[R-390] Lucky R-390A find on eBay...

[Gary Pewitt]

Norm, you must have the nicest, cleanest R-390 in existence.  Even 
Rick Mish doesn't make them look that nice.  I know 'cause I had one 
of his full house rebuilds.  I'd still replace the "capacitors of 
death" and check out the mechanical filters.
At first I thought that $760.00 didn't seem like that much of a 
bargain.  Then I looked at the pictures.  Now I have to clean the 
drool off my keyboard.  You are one lucky guy.
Best of luck with it.  73  Gary




At 09:15 PM 11/28/2008, Norm - WA3KEY wrote:
>Greetings to all on the list.
>
>I've been a subscriber (in digest form) for many years but only
>post once in a while when in need of a hard-to-find part.  A few
>weeks ago an R-390 caught my eye on eBay.  It was listed as a
>Stewart Warner and only featured one small, out-of-focus picture
>with covers on.  The brief description read "working," "selling
>for a friend" and the odometer was on "28,185."  I was looking
>for a reasonably clean, working radio for restoration or possibly
>parts (I already have 5 others), so thought this one might go for
>a reasonable price.  It did, and I won the auction for $760.
>
>Upon arrival I peeled away the bubble-wrap and the first thing
>that caught my eye was what I thought was a reproduction top
>cover.  I pulled the radio out of the box and was happy to see a
>front panel that looked like new and a back panel that featured
>an original line cord with metal 3-wire plug neatly stowed in its
>clip.  I popped the top cover and my jaw dropped.  Aside from a
>thin layer of dust, it looked like a new radio.  As I carefully
>removed the modules, one-by-one, they all revealed EAC markings
>... not Stewart Warner as indicated by the nameplate.
>
>Long story short - all the tubes were either GE or RCA (except
>for the ballast, of course) and bore the same "68" date codes as
>the original font panel meters.  Even more remarkable was that
>aside from the 0A2 and 26Z5's (which run hotter) all the silk
>screen markings on the tubes remained fast even when rubbed with
>a damp cloth.  This was a new radio!  The only sign of age was a
>hardening of the insulation in the line cord and slight yellowing
>of the white lines on the knobs.  A close inspection of the
>"green" screws revealed no scratches and the tubes almost seemed
>welded in their sockets for not having been touched in 40 years.
>As expected, they all tested as new in my TV-7D/U.
>
>All the radio required was a good cleaning with compressed air
>and a dry paint brush and some soapy water on a cloth.  Some
>Tarn-X was applied to the silver plated surfaces with Q-tips and
>a few of the knobs had some small paint chips to touch up.
>Electrically, the radio came right up to spec with the exception
>of transformer Z216 in the high-IF which failed to peak and was
>replaced.
>
>Since most of us will never get to see what a new R-390A looks
>like, I took photos of all the modules before reassembly and posted
>them at my Web site.  Thirty high-resolution photos tell the story
>at  www.wa3key.com/r390a   (r390a-01.jpg thru r-390a-30.jpg)
>
>I e-mailed the seller informing it was the cleanest R-390A I've
>ever seen and inquiring as to the radio's origin, but he never
>replied.
>
>Enjoy the photos...
>
>73 de Norm - WA3KEY
>norm at wa3key.com
>
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Gary Pewitt  N9ZSV   garypewitt at centurytel.net  479 675 4376
1500 French Prairie Rd. Booneville, Arkansas  72927
Sturgeon's Law "Ninety percent of everything is crap."
Pewitt's Law: But it's that other 10% that makes life worth living."