[R-390] blue striper

[Gene Beckwith]

*Gents, 

For those that missed the era of the "St. J Blue Striper's," there was 
an intense amount of information regarding the salvaging and rebuilding 
of these radios...the information was intense with more enthusiasm than 
I've ever seen...maybe passion is a better word...than anything before 
or since. 

Fair had these by the pallet load...and was a sight to behold...I picked 
up three...and all are restored to a level that few can tell from 
factory new...it is a job...and details on how-to abound including 
refinishing front panels, mechanical rebuilds of gearing and making new 
shaft clamps and on and on...

In one case I left a tell tale trace of blue paint under the top edge of 
the Veeder Root freq read out...just for kicks and to mark it's heritage 
as a true "St. J. Blue Striper....and yes...Blue was a common color as 
well as yellow and black...and in some cases all three on the same rig 
was evident...the paint was easly removed with laquar thinner with 
little or no harm to the original paint...

Many stories include taking home a sand and muck filled radio...plug it 
in...and Yep it ran..many stories like that just for kicks, prior to 
autopsy and a full rebuild....

It was a great time to rebuild the R390A...and prices then were a steal 
by todays standards...

Recent tip to Fair indicated few if any complete units left...with only 
picked over carcases for parts....again...it was a sight to see with 
pallets and pallets of these famous radios stacked to the rafters not so 
many years ago....

I currently have a working stable of R390a...some on HF...others with 
converters for VHF and UHF...doing nightly duty with local and not so 
local AMers as well as tracking international news broadcasts...and yes 
doing duty with ssb converters too, as stable as much of the plastic 
radios now on the air...

Nothing has come close to performance and dependability of these radios 
in spite of the nearly two years in the worst conditions...

If u missed the Blue Striper's...keep an eye out...and grab one ... they 
can be brought back to life and made to operate and look like factory new...

73,

Gene
W8KXR

btw...currently working on a Motorola that is pristine under the 
hood...it is oddly showing an eye-brow over the Meg band changer.  That 
is some serious tuning....old faded label on rear panel reads...Army 
Security Agency...Imagine the stories it could tell!  But, this radio is 
immaculate...almost too clean to support the eye-brow...again...who 
knows, and if they could only whisper a few stories of where they've 
been and what they've heard....

agn, 73




*


LEE BAHR wrote:
> Cecil and others.  I still get sick when I see this picture.  You are right, 
> glad some got restored.
>
> Lee, w0vt
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Cecil Acuff" <chacuff at cableone.net>
> To: <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 1:31 PM
> Subject: Re: [R-390] blue striper
>
>
>   
>> For posterity...here is the link for everyone...
>>
>> Good part is many of these ended up in restorers hands and these do make
>> good radio's with a little work.
>>
>> Cecil
>>
>> http://www.r390a.com/Archived%20Pages/radio_rape.html
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Rasputin Novgorod" <priapulus at yahoo.com>
>> To: <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 11:18 AM
>> Subject: [R-390] blue striper
>>
>>
>>     
>>> I've been reading old r-390 group emails. I've seen the term
>>> "blue striper", which I infer to be a scrapped/unfixable
>>> radio. Could anyone explain where "blue striper" comes
>>> from?
>>>
>>> Sincerely
>>> /b
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>
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