *Subject:* Re: [MMRCG] "Radio Prepares for War"
>> Interesting articles, but HORSE FEATHERS! The real leaders in 
>> military short-wave were RCA and Hammarlund.
>> See my page. 
>> <http://www.skywaves.ar88.net/commrx/Receiver_Time_Line.html>
>> The HRO was a big hit with the Britts,  because they were available.  
>> Hammarlund and RCA already had the US government contracts.
>>
>> Al
>>
>> On 4/26/2020 3:43 PM, David Stinson wrote:
>>> I was surprised to see a PBS station produce this.
>>> Think you'll like it.
>>>
>>> https://www.wshu.org/post/radio-prepares-war-part-1
>>> https://www.wshu.org/post/radio-prepares-war-part-2#stream/0
>>>
>>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Al Klase – N3FRQ
>> Jersey City, NJ
>> http://www.skywaves.ar88.net/
>>
>
> -- 
> Al Klase – N3FRQ
> Jersey City, NJ
> http://www.skywaves.ar88.net/
>
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-- 
Al Klase – N3FRQ
Jersey City, NJ
http://www.skywaves.ar88.net/

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