The AM Forum

Decided to hook up my Halli S-38 and heard some familiar stations:

Budley WD8BIL  He was the strappingest
K4KYV  Don Right there close to Budley
KF5IIA Brandon in LA - Mostly Q5 (Make that Q4)
There was a local but I couldn't make him out.

Man! is that receiver broad as a barn door  ;D

Tune in the Whirl!

Just a little wide.  Got a EM model.  It's even wider than my S-77 and S-85.  Some of the AM crew sound really good on it, though.  Can hear some of the better signals on an indoor test antenna.

AH YES - the S38 - Superb timbral match, top-notch dialogue clarity, seemingly limitless dynamic range and great envelopment!

It's hard to imagine that guys actually used such rigs as their front line or only receiver back in the day. We really don't know how good we have it!

Many of us were just kids when we started out in ham radio.  Not a lot of money to spend for a rig!  My funds came from my paper route. It was a challenge just to get something on the air.  I started with an old Zenith console radio that our neighbor gave me for my receiver.  A 1939 Zenith 7S363.  Took the chassis out and set on the table and I used another little ACDC broadcast receiver sitting along side of the Zenith for a BFO.  Heterodyned the osc in the IF of the Zenith...actually it didn't work too bad, but it was wide and only marginally stable.  My first "real" receiver was a Heathkit AR-3.  That thing was probably not as good as an S-38, except it did have a transformer power supply.  It had the relative sensitivity of a cardboard box, but at least it had a real BFO.  Many guys who started back in the golden age of the 30s and 40's used really primitive stuff.  Simple regen receivers were very common.  Actually, however, some of those regens worked pretty well!  Maybe better than S-38s or AR-3s and you didn't need a BFO.

73,  Jack, W9GT

I got my $$ working in an appliance repair shop (at the tender age of 15).  First thing I got was a nice casserole dish for my Mom.  Next thing I got was a brandi new S38B.  Shortly after that I traded it in at EVANS Radio for a SP-100.

Later on I moved up the "corporate ladder" and landed a job repairing car radios.  That's when I got the Eldico TR-1.

Happy days  :)

I'm so glad I got this S-38.  Oh yeah, later on my Mom gave the casserole dish back to me.  I still have it and use it.

Al

Wow, even though it was a couple decades older, that was a major step up to the SP-100, Al.

I have a lot of respect for the crew who came up using S-38s, AR-3s and the rest without losing faith and moving on to stamp collecting. I have a AR-3 here paired up with the AT-1 and while it's fun to play with from time to time, it gives me a great appreciation for all we have access to today for pennies, basically, as well as what you guys went through. Though I'm sure at the time it seemed great, something being better than nothing, having a BFO and so on. It's difficult today for those who go out and buy a collection to appreciate that. Money can't buy the rich history or experience that only time brings.

I bet that casserole dish is a prized possession too, Al.  ;)

Todd

Wouldn't trade my journey for anything  :)

BTW: Chris 2JBL shamed me into digging this out of the junkbox.  Recommended for S38 operation

Al