[R-1051] R-390 vs. R390A

[Nick England]

Ha! If you can tune up a URC-9, anything else is easy!
Nick

On Wed, Feb 7, 2018 at 1:59 PM paul swed <paulswedb at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have to say stuff sitting around is just as bad as stuff being used.
> Everything deteriorates one way or another.
> But essentially they deteriorate at different rates and what we don't
> realize is the optimum life is some place between the two.
> The 390 mechanics are a nightmare. I have never had to work on them in the
> Navy. At the point I ran into them they were entertainment radios only.
> R1051s were the main radio circa 1970. I worked on UHF radios that were
> quite amazing mechanically SRC 20/21 urc9 exciter. There was a magical
> touch to tuning them across 220 MHz of bandwidth.
> I can still remember my first visit to Guam and walking into a radio hut
> that had racks and racks and racks of R390s.
> All off just sitting there. Quite the sight. The Guam environment was
> really nasty for radios. I restored the Collins KWM2 to operation in the
> ham shack.
>
> Back to the main theme. I simply do not see people pulling boat anchors
> around like I used to.
> Think that may come down to dealing with the weight and the interest in
> digging into the radios.
> These radios really are amazing but what can you say the ole iPhone works
> as well for most communications.
>
> Staying clear of the you've been nuked discussion.
> Regards
> Paul.
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 7, 2018 at 11:40 AM, Ray Fantini <RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > Thousand years ago I had a R-390 that I bought as a basket case, Had the
> > manual and tried and tried to get the mechanical systems aligned on that
> > radio but was never able to get it to work right on all the bands.
> Endless
> > cams, gears and some strange issues that when you got the radio to work
> in
> > one band segment it refused to work in another!
> > Have been told of the nicer sound filters and superior B+ regulation and
> > the like on the R-390 but have to say after that trauma of trying to get
> > that R-390 up and running will stick with the R-390A, maybe it's just
> > memory but the R-390A at least for me is about a thousand times easier to
> > work on and have the striping, cleaning and mechanical alignment down to
> a
> > simple process that's all easy to follow from the manual so I will stay
> > away from its non "A" brother.
> > This entire R-390A operation on my part is only an attempt to try to
> > generate revenue to have additional funds to piss away on other projects
> > and to try to offset the high cost of shows like Dayton.
> > But starting to think about what I have to shell out for radios that have
> > been in storage for decades, the labor involved in just getting these
> > radios cleaned up and working again and the logistics of loading up and
> > dragging them around starting to question the wisdom of the entire
> project.
> > At the point now of thinking that at $400 to $500 each am just breaking
> > even but do have the small satisfaction of seeing radios that have been
> > languishing around in storage for twenty or so years coming back to life
> > and maybe being useful to someone else.
> > Funny thing, you would think that the radio just sitting around and not
> > being used for a long time would not have as much affect as it does but
> > just think about it, if you parked a car and did not do anything with it
> > for twenty years do you think you can just get in it and drive away?
> >
> > Ray F/KA3EKH
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: r-1051-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:r-1051-bounces@
> > mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Lester Veenstra
> > Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2018 10:40 AM
> > To: 'R-1051 Discussion Group' <r-1051 at mailman.qth.net>; 'Military Radio
> > Collectors Association' <mrca at mailman.qth.net>; 'milsurplus' <
> > milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
> > Subject: Re: [R-1051] Frostfest AAR
> >
> > I bought the "Ratty" looking R-390/URR ($200)!!!.  Better receiver than
> an
> > A
> > (INHO) and a little surface dust accumulated in storage is a minor step
> in
> > getting it back in service.
> > But  first I still have to get these two R-1051s singing.   I good fest
> and
> > I hope the have the courage to grow it back to the two buildings it used
> > to occupy.
> >
> > http://r-390.com
> >
> > Lester B Veenstra  K1YCM  MØYCM  W8YCM   6Y6Y
> > lester at veenstras.com
> >
> > Physical and US Postal Addresses
> > 5 Shrine Club Drive (Physical)
> > HC84 452 Stable Ln (RFD USPS Mail)
> > Keyser WV 26726
> > GPS: 39.336826 N  78.982287 W (Google)
> > GPS: 39.33682 N  78.9823741 W (GPSDO)
> >
> >
> >
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-- 
Nick England K4NYW
www.navy-radio.com