Collecting 'Boat Anchors' (those large old radios with tubes) is a lot of fun and very educational. Like many other ham radio enthusiasts, I also like to acquire and admire the sheer beauty of classic radio receivers and transmitters. There is nothing more special than to fire up one of these old timers to see the tubes glowing and breathe in the smell of electrons flowing. On this page, I will attempt to provide you with some pictures of some great radios and accessories and give you a selection of web links you might find interesting. Here are some pictures of a few of the older 'classic' ham radios that I've been collecting over the years. This is just a sample... I have many dozens more but they are not yet located in one central place that makes them easy to photograph. That's a project for later...
My workbench... a
real junk pile! This is where I restore my vintage equipment and
make any electronic adjustments to get it all back to original factory specifications.
Here's a closer
look at some of the radios in my collection. The top shelf
holds a mint Collins 'S-line' including a 75S-3B receiver, 32S3 Transmitter, 30L-1
linear amplifier, power supply and speaker units. Above the Collins units are
a Drake TR-6 300-watt 6 meter SSB transceiver with matching speaker/power supply,
a Vibroplex Vibro-keyer and two mint condition Hallicrafters TO keyers.
The bottom shelf contains my Drake 'C-line' HF station.
Here is one of my
recent acquisitions, a mint condition Collins 75A-4 ham band
receiver undergoing the usual capacitor-reforming procedure of slowing bringing up the
receiver AC supply voltage in stages over a period of hours using a Variac.
A closer view of
this fine receiver, cleaned up and fully aligned to factory
specifications... ready to resume a life of great ham radio operating!
[click on each picture below to enlarge for more detail]
Top shelf (L to R):
| - Hammarlund S-100 speaker |
| - Hammarlund HQ-170 ham-band only receiver |
| - Hammarlund HQ-160 general coverage receiver |
2nd shelf (L to R):
| - 'Civil Defense' version of the Gonset Communicator
III 2-meter transmitter-receiver |
| - Gonset Communicator II 2-meter transmitter-receiver |
| - Hammarlund HQ-180 general coverage receiver |
Top shelf (L to R):
| - Hammarlund HQ-140-X general coverage receiver |
| - Collins 75A-4 ham band receiver |
Middle shelf (L to R):
| - Collins 312B-5 Station Control (with remote VFO) |
| - Collins 312B-4 Station Control (without remote VFO) |
| - Drake RV-4C remote VFO |
| - Drake TR-4CW HF transceiver |
Bottom shelf (L to R):
| - Johnson Viking 250 watt Matchbox (with tuning meter) |
| - Johnson Viking 250 watt Matchbox (without tuning meter) |
| - Johnson Viking Navigator transmitter |
| - Clegg Labs 99'er 6-meter transmitter |
Top shelf (L to R):
|
- Heath HW-16 CW transceiver (with Heath HD-15 Hybrid phone patch on top) |
| - Heathkit DX-60B transmitter (with HD-15 on top) |
| - Heathkit HG-10B VFO |
| - Hallicrafters HA-5 VFO |
Middle shelf (L to R):
| - Hallicrafters S-38 receiver |
| - Heathkit DX-40 transmitter |
| - Johnson Viking Ranger II transmitter |
Bottom shelf [hidden by boxes] (L to R):
| - Hammarlund HQ-129-X general coverage receiver |
| - Johnson Viking Challenger transmitter |
| - Collins 180S-1 antenna tuner |
A picture of a real rarity... a
Hammarlund HQ-170A VHF
ham band only receiver with the matching S-200 speaker.
This wonderful radio is in absolutely mint
condition
and includes the factory-installed two meter converter unit.
Almost as pretty
as the radio shown above, this is a
Hammarlund HQ-170A receiver with the factory-installed clock
and matching S-200 speaker.
A view of part of my work bench
showing some of my current ham radio
capability. In addition to the test equipment, on the top shelf is a
Waters
model 334 dummy load-wattmeter, a Drake TR-3 300-watt six meter SSB
transceiver with matching speaker, and my packet radio computer.
On
the lower shelf (L to R), I have a Drake MN-2700 antenna matching
network (antenna tuner), a Drake T-4XC transmitter, a Drake R-4C receiver,
and the matching Drake MS-4 speaker. To its right is a Realistic (Radio
Shack) PRO-2001 programmable scanner with an ICOM IC-38A 220 MHz
transceiver sitting on top.
This is a great CW
transmitter... the Johnson Valiant. It has a very stable
VFO and puts out 275 watts. It has five 6146's (3 for the final output
stage
and two provide 100 watts of class B audio on AM). My favorite
transmitter!
Another
classic! This is a Clegg Labs "Interceptor" VHF Receiver
(center) with
the matching Clegg "Allbander" HF adapter to its right. Also
shown (clockwise
around the receiver) are a Collins 516F-2 power supply for the KWM-2A
transceiver,
a Drake PS-3 13.8 volt power supply (for a matching UV-3 tri-band VHF/UHF
transceiver that is not shown), a Drake P-75 hybrid phone patch (new in the box),
and a Hallicrafters HA-26 2/6 meter VFO.
More stuff!
Shown (left to right) are a Kantronics "Freedom" VFO, a
Hallicrafters model PS-150-120 power supply, a Kenwood R-599D communications
receiver with the matching S-599 speaker on top and a Kenwood T-599 transmitter
(not shown), a Drake model T-4 reciter (transmitting adapter for the R-4 receiver),
and a Drake R-4A receiver (lower right).
Shown here (left to right) are a
Heathkit GD-125 Q multiplier sitting on top of a
Johnson Viking mobile HF transmitter, a Heathkit AM-2 reflected power and S.W.R.
bridge sitting on top of an old Central Electronics, Inc. model B "Sideband Slicer"
multiphase Q multiplier, a Lafayette Radio model HE-48 speaker, a RME model
4004 preselector and finally, my very first HF receiver I received as a Christmas
present many years ago, a Lafayette Radio KT-320 general coverage HF receiver.
Here are (left to
right) a Hammarlund S-100 speaker with a Heath model HD-1416
code oscillator on top; a Clegg Labs 99'er 6 meter transceiver sitting on top of
a Drake
MS-4 speaker/power supply; and a Drake model TR-4CW sideband transceiver with an
Astron RS-20A power supply and a DFD/K digital frequency display on top.
Here is a
Realistic Dual Band monitor receiver (before 'scanners' were invented),
sitting on top of a Lafayette Radio HE-10 general coverage HF receiver next to
the
matching HE-48 speaker; and the pride of many hams in the '60's: a
Heathkit
HR-10B HF receiver sitting on top of the matching DX-60B transmitter.
Here are (left to
right) an Eico 723 sixty watt CW transmitter, two Collins KWM-2A
HF transceivers with a Heathkit DX-20 CW transmitter on top; and a Heathkit
HW-30
"Twoer" two meter amateur transceiver (one of the 'lunchbox' series of
low-cost radios.
Recent acquisitions (spring 2004):
A really nice Hallicrafters HT-40 CW transmitter.
This is the
Hallicrafters HA-350 which has the notable benefit of
good sensitivity and uses a mechanical filter for improved selectivity.
A pristine Hammarlund HQ-145X General Coverage Receiver.
A very clean and great operating Collins KWM-2A RE HF Transceiver.
This is the picture I used on my home page but with some interesting effects applied.
Some interesting 'Heavy Metal' web links you might wish to explore:
www.dealamerica.com/balinks.htm --> A decent listing of 'boat anchor' sites on the Internet
www.aade.com --> A good site where you can see the average prices for items sold on eBAY
www.curtsanders.com/K3URT/antique.htm --> Resource list for Antique Radios and Amateur Radio Boat Anchors
www.aa9tt.com/index.html --> Very nice site with excellent pictures
ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/sweetbay/vintager.htm --> WA4KCY's Vintage Radio collection
www.3rdtech.com/nick/hobbies.html --> More nice pictures
www.w7fg.com --> Here's where you can purchase manual reprints for just about any radio
oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/ --> KB8TAD's boat anchor page
bama.sbc.edu/ --> K4XL's boat anchor manual archive (FTP site for free manuals)
www.ominous-valve.com/ba-mfrs.html --> Interesting history of some of the various BA manufacturers
pages.prodigy.net/w4qcu/page.htm --> Nicely done site of Dave Aabye, W4QCU in Tennessee
www.qsl.net/wb4gwa/homepage.htm --> Nice pictures (make sure you click on his 'take a tour...' link
www.kacweb.com/swaps/radio --> 'The Amateur Radio Swap List'
www.jvgavila.com/index.htm --> Nice site with lot's of links and pictures of boat anchors
d.webring.com/hub?ring=ba --> Hundreds of boat anchor sites to look at!
http://www.amfone.net/ --> See this site for lot's of data on the old AM rigs
Ameco sites:
Clegg manuals:
Collins Radio sites:
Drake sites:
Hallicrafters sites:
Hammarlund sites:
Heathkit sites:
Lafayette sites:
National Radio sites:
Swan /Atlas sites:
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