In 1959, my novice receiver, an S-40B, did yoeman service on 80, 40, and 15 meters.? I worked many stations on 15, to include a few DX stations.? Not having any reference to compare with at the time, it seemed ok to me.? Got the QSLs to prove it.? In 1960, it was replaced by a brand new SX-99. And so began the trek to now.....? As we speak, there is an S-40B and an SX-99 still in the radio collection area.
Jeep K3HVG
On 09/19/2022 2:50 PM Richard Knoppow <1oldlens1@...> wrote:
I think one problem is rhat Hallicrafters and others pushed the upper limits of their receivers for promotional purposes.? Using higher Gm tubes in the later models helped but I think the rf coils were not up to it.? Compare rhe performance of an S-40 to an RCA AR 88,? the AR 88 has low loss coils and very good performance to 30 Mhz.? It also cost about ten times as much.?
-------- Original message --------
From: MarkJ <BOEING377@...>
Date: 9/19/22 10:19 AM (GMT-08:00)
Subject: Re: [HallicraftersRadios] S-40 Restoration - Oddity around V2
Many decades ago I restored an S40. It was my first receiver. My dad bought it used at Fortune Electronics in San Carlos CA for $20. New caps, many out of spec resistors replaced, weak tubes replaced and a full alignment. After all that work, performance at the upper end of its frequency range was still very poor, drifty and deaf. A cheap CB walkie talkie could hear many stations that the restored S40 could not. It¡¯s a nice looking radio but don¡¯t expect too much.?
Mark
AF6IM?
On Sun, Sep 18, 2022 at 12:52 PM Steven Reed via <reedsteve=
[email protected]> wrote:
Thanks for the reply, Art.? Many old receivers never did very well on the upper bands -- possibly, it was an experiment to see if fiddling with the oscillator circuit would help.? Unless any other information arises, think I'll just restore it to factory.? I'm used to seeing a lot of modifications and (failed) experiments, but this one is quite a puzzle.??
73 - Steve, KW4H
--
AF6IM
www.parachutemobile.com
