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

Mon Apr 27 13:45:54 EDT 2020

It’s kind of the pot calling the kettle black. Yes the mechanical dial assembly on the HRO Can be an issue but the Band spread dial on the HQ-120 is just as bad. I have never liked receivers with two tuning dials to the extent that I was unable to determine where the receiver was. The reduction drive on the HRO allows the operator plenty of fine tuning without having to resort to two different and almost never aligning tuning dials but maybe that’s just me, as many will tell you I am not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Think when most receivers were used in military service the BC-221 was never far away and that’s how you set frequency.

As far as the plug in coil assemblies that’s one of the best parts, no issues with dirty band switches and buckets of isolation, maybe not in the day but know that after years band switch issues are often a problem, isn’t that the reason that they went to the big drum in the SP-600 in order to get the isolation and mechanical stability of the HRO without plug in coils?

Ray F/KA3EKH

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From: MMRCG at groups.io <MMRCG at groups.io> on behalf of Al Klase via groups.io <ark=ar88.net at groups.io>
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2020 12:15 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"

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<mailto:MMRCG at groups.io> <MMRCG at groups.io><mailto:MMRCG at groups.io> on behalf of Al Klase via groups.io <ark=ar88.net at groups.io><mailto:ark=ar88.net at groups.io>
Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2020 7:42 PM
To: MMRCG at groups.io<mailto:MMRCG at groups.io> <MMRCG at groups.io><mailto:MMRCG at groups.io>; milsurplus at mailman <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net><mailto: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/

--
Al Klase – N3FRQ
Jersey City, NJ
http://www.skywaves.ar88.net/

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