Here's a run down on the radios. Left to right, top: A Hallicrafters
WR600 receiver(great little receiver but scratches on cabinet top), Uniden
scanner, not part of collection. Next row: A Hallicrafters S-129
receiver(Mint condition, a 9.5+,one of late production models by
Hallicrafters), a Hallicrafters S-120(Mint condition!), a Drake R4B receiver(Mint,
no scratches on entire cabinet, plays great!),
Bottom row: A Hallicrafters SX-110 receiver, my novice receiver(Good
condition, plays real good but a couple of paint chips on cabinet), a Realistic
DX-200 receiver(Excellent condition overall), a Ten Tec Argonaut 509 transceiver(Mint
condition, great QRP rig). Not Shown is a Realistic DX-302 receiver,
loaned out to a prospective ham friend. The packet station and homebrew
power supply in the background are not really part of the collection.
Click for close up
of Hallicrafters radios
Click here for a close look at the Drake, Realistic & Ten Tec:
Additional Vintage radios in the collection
include a very classy Hallicrafters SX-111 and the classic SX-100
receiver on the top row. The SX-111 is very sensitive and hears lots
of DX. The bottom row shows a recreation of my novice station used when
first liecnsed in 1961. The SX-110 receiver and the WRL Globe Scout 65A
transmitter.
The Globe Scout works well even today and operates with 75 watts
on CW and 60 watts on AM.
Click here to see a close up of the SX-111
Here's my latest treasure! A beautiful National NC-183, in excellent condition, has found its way to the radio shack! Used almost daily, it has been recapped and aligned for maximum performance. The audio of this beauty is so sweet it rivals studio fidelity! Now only a matching speaker is needed!
Expanded radio desk and display of Vintage radios at AB0X's Shack.
Here's another view of the main operating position in the shack. Note the beautiful Drake R4B on the top shelf. It works as well as it looks!
The photo below is of the current Drake position.
It consists of a truly Mint R4B, so good it looks like it just came out
of the box back in 1971. The Drake T4XB was a recent pickup and has been
repainted to almost a perfect drake match. It puts out about 120 Watts
on 20 Meters CW, but coiuld use some more clean up and re-bluing. It is
a work in progress. The AC-4 is a 52,000+ serial number and works great.
The MS-4 has been repainted also, and works well.
The photo below shows the Drake C Line I owned for awhile. It had the Sherwood Mods to the agc and audio circuits as well as the first IF filter replacement. It worked well but was in need of a new face plate silkscreen. The T4XC had the DX Engineering Speech Processor attached and wired in to the audio path of the transmitter. It was sold to a ham in England and is in daily use on the bands.
Here's a photo below of my latest Drake
set up. It is a stock, mint T4XC, and a "Souped up" R4C with all the mods
from the Drake Shop shown on the right. It has a new GUF-1, first
IF 8 pole filter, plus the power supply mod, audio amp mod, and AGC mod.
It has a narrow 1.5 KHZ filter and 500 HZ CW filter plus the wide Drake
AM filter as options with a stock Drake Noise Blanker. The result of these
mods is fantastic! The noise floor is better and the radio hears better
than any Drake I have ever owned. The audio is good with the mod and it
runs much cooler with the new power supply. The Real Difference is the
GUF-1 IF filter. It gives the radio much better rejection from adjacent
channel QRM with the additional filtering. When compared to the new Icom
IC-775, it is a real toss up most of the time. Many times the R4C
is better copy than the very expensive new Icom! The IC-775's DSP
will give it an edge sometimes, but the audio sounds so processed
it is hard to copy. The tests continue!
The Drake twins are getting lots of operating time!
Especially on the low bands!
The photo below shows the shack as it existed for several years with the IC-765 as the main rig. It has been replaced by a new IC-775 and the Drake moved over to another desk. Take a look at the main page for the current main operating position.