[R-390] Julien Creek receivers...

[Todd Bigelow - PS]

Kenneth G. Gordon wrote:

>I have heard that the Julien (sp?) Creek R-390-A receivers 
>bought and then sold by Fair Radio are all so water-soaked from 
>being stored outside that restoring them is practically 
>impossible.
>
>Is this true?
>

Ken -

Some time ago the ol' sage Nolan gave his opinion on these radios. I 
believe it was based not only in his past experiences with many of these 
radios, but also with the work involved in restoring them to top 
condition. The problem was and is the degree of damage done over time 
and the amount of work required to restore and/or repair it. This was 
then compared to what you could buy a decent working or restorable 
example for, one that hadn't been exposed to the elements for years.

To cut to the chase, Nolan figured it was just not worth the hassle to 
bother. Mainly because to do it right, you'd pretty much need to tear 
the radio down to parts (not just modules) and reassemble it, replacing 
many components and pieces, if you really hoped to have a reliable 
radio. Coils, caps, resistors.....many items would absorb moisture over 
an extended period of exposure. Combine this with the many bad 
electrical and mechanical connections to be expected and you get the idea.

I don't think his intent was ever to claim no one should bother, more 
that they'd be better off to use a blue striper as a parts donor for a 
rig in better shape. It was just a clear case of the potential time and 
money invested by the time you got through, what you'd likely have to 
replace, and would you just be better off finding a better set to start 
with.

If you have a lot of time and access to a lot of known-good parts, and 
if the blue striper (name given to radios from the 'St Julian's Creek 
Massacre' derived from the blue stripe painted across all of the radios 
on the pallet) was free or really cheap, then go for it. Nolan's 
original post was with respect to the prices being charged for them by 
Fair Radio and perhaps others who were selling them at the time. He 
figured with the $200+/- price, the price of parts you'd likely need to 
replace (many if it was one of the exposed top/front/side victims), the 
difficulty in finding some of the coils and other scarce parts, and the 
time you'd have invested you'd be better off to pay more for an example 
that was never exposed to the elements like that.

I tend to agree from the time/cost/availability side. We're fortunate to 
live in a time when decent R-390As are still plentiful and comparatively 
inexpensive. 100 years from now a blue striper will probably be worth 
its weight in gold. Okay, maybe not *that* much....


Boomer,  KA1KAQ