Category: Hallicrafters

Harv’s Hallicrafters HT-37: A Thing of Beauty

Good Evening Bill,
Well with sore fingers, I’m glad to report that the upper deck of my newly acquired HT-37 is complete. (see enclosed photos)
Mice had a small party in this radio but aside from the numerous corrosion spots and few frayed wires, the task of restoring was not too over whelming.
I have had my trusty Soldering Iron in high use mode lately.
All but the final tubes have the Hallicrafters logo stamped on them.
I had to replaced the Final Tune Capacitor C55 and have gone through all the modifications done to this radio during its 52 years of service.
The previous owner added an internal Antenna Relay (grey transformer near rear of deck.) and replaced the Mic connector with a Drake style phono jack. (I guess that’s acceptable.)
Now I’m onto the re-capping of the lower deck, De-ox the tube sockets and switches. Finally, the replacement of the rectifiers with solid state devices.
I’m documenting all the details just in case there is another solder melting soul out there that wants to restore their HT-37.
With some tender care, it should last another 50 years.
Bill, Keep on learning, Keep on burning (solder that is!)
73’s & Enjoy
Harv -=WA3EIB=-

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

An Ode to Old-time Radio by WA3EIB



I didn’t have much growing up but I still had fun!
Towers of wood and Pipe that reached close to the sun.
Antennas of aluminum and wire seen many blocks away.
C.W. into the wee hours of the night. Hot coffee, now I’m awake to stay.
Many pleasant dreams as the radio cooled and the crickets chirped me to sleep.
Nestled between Foreign Broadcast Signals, and oh my dinner, I forgot to eat.
But YES, I still had fun!
A cigar box full of crystals and an antique key, I was determined it was one more watt that I need.
Lost them, found them and lost them again but, I still had fun indeed!
Sun rising now, Europe on the line, Shadows short and Africa began to shine.
Orange glow at dusk the ocean islands start to appear, near midnight now and its Russia I hear.
Perhaps these days may all be but gone but my equipment and dreams continue to live on.
And YES, I still have fun! HH

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Boatanchor Dreams

Greetings Bill and Fellow Solder Melters,
Back in 1965, I bought a brand new HT-37 from a radio store in Pittsburgh, Pa.
It had been tucked away by the owner for his own personal collection.
He finally softened and sold it to me. The Hallicrafters HT-37 became by Big Dog for many years.
In 2005, I fell on some difficult times and sold it. I regretted the departure moments after the exchange.
Well, finally after lots of searching, the right unit came along.
Here are a few pictures of my excellent E-bay buy.
I will begin to dig into the electrical status of the rig later this week but the unit seems well cared for and not abused.
I will keep you posted. It will be happily married to my Drake 2B and Q-Multiplier after it passes muster.Yes fellow hams there are still gems out there for your collections. Just wait for the right buy and then go for it!
73’s Harv -=WA3EIB=–

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Photo by WA4KCY

Bill,
I know you would appreciate this. Got an email this morning from a local ham who was getting rid of some “junk” radios, wondered if I or someone else could use them. Once I heard I got over there to pick them up. Among the usual, real junk was a Hammarlund HQ-110C receiver, in the original box and a Johnson Viking Ranger, also in the box. With all the manuals as well. The boxes are showing their age, the Ranger’s being not much to look at. I am told neither works and haven’t been looked at / turned for at least 20 years. What a find! They are very clean and complete, as far as I can tell.
The plan is to restore them to pristine condition and, hopefully, use them in one of the local museum as a working station.

Mike Herr
WA6ARA
DM-15dp

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Hallicrafters’ Radio-Erotica

Wow, back in the day the marketing suits from Hallicrafters apparently really knew how to attract the attention of 15 year-old guys interested in short-wave listening. Could that ad have ever possibly run in stuffy old QST? It certainly would have attracted my attention. I suspect many a young amateur would have been looking to sign up for a DX-pedition. Thanks to Bob, KD4EBM, for alerting us to this unusual bit of 1950s radio-erotica.

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Australia’s Largest Hamfest

Hi Bill,

Just wanted to pass some pics of the Central Coast ARC Hamfest in New South Wales at Wyong approx 100km north of Sydney and about 80-90km south of my QTH. As you can see there was a reasonable amount of people there and some boot sales as well.


The first thing that I found in the boot sale area was a copy of SSDRA (1977 vintage) almost as old as I am. I found it in one of those boxes under a table with other books on top. I immediately gave the book to the guy selling it and asked how much, and to my surprise he said $5 Aust. I couldn’t get my money out quick enough and put it my bag that I had for collecting all those small parts. See attached pic of said book. I saw a brand new copy of EMRFD at the WIA stand for $85.
On my way around the boot sales I also saw this Hallicrafters radio and I thought of you and took a photo of it the only thing was I have no idea what model it is?
I also picked up a couple of small variable caps with the nice ceramic fronts on them and only $1 each. I also picked up some hard drawn stranded copper wire 2.5mm dia & 200m long for only $170 which isn’t too bad a price here in Oz.
The biggest part of the day was catching up with all the guys I know from the area where I am now and others I haven’t seen since I went last time in 2008, so it was a great outing and will have to start reading another book and start looking at maybe making a HB 30m APRS Txer for when I go I my next trip.
73,
Adam
VK2YK & VK6GA
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Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

My New Shack Heating System: Heath, Halli, Hammarlund and Drake

Temperatures dropped over the weekend and I had to fire up my new heating system for the SolderSmoke shack. See above. Heating by Heath, Halli, Hammarlund and Drake (sounds like a law firm doesn’t it?). I’m happy to report that those old filaments take the chill off quite nicely while adding a nice aroma to the room, along with some very pleasing lighting effects (I especially like the green glow from the DX-100 tuning dial).

The Azores-17 DSB JBOT project is (I think) complete. And I did include a low pass filter. In keeping with the finest of ham radio traditions, now that it is cold I will go out and work on an antenna.

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Shack Rehab

Every once in a while we all need to attack the clutter that grips our radio shacks. That’s what I was doing this weekend. I got rid of a lot of junk. And I reorganized the operating position. On the left is the HQ-100. I plan on putting the K2ZA DX-100 underneath the HQ-100. To the right is the famous Drake 2-B/Hallicrafters HT-37 combo. Next we have the roadkill Ubuntu computers. The laptop used in the production of the podcast is right behind the keyboard. To the right of the computers I have the HW-7 that we recently discussed. Next to it is my Ne-602-based 20 meter DSB transceiver. I plan to us the shelf above the HW-7 (where the clock is) for experimental rigs. To the right of the operating table I have some shelves that hold the beacon gear.

I have all the rigs on the operating table hooked up to an old MFJ coaxial switch, so it is easy to get them connected to the ether. I’m listening to 40 meter AM now. I did some Spanish language SW listening this morning: Radio Havana Cuba, Radio Marti, CBC Canada, Radio Japan, WWV…

Cleaning up proved very fruitful. I found an old portable DVD player — Elisa’s Mom now has a way of watching the many hours of family video that we have accumulated. I also found and rehabilitated some “family radio service” handi-talkies — the kids are using these to communicate with friends across the street. And I dusted off my old 2 meter Radio Shack HT. It works! I almost clipped it onto my belt as we were heading out today, but my kids would never allow me to be so techno-retro in public.

FIGHT ENTROPY!

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

SolderSmoke Podcast #127

SolderSmoke #127 has been released! Get it here:

http://www.soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke127.mp3

Topics covered:
Linux Ubuntu and Audio Quality.
Karmic Koala makes you EVEN YOUNGER
Reverse Culture shock, Woodpeckers, and the Washington METRO system
The smell of an old HT-37
75 meter AM
DaVinci Code QRSS rig on the air
Cul-de-sac astronomy with TWO telescopes
READING: SPRATS, Hot Iron, Sky Buddies, Wired
Jeri Ellsworth’s homebrew transistors
Tatjana Van Vark’s homebrew Enigma-like machine
MAILBAG
Antenna work and hamfests on the horizon

A Fondness for Phasing


As the proud owner of a Hallicrafters HT-37, I have long had a fondness for phasing rigs. It took me a long time to figure out exactly how they manage to drop the carrier and one of the sidebands without the use of crystal filters. This was one of the technical understanding battles of my radio youth, and is detailed in SolderSmoke — The Book. (See the upper part of the right column of this blog for details on how to get the book.)

I was reminded of all this by a link sent in by Jim, AB3CV. It is an EDN design note, and describes a simple modern SSB generator using two phasing networks, three IC’s, and a handful of discrete components:
http://www.edn.com/contents/images/93099di.pdf