[R-390] R-390/A Rescue

[KC8OPP Roger S.]

Hello group,

This is one of those stories that had I not been
involved with would be a bit hard to believe,  But
what follows is the absolute truth.

A week back while finishing up an AM QSO on 40M, A ham
from KY called me and said that he had been listening
to the conservation about R-390s.  He had delivered
his to a local ham for repair a while back.  The radio
was deemed "beyond economical repair" so he had told
the repairing ham to dispose of the radio.  He passed
along his name and telephone number and of course I
gave him a call.

When I called to see if the radio was still available,
there was a short pause on the line.  The R-390 was
available, but to dispose of it he had tried to put
the radio out for the trash man and was told that it
was to big and bulky and would have to be in smaller
pieces to be allowed in the trash.  So he proceeded to
dis-assemble the radio by taking out all of the
modules, removing the front panel and controls, and
taking apart the main chassis and he was about to take
the VFO apart.  He said he would stop taking it apart
if I was interested..........DUH!

Well 630 miles and $25 later there is now a
Stewart-Warner #1858 R-390/A in the basement shop. 
The only thing missing is the antenna relay, which had
been replaced with some yet to be determined hay-wire
so-239's.  Came complete with original meters and ID
tag, plus all the tubes covered with IERC shields.

Some assembly is required, but should not be to
difficult.  Most of the cut wires are still long
enough to make the connections.  The frame is back
together, front panel now has the harness and all
controls and should start making the connections this
weekend.  Did I mention that he also included the
operations and maintenance manual.

The VFO is a cosmos, but all of the modules are
Stewart-Warner.  The RF deck mech alignment has
slipped, but overall looks OK.  Initial plans are to
re-assemble, repair and align.

This is the first 390/A here, but should fit in OK
with the three non A's already in service.  I may have
some questions for the group regarding particulars of
the A model as this project moves along.

I do have some pictures of the pile of parts and am
taking more as the re-assembly moves along.  A friend
has a web site so will see if we can put some info and
pictures there.

Sorry about taking up so much bandwidth with the long
winded story, but I will try to keep ya'll posted as
things move along.

Gary, WB8BEM came along for the ride and will back me
up on this rescue story, like I said in the beginning,
almost un-believable.

73's
Roger
KC8OPP


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