Hammarlund Radio
Growing
up, all the guys in my block wanted to have one of these.
I’ve got several now and want to share them with you. Hammarlunds are easy to work on, except for the SP-600 and its consumerized sister the PRO-310.
SOLD - The
HQ-140X was my first purchase of my “modern” BA era. Got it at the 1998 Tacoma
hamfest
This SP-600 was hauled back from a business
trip to California. I acquired a
speaker panel that fit “nicely” into the available case I had. No external
speaker required.
The BC-779/SP-200 was acquired at the 1999
Puyallup hamfest for $15. Did a complete restoration of this and it works very
well now. Great audio.
This is the infamous Hammarlund PRO-310. It
was developed as the “Cadillac” of the Hammarlund consumer line to compete with Collins equipment and has a lot of
things in common with the SP-600, including the band switching turret. It has a
very unusual dial mechanism. Hammarlund put SO much money into the internal
design of this receiver, there must not have been any money left over for good
knobs. These are pretty chincy and as you can see, the emblem is long gone.
Rumor has it that very few survived since they were only attached with stick-on
tape. There were less than 1000 of these made and consequently very
collectable. If only its performance was as good as its “art deco” styling. I
was lucky enough to find one at a local electronics shop in Seattle
You are looking at the HQ-160. This is a
beautiful band cruising receiver and is probably neck and neck with the SP-600
for my favorite Hammarlund. It is the “new style” version of the ever popular
and rightly so, HQ-150. Its got all of the controls that a ham needs to pull
stations out of the QRM. I prefer it to
my HQ-180.
Here you have the HQ-180. The last of the
style that included the 145, 160, 170 and 180. It is a triple conversion
receiver and holds it’s value very nicely. I personally don’t care for the
tuning knobs. They are just not substantial enough for a receiver of this
performance.
Out in the shop I’ve got the makings for a
HQ-170 and a very unusual HQ-129X parts chassis with a chrome front section
where most are grey wrinkle paint.