[R-390] Blackface 390A on the e-place - BEWARE

[Roy Morgan]

R-390 folks,

This is a followup to the thread:
"Big bucks blackface 390A on the e-place"
about Item 5761820560, and is the story as I know it.


I got a call this morning from Howard Mills.  He's the person I referred to 
in my post to the R-390 list:

" ... A well known restorer of "black Collins" radios did a batch of black 
R-390A panels not too long ago. I wonder if this is one from that batch. ... "

In fact, it is. Howard shared with me some of the background on the 
situation and suggested that I post the information here. This is the story 
as I know it.

About a month ago Gary Baker, W3OG, had an R-390 and sold it to the seller 
of Item 5761820560, Dr. Jan C. Robbins, N0JR.  Dr. Robbins wanted a black 
faced radio, apparently because he had a black cabinet, so Gary took the 
radio to Howard.  Howard noticed the following:

1) The front panel was bent in the upper right corner.
2) The radio played well.
3) The nomenclature tag on the panel was a reproducton Collins tag of the 
more common short size.
4) The PTO was a COSMOS unit, and the name tag on it had scuff marks and 
scrapes.
5) The radio interior was moderately clean but by no means pristine.
6) The meters were of the type that do not have separate front covers.
7) He did not determing what the manufacturer of the radio was.  He did not 
remove any modules although it appeard to him that the modules in the radio 
were from various manufacturers, as is typical of many R-390A's that have 
seen service and periodic depot maintenance.
8) He did not do extensive electrical or mechanical restoration of the 
radio, alignment, or cleaning, other than replacing the panel, knobs and 
frequency readout escutcheon.

There was a discussion between Howard and Gary about Dr. Robbins' desire to 
have the radio sent to another well known restorer of R-390A's and keeper 
of an extensive web site on the subject. It was Howard's opinion that the 
radio performed well and since it was moderately clean to start with, the 
value added would not be worth the cost.  The well-known restorer was 
offered the job but delined it.

Howard accepted the job of installing a refinished black front panel, knobs 
and frquency readout escutcheon.  The panel he installed was of the type 
that uses a longer nomenclature tag.  The tag on the replaced panel was 
from Motorola.  The panel, knobs, and frequency readout escutcheon had been 
refinished with black satin powercoat paint. The charge for the panel was 
adjusted upwards to account for the need for metal restoration work on the 
exchange panel.

He re-installed the original meters without refinishing them. The powder 
coating process he uses involves baking at over 500 degrees F and only 
meter fronts that are separate from the meters can be refinished this way. 
The heat would ruin the whole meter.

The now-blackfaced radio was shipped by Gary to Dr. Robbins within the last 
few weeks.  Dr. Robbins posted Item 5761820560 on Ebay on March 20, 2005.

A background note on black faced R-390A's: Howard bought an R-390A with 
a  black panel at a hamfest about five years ago, and still has it.  The 
panel is black *anodized* aluminum, not painted, and appears to be the 
original panel.  Visitors to Howard's shop commented on the black radio and 
so Howard refinished a batch of panels in black satin powder coat 
paint.  He now offers these panels on an exchange basis for $150.00.  Meter 
covers, knobs, and frequency readout escutcheons are available 
also.  Reports have been heard from time to time about black faced R-390A's 
and the government agency that is supposed to have used them.  I don't have 
any good information from people who were "there at the time".  It appears 
that at least one batch of R-390A'a was built with black anodized aluminum 
panels.  The panels, knobs, etc., that Howard offers are black satin power 
coated.

I summarize the situation.
The quotes are from Ebay's auction Item 5761820560.

1)  "This is my carefully collected, thoroughly restored, 
intelligence-agency-black R-390A."
  - Gary shipped a black-faced R-390A to Dr. Robbins within the last few 
weeks.  That radio had not been recently restored except for newly 
refinished panel, knobs, and frequency readout escutcheon.  The finish used 
was black satin powder coat.

2) "...the radio has been perfectly aligned."
  - No alignment was done recently to the radio shipped to Dr. 
Robbins.  That radio was working well and apparently not in need of 
alignment.  No thourough testing for such things as sensitivity, IF 
alignment, BFO calibration, PTO endpoint errors, HF crystal oscillator 
peaking, or the like had been done on it.

3) "I have compared this receiver on CW, SSB, and AM in hundreds of A/B 
tests with my Icom IC-775DSP."
  - Comparisons with the radio Gary sent to Dr. Robbins would have been 
done in the last week or two.

4) "It is mechanically, electronically, operationally and cosmetically as 
close to perfect as any R-390A you'll ever find anywhere,  and absolutely 
beautiful. When you first take it out of the box YOU'LL THINK IT JUST CAME 
FROM THE FACTORY--NO EXAGGERATION (only the  rear panel reveals this 
receiver has ever been used)."
  - The radio recently shipped to Dr. Robbins by Gary had a moderately 
clean but not pristine interior, the meters had been removed (unsoldered) 
and replaced in the refinished panel, the COSMOS PTO has scratched and 
damaged label, and the modules in the radio appeared to have been a 
collection of various modules from normal depot overhaul and maintenance.

5) "( ... this is  the best by far). I have had great pleasure restoring it 
to that highest level, and I do not like to see it go, but I am ageing and 
near retirement ... "
  - The radio shipped to Dr Robbins by Gary was not pristine inside and had 
not been completely restored in the manner expected from Howard or the well 
known restorer of R-390A's who declined to work on it.
  - It appears that Dr. Robbins is 61 years old.

6) "Third, the receiver comes with a NEW-STYLE SSB CONVERTER that simply 
attaches to "line," "AGC" and ground connections on rear of radio; no 
internal mods. "
  - In the past a sealed module was offered that attaches to the R-390 in 
the same manner that creates audio-derived AGC voltage.  An article 
appeared in Hollow State News about the module, and reported poor 
performance compared to the radio's normal AGC system. The module was taken 
apart and found to consist of one diode, one capacitor and one resistor, 
the values of which were reported. The author may have been Dallas 
Lankford.  The module reported on was supposed to help in AGC action while 
receiving SSB signals, *not* convert IF signals to audio as other SSB 
adapters or internal receiver modifications do.

7) "  METERS ARE ALL ORIGINAL(!), a rarity. I wanted to keep them that way, 
so didn't powder coat."
" ...the inside is as clean and neat as the outside, ...."
  - It is the sellers opinion that original meters on an R-390A are rare. 
Other workers familiar with the radio find that meter-less radios or radios 
with substitute meters are the less common.
  -  The meters on the radio shipped recently to Dr. Robbins had no 
removable front bezel and so could not be powder coated.
  - The front panel of the radio shipped recently to Dr. Robbins had been 
recently refinished in powder coat paint. The interior was clean but not 
pristine.

8) "Cabinet is  FACTORY NEW (yes, BRAND NEW!!), a shiny 
intelligence-agency-black milspec CY-979A, the only new black one I have 
ever seen."
  - In the last couple of years, a number of new CY-979A cabinets were 
available from Mac McCullough.  It is not clear if any of those were 
black.  It has been reported that those cabinets came from a military 
source.  The three at this location appear to be genuine military equipment 
and arrived in new condition.
  - The front panel of the radio recently shipped to Dr. Robbins is black 
satin powder coat and would not match a shiny finished cabinet.

9) "NOTE: NOTE: I should have mentioned that Bidder ID is kept private in 
this auction to protect the privacy of honest bidders. A growing number of 
dishonest individuals make it a practice to contact and even harass those 
who bid on someone else's listed items, and I don't intend to help them. "
  - A (possibly growing) number of Ebay sellers make Bidders ID's private 
to allow them to cooperate with someone who dishonestly bids the item up in 
price with no intention of actually buying it.  This may entice bidders 
from such places as Germany and Japan to become interested in the item, and 
bid more for it than they would if they knew its true condition. The world 
of gambling uses the words "shill" "mark" and "patsy" to describe this 
activity.
  - Reports have been seen of extreme dissatisfaction among auction winners 
when they asked Ebay to help resolve issues with sellers.
  - It is unclear whether a seller of an item with private Bidders ID's has 
access to the bidding information, but a noble step would be to ask all 
bidders if they mind revealing that information later and make it available.

10) "... dishonest individuals make it a practice to contact and even 
harass those who bid on someone else's listed items, and I don't intend to 
help them. "
  - I belive I am an honest individual, and I certainly would send a copy 
of this to bidders of Item 5761820560 if I could.  My intention would be to 
help them understand clearly the nature of what appears to be offered.

That is the situation as I know it.
Roy

Roy Morgan
K1LKY since 1959
7130 Panorama Drive, Derwood MD 20855
301-330-8828 home .... 301-975-3254 work
roy.morgan at nist.gov