[R-390] The radio machine, getting bit by the bug

[Adam Vaughn]

For me, I first heard about shortwave sometime in the late '80s/early '90s. We had an old decrepit Silvertone wood table radio from the early '40s in the basement, and I played around with its knobs and buttons numerous times, though I knew never to plug it in. The half-airplane dial had at least one shortwave band, with numerous country names listed on it. Later on, while reading the old DAK catalogs, I came across their ads for world-band radios, with their breathless descriptions of shortwave listening. "Hear Boris Yeltsin as if he were standing in your own living room!"

Several years later, a relative handed me down a Hallicrafters S-118 receiver, along with a Ray-Jefferson 630/RDF direction finder set. Both had some manner of shortwave band, but I first made use of the Ray-Jeff, since I couldn't get any SW signals with the Halli (I didn't yet understand the concept of an external antenna!). While playing with the Ray-Jeff's marine band, I made my first reception of a SW signal, the good ol' CHU time signal. I'd never heard of WWV, and I was fascinated with the idea of someone announcing the time over the air, even if it seemed to be five hours off from the local time (my introduction to the concept of UTC!).

Regardless, I kept playing around with the Halli. Still didn't know it needed an antenna, but I turned those dials relentlessly, looking for signals. Finally, after some knob-twiddling, I managed to pick up a religious station out of Georgia. Eventually, I realized that some sort of external antenna was needed, so I connected an "AM Loop" antenna borrowed from the back of a stereo receiver. That improved things dramatically, allowing me to pick up a number of signals, including one (apparently) out of Czechoslovakia! I also discovered WBCQ, which was just getting its start at the time. In addition, I got my very first taste of ham radio, picking up AMers on 75m. The S-118 was very drift-y, but it was a start.

A few more years later, a family friend gave me an old tubed Zenith TransOceanic portable from the late '50s. With an antenna taller than I was, it picked up international signals from all over, and even ran on batteries (built a pack for it using D-cells and 9 volt batteries). It was in rough shape, and needed a few parts replaced (the line-bypass capacitor blew up during my first listening session), but it worked quite well. Around this time, I put up my very first outside shortwave antenna for the S-118, using Radio Shack's long-wire antenna kit strung along the top of a fence.

Some time after that, I hit the jackpot. While in high school, I learned that there were a couple of old military boatanchors in the back room of the electronics shop. Among them were an R-390A and an R-392. I didn't know what they were, but they looked quite interesting, and the 'digital' tuning was unlike anything I'd ever seen on a tube radio. I inquired about them, and was told that they weren't working, and that I couldn't even try them out. After I graduated, I learned that the electronics shop was being moved to another part of the building, I went back to check on their status. Sure enough, during one of my visits, my old instructor asked me, "Hey Adam, you want these old radios?" I couldn't haul them to my car fast enough. :D Going from the Halli S-118 to the R-390A was like trading in a Chevette for a Corvette, and I haven't looked back since.
-Adam

 
-- 
Adam Vaughn
Collector of old computers, video game systems, radios and other electronic equipment... 
Visit my page at http://www.electronixandmore.com/adam/index.html
 
On 04/15/16, Tisha Hayes<tisha.hayes at gmail.com> wrote:
 
I was bit by the bug when I was around ten years old. My father came back
from some hamfest with an SP-200 in a complete cabinet with a crinkle black
finish and the outrigger power supply. At nights I would sneak down to his
radio room and turn it on to listen to HCJB or Radio Australia. He figured
it out because the radio was never left on the ham bands.

A few years later that was gifted to me and he set it up on a little stand
in my closet of my bedroom. That was it.

I learned morse code by the dits and dahs of TVI, trying to find out what
was so important in those secret messages.

*Ms. Tisha Hayes*
*"*There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in **the
town; they are wasting their time.*
* It is possible to be a solitary in one's mind while living in a crowd;
and it is possible for those who are **solitary to live in the crowd of
their own thoughts.*"*
**-Amma Syncletica of Alexandria**
______________________________________________________________
R-390 mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/r-390
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:R-390 at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html