[R-390] New 390A owner & fan

[Andy Jackson]

Greetings to all on this list.

Having recently realised a long ambition to own a R390A receiver I have
become a subscriber to this list and I gather that you guys  like to know
some details on "new found" sets.
It is a Motorola built one from order 14 - PH - 56 serial No 564.  It has a
screen-printed front panel in excellent condition and the whole set is
pretty clean and shiny for going on 50 years old.  Both meters are originals
and the set has top and bottom covers but these look so new and un-marked
that I suspect they are repros.  The PTO is a Collins and most of the
sub-assemblies are stamped MFP which I assume is Motorola.
Five of the tubes have IERC cans but mostly it has original silver ones. It
still has both rectifier tubes and the RT501 barretter is in place.  There
is no diode load jack.

It has some mods by a previous owner,  the BFO V505 has been replaced with a
6BE6 to make a product detector which I guess follows one of the well-known
mods to do this.  Also, the unbalanced antenna connector has been replaced
with an SO239 which I should be able to replace with the proper C type. The
balanced twin connector is still on pushed-in wires though as the proper
plug is unobtainable here.  The cover that goes over the crystal oscillator
subchassis is missing.

Haven't had the chance yet to look deep inside to see what's been replaced
but  it was demonstrated working before I bought it so functionally I know
that it's basically OK.   Functionally, everything seems to work.

Question:
It has only a single fuse holder on the rear panel which I think is correct
for this serial number but if the additional B+ fuses were worth fitting in
production, should I add them to my back panel like the factory or hide them
internally? Or not bother?

73 to all, and happy Independence Day to our friends on the other side of
the pond.

Andy Jackson  G8JAC   Surrey,  England