6 meter rig Hallicrafters SR-46

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Found one on craigs list, haven't bought it yet, still trying to get ahold of the fellow.

Crystal controlled transceiver. 12 watts output or so.  Nice enough looks. Does AM & CW on 6 meters only.

Any real world experience with this rig here?  problems or??? 

[W1AEX]

Hi Ed,

Another station that I used to talk to all the time on 6 meters used the SR-46. His sounded great and as far as I know he probably still is on the air with it. I used the SR-34 (6 and 2 meters AM/CW) for years and it was very reliable. I ran the output of a hi-fi amp right into the 8 ohm winding of the audio/modulation transformer to modulate it and it sounded excellent. They're great rigs and I'm sure you'll enjoy getting it up and running.

Rob W1AEX

[WA1LGQ]

Hi Ed, those are pretty good for 6. The receiver is sensitive with its Nuvister front end. The SR-46A model has a squelch control added, probably could add the squelch to a non-A model easily. The rx oscillator does drift quite a bit until its warmed up, at least on the ones that I have owned. And the xmit crystals are not the typical 8 meg types. They are in the 25 meg, half freq range. I think there might be a matching vfo for it. Also I think that the rx uses half a 6AL5 ANL circuit that is not switchable. The ANL adds some distortion to AM signals,  so I think I disabled it. .......Larry

[WU2D]

Excellent and used one for several years - sold it a couple Nearfesters ago. Very nice on RX too and external VFO worked fine.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Sounds good then.  This fella says "Powers up but no 6 meter antenna to test with"  oy...
Anyway he's asking $50 so It sounds like a decent rig for the money for some Summa Time Six action.

Maybe I'll build a Cubic Quad for 6 meters and get that real Ole buzzardly look going to the shack, er I mean house. Probably twist that baby with a TV rotator.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Sounds good then.  This fella says "Powers up but no 6 meter antenna to test with"  oy...
Anyway he's asking $50 so It sounds like a decent rig for the money for some Summa Time Six action.

Maybe I'll build a Cubic Quad for 6 meters and get that real Ole buzzardly look going to the shack, er I mean house. Probably twist that baby with a TV rotator.

Take your time. The summer E season on 6 meters generally runs very active from May through July and maybe some minor stuff in December/January. Although, we'll probably still have some Sporadic E openings here and there, they probably will continue to be shorter and shorter in duration. "Shorter" meaning time in minutes rather then in many hours or days. As they say in the business world, "you missed the big window of opportunity".

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Well, I have the cash (rare indeed) and the rig is available with in a half hours driving distance.

The planets have aligned.  Besides, I will probably want to put it on the bench and go over it, checking the Tubes, Caps and such before putting any "Fire" in the wire as it were.

[WA1LGQ]

Ed, you may get lucky and have some local 6 AM activity, I wish we were a little closer (Hartford area), there used to be quite a bit of local AM here, only a little now. I may still have my SR-46, not sure.
Rob, I did not know or I forgot that you had a SR-34. Its a nice rig, I have one here. It needs a little refurb, but it does still work. Do you still have yours?.....L

[KA3ZLR]

Hi,

I had one of those (Traded it for that Collins slider) and the Matchen Slider for 6 and it werked exelentay but in my area here around Pittsburgh Pa. these people don't get on 6...only for the Contests yuk....I don't Contest...for nobody.

Very Miniscule Dx..very thin....But I liked that Rig well built,,,OM

P.S. I especially liked the Audio on that thing...

73
Jack
KA3ZLR

[The Slab Bacon]

Derb and myself used to chit chat back and forth on 6AM many years ago. The RFI complaints from the neighbors were fierce!! It got to the point that they were lineing up in my front yard with pitchforks and axes!! I was getting complaints about meing heard in one womans toaster!! And only running a 10w radio!!

A simple change to FM and all the complaints went away

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Well, I picked up the rig today.  Only one crystal which puts the rig on 50.2 mhz.  Got the manual off of BAMA and I'll be checking her out later tonight after a bit of Honey Dew work around the yard.

It uses 25 mhz range crystals in a doubler up to 50 for the xmitter, and a VFO on the reciever. An optional Transmit VFO is out there, but probably hens teeth.

[WU2D]

The 25 MHz doubled is to ward off the TVI's. Less stages multiplying meant less chance of issues with the neighbors of the 1960's. The power supply makes quite a thump when you turn the unit on. The hasp fasteners and lift the hood top is classy.

Mike WU2D

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Yes, this one is in decent shape.  Works FB as it is.  I will probably replace the filter lytics atleast.  Easily makes 100+% modulation, but the neg peaks need to be limited to get anything more out of it. I doubt thats necessary anyway (but who knows).   

I did hear some SSB activity on Sunday, guy was working  DX. I could barely copy the DX stations from the 80 meter loop antenna.  I put a wire in the case, and feed the IF into my R-390A (20.150 or so mhz)  and used the A's BFO.  Worked a charm.   Looking for crystals still to get on the AM calling freq 50.4 mhz.   I need a 25.2 mhz. 

[wb1ead]

Hi Ed..congrats on the Halli!..had one a century ago..a total basket case..sold it as a parts rig at Deerfield back when it was Hosstraders..recently came into a TR-106 that I posted on in the Tech section..anyhoo I wanted to let ya know that here in So Me there IS a group on 50.4 AM on Thursdays at or around 8:30PM..that's the reason I want to get the trcvr back up and running..I figure it's a few miles or so for you but do-able..at least it's w/in earshot on a gain antenna and dependable at least on a weekly basis.............I did check my crystal box but NADA..sorry            gud luk Ed   73 de DAVE

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Thanks Dave!  That's good to know I will be making a 3 element quad soon for the rig, that should help a lot once it's up on the roof.   If I can't find a crystal, mebbee I'll build one of them DDS VFO kits...