I always liked the 129X. Have had 2 of them, and one recently showed up at the museum with cool looking red lettering.

The site is for all intents and purposes ... dead. There are very few recent posts outside of people asking what's up with the site.  The spiral continues.
Those stats are almost 100% bots, if not 100%.  No humans are regularly perusing the site to read 20-year-old posts about Irbs outside speaker or complaining about QRM on 75 meters or whatever. 
Almost 6 months of this now with no responsible person able to take 60 seconds to explain what the real issue is and what specifically is being done to address it.

I've been watching the stats on and off for a little while.

Most recently the most recent set of stats caught me by surprise. What surprised me was the Most Online stat was 5365 on 1/6/26 at 1046PM. I put the some of the stats in an excel spreadsheet and graphed it. see attached.  What's with the huge spike?  What does Most Online represent?  Is it visits to the sight by unique IP addresses, visits per individual logging in or not, multiple access attempts, etc.?   It's just interesting to see this huge spike.

The other interesting thing is recent memberships.
For this month, there were 94 new members however, the member list does not show anything for Jan. 2026.
For last month, New Members equaled 248. However, the member list only shows 34 new members.

We got the bug.

This is maybe a senior moment, as it's been sitting on a shelf for several years, apparently put aside and then forgotten then buried as more urgent work had to get done.
 
I bought it off ebay and IIRC the seller said its frequwncy range was 54-88MHz. It says "class AB" on the two amplifier boards. I was able to look up "Band I" to find that it is indeed 54-88MHz in the USA (47-68MHz in the EU). Unfortunately, searching hasn't turned up these old part numbers or documents.
I don't know what model of transmitter it's from.

The RCA name plate says:
400 WATT AMPLIFIER
BAND I
MI-563161-1
SERIAL 2386110
CAMDEN, N.J.

Some data on the two main amp boards are:
69893
CODE CC
CLASS AB
3477904-2B
L/P 3729671
MI-563181-1

So basically there's an input splitter made of PCB material, the pair of push pull amps, and a combiner made pf PC board as well. Additionally, a control board and multimeter & switch are at the front. A large power socket, and a row of large pins that apparently take the bias. ground, and other voltages that are needed. There's a huge heat sink on the underside.
Transistors: four 372901-2, and two 3729474-4.

Does anyone know if this might work on 6 meters (even at reduced power), and the correct voltages for it, or has the manual for it, so at least I could test it without frying it?

Thanks in advance,

Patrick

Very nice radio,
Glad you could save it. Great story, being the second owner is very cool.
Getting the paperwork is great also, must have been a pretty heavy footlocker...never know what you might come across. Great.

Hello Ed,
Thanks for the links,
I've been looking through AMfone and AMwindow, other things, etc.
Lots of interesting things, fun.
How are those wonderful RCA transmitters of yours doing?
FB I'm sure, very nice.

Nice find!

So, answered an ad on Facebook for a HQ129 here on island.   Yeah, finding electronics here isn't easy but here I am.

Wife was like wtf you gonna put it.  Oh well.

Seller reached out to me a week later and asked why I wanted it.  To pair with my Viking II, of course!  Sent her a pic of the V2, she responds with the radios is yours, free.

Turns out she got a few hate messages about selling a death trap, etc.  She just wanted rid of the problem.

Her Father in Law bought it new.  1950 is the date on the paperwork.  Listened to military and stuff for 20 years, died.  It's been in his military foot locker ever since the mid 70s. 

All the paperwork, manual, etc was given to me along with the matching Jensen speaker.  Im the second owner!

I love getting gear like this, with a backstory.   My Viking 2 im the second owner of as well

Here's some pics.   Going to need some restoration, a few spots starting to rust on the lid.  Will reach out at a later date but for now its in my AC shop on the to be restored pile.

I figured there has to be tons of gear here like this, stuffed in lockers, etc.  I know Herb Schoenbohm had tons, I had bought parts from him for decades.  He didnt have the best reputation here, though , and one of his kids i believe sold most of his stuff off but I astll have hope lol


--Shane
WP2ASS

Hey it?s up!

See

https://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=35841.0

And

https://www.amwindow.org/tech/htm/valiant/valiantmods.htm

Ed

   A lathe is a great addition to a workshop for anyone who builds his own equipment. I've got an old (1950's vintage) Southbend 9", which I've used for many projects. A full-sized vertical milling machine, too. I consider both indispensable.
   One thing to watch out for with older lathes (and your Atlas isn't really old) is excessive wear on the ways. Since the carriage spends most of its time moving over a relatively short portion of the bed, the part within 8" or so of the chuck, the ways become more heavily worn in that area, while the ways closer to the tail-stock remain pristine since the carriage rarely goes there. The end result is that if you tighten up the gibs so that the carriage is secure when it's near the chuck, it will tighten up, possibly to the point where it can't be moved, as you try to move it toward the tail-stock. If you don't ever intend to work with longer stock, it won't be a problem.
Good luck with the Atlas. I've never owned one, but I've always heard good things about them.