Vintage Radio

1958 - The way it was...

 

 

Radios that had real weight. Some took two grown men to carry them. They glowed in the dark too, not due to some fancy LCD display, but because they used tubes. Solid state devices like transistors would not become widespread for another 2 decades. If you wanted to know what frequency you were receiving or transmitting on, you looked at a pointer in front of a paper scale. The were no digital displays to take all the thinking out of the process. And most users actually understood what went on behind the dials, their knowledge being demonstrated to FCC examiners that used real tests of knowledge, not a multiple choice exam that you had been given the answers too ahead of time.

 "Here is a piece of paper. Draw a schematic for a transmitter and explain how each component works", your stern government tester would order. 

I was 10 years old at the time and dreamed of one day owning a Hammarlund or Hallicrafters receiver. Not a Collins, though. Only the very rich had one of those. I would scrounge for parts and enlist the help of an "elmer" to build my own 6L6 transmitter. With the two, the world would be as close as a fingertip, used to rotate the various dials on the radios. Or as close as your hand, for that matter, because the old rigs had knobs that were large and spaced far apart. Not like today's miniature wonders where it is often hard to press a button without hitting two or three of its neighbors. The day that I would take and pass my ham license test would not come for many years, other issues and responsibilities more pressing would surface and take precedence. The story was similar for many other aspiring hams. When these dreamers would  finally pass the FCC exam many years later, the wonderful old radios will have been replaced by antiseptic, computer driven marvels that had no dials, no tubes, no heft, and no character.

For myself and others like me, we have never let go of those dreams, and today we seek out what is left of the old "boat anchors". We hunt down replacement parts, especially for the old paper capacitors that have long since dried out. The radios are cleaned up, repaired, tested, and finally aligned. No problem finding other vintage fans to talk to, with many weekly on-the-air radio nets dedicated to old time radio...the way it was half a century ago.

Vintage projects under way

The Hallicrafters Story
It is quite difficult to find vintage equipment that is completely operational these days, especially on Ebay, where "mint" means- "grandma grew some mint in it once". "Unable to test", "previous owner said everything worked ok", "bought at an estate sale", and "lights come on when plugged in so it should be fine"  are clue phrases that the radio very likely is not operational, and won't be without considerable effort.

 Somewhat better success can be had if it can be determine whether or not the seller is an amateur radio operator. A couple of emails back and forth can give a little assurance as to the true condition of the equipment. A very nice Heathkit HW-100 was once procured after numerous emails. The seller was a ham, and from the description of the tests he performed, was somewhat knowledgeable about testing and repair procedures. Additional photos were obtained, and when received, the radio had only the specific problems that had been documented, and none more.





Swan 350
It will take some effort to return this
transceiver to its 1960's condition.

The story of Hallicrafters receivers, transmitters and transceivers starts like the tale of many other vintage manufacturers. Someone had a better idea, and the idea was put into practice in a garage or basement.

William (Bill) J. Halligan founded Hallicrafters in 1933. He was no stranger to radio, having received a ham license as a teenager. Still in his teens, he worked as a wireless operator on ships on the east coast of the U.S., eventually becoming a wireless operator on the battleship Illinois during World War I. In 1924 Bill took a job selling radio parts, and by 1928 had an idea for improving short-wave radios. He moved to Chicago to start his own business.

Hallicrafters built handcrafted receivers with state-of-the-art features at an affordable price.  By 1938, Hallicrafters was considered one of the "Big Three" manufacturers of amateur receivers (Hallicrafters, National and Hammarlund) and was selling not only in the U.S. but 89 other countries.  He had 23 different models of transceivers and was ready to start producing transmitters, beginning with the HT-1. 
 

Hallicrafters was most successful in the 1950's, often called the "Golden Age" of radio. The company produced dozens of different receivers and transmitters, employing 2,500 people. 

In 1966 Northrop Corporation bought Hallicrafters and moved the company to a new plant in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. The end was in sight; however, for all three of the major radio manufacturers. Soon, the switch would be made from tubes to transistors. Lower manufacturing costs overseas would shift work away from the United States.




Heathkit HW-100
Cosmetically excellent, and with only
 a loose VFO assembly to repair,
 this transceiver was a good find.


You can listen to the old radios!

There are several on-the-air meetings of vintage radio collectors. Following are days, times (UTC), and frequencies (mhz):
Sunday 1800 UTC 14.293 Hallicrafters net
2000 14.293 Vintage SSB net
14.263 Collins Collectors Assoc
 7.238 Drake tech net
2130 14.293 Heathkit net
14.330 Ten Tec net
2200 14.251 Swan Users net
 7.220 Hallicrafters net
2300 14.251 Swan Tech net
Tuesday 8pm CST 3805 Collins Collectors Assoc
       
Wednesday 1500  7.280 Hallicrafters net
2300 14.251 Swan Tech net
0100 14.332/328 Global Glow net
3.805 Collins Radio Assoc
       
Thursday 8pm CST 3872 Collins Collectors Assoc
       
Saturday 1500  7.280 Hallicrafters net
1700 14.250 Collins Radio Assoc.
2000  7.235 Swan Tech net
2030  7.240 Vintage SSB net