Where did "The National Product line" disappear to?

[wb1ead]

Hey gang..for a few years now I've had in my "favorites" a website that was titled The National Product Line..when clicked on you could view just about every rcvr/tx/acces made by National outta Malden Mass..pick ur model and up would come a full page if not more on every feature/wgt/accesories available then and size and list price along with a color pic..now up pops some data info center thingy not even remotely close..dang shame as I would often dblck specs there on those for sale or what's here at the shack..a sorta general overall view of the individual models..does it still exist somewhere?..anyone gotta link?......tnx 73 de DAVE

[nq5t]

Googled it -- came right up.

http://www.prismnet.com/~nielw/nat_list/nat_list.htm

[KM1H]

That list is far from complete.

Carl

[wb1ead]

Thank you Grant!..jeez I gotta git rid of my Yahoo search engine and go to Google..yup that was the one that was there originally..much appreciated!......Carl I know ur a National alma mater..is there a better more complete listing using similar info displayed on that website?..if ya got a link for additional stuff on National..I'm all ears/eyes..I have a fairly complete virtual museum on Hammerlund/Collins/Hallicrafters/Swan and others and also accessories for those like spkrs etc..always have cyber room for more..hint hint!
                        Agn tnx Grant!          73 de DAVE

[KM1H]

There is no master list that Im aware of Dave.

National built a lot of military and commercial gear with many being based on a regular ham/GC model model. If a customer had the money they would do anything.

A few examples are RAO, RAS, RBH, RBL, NC-240C, NC-240CS, NBS-1 (NC-183 variant). There were at least 2 commercial variants of the NC-101X and another NC-240 variant with an outboard oversize doghouse PS. And the ultimate BA, the WRR-2 and 2A.

That list also misses several in the SW regen family, AGSX, FBX-A, NC-120, NC-156, NC-600, TV and FM gear, VFO-62, NCX-500, LF-10, HRO-6, HRO-50-1, FB-7 preselector, VX-501, calibrators, Selectoject, CRO, doghouse power supplies as well of several Ive missed or cant think of their correct model offhand. New variants are popping up regularly on Fleabay and hamfests.

Also missing is the NCL-2006, I own the only one

Carl

[wb1ead]

Hey tnx Carl..well it woulda been nice to have more info on the "missing" stuff..yes I know that list is far from complete..darn shame as I've always had a warm spot in my heart for National..nice mellow audio..at this time only two are here..NC173 and the NC125..the rest is gone/sold/traded..ur a lucky guy to have that NCL-2006..hope ur up to an inquiry from time to time if I run into a snag on National gear in the future?.........tnx Carl!!          73 de DAVE

[ashart]

A fairly-relevant memory:

My first encounter with National was the gray rack-mounted HRO Senior in my OM's hamshack when I was 9 or 10, in 1945.  The OM, (VE1MZ, SK) subsequently had a series of HROs, including a 50, a 50T1, and eventually a 60, so it was natural that over the years, I came to regard National as the premier manufacturer of ham radio gear.  

Imagine the thrill about 20 years ago, when boyhood ham-buddy Vic, W9LRU, called me one day and said he'd just become Chief Engineer (I think that was his title) of National.  Within a couple of days I was excitedly on a plane to Boston to see him and mostly, I think, to see National.

The first hint of corporate decay when I drove up to the National address, was finding that it was up on the 2nd floor of a somewhat decrepit-looking red wooden building.  My next, upon arriving on that 2nd floor, was that the entire work force was a mere half-dozen or so assembly-line people working on a quite-uninteresting non-ham-radio gov't maintenance contract. It was with mixed emotions and a figurative tear in my eye, I realized that my own little electronics manufacturing company back in Michigan, was much larger than my long-admired and the long-existent National.

I quickly asked Vic to show me the archives area - the room(s) where one of everything ever built by National would be stored and proudly on display.  In my mind, that went from the SW-3 up to the NC-1000, and naturally every version of the HRO!   "Can't do it," said Vic, "When one of the new owners came in during the string of several bankruptcies, he wanted more space, so he had a dump truck back up to the building under one of the 2nd floor windows, and all old equipment went out the window, accelerated by gravity down into the truck, and off to the scrapyard."

I think the aformentioned figurative tear became real.

The HRO-60 that I recently bought, and about which I've hassled several forum members, arose out of that early love for National.

 
-al hart, w8vr

[KM1H]

ur a lucky guy to have that NCL-2006

It was a $20 engineering prototype NCL-2000 that I converted to a 6M monobander during lunch hours in 1964 and still use it; 15W drive with most swamped gives 1200W out. I tried to get them interested as a product but no luck. When new management took over in 68 they started a 6n2 transverter project to be followed by a NCL-2006 but thats when the parent company was folding fast and the National Radio and components division were the only ones making money. All projects were cancelled except the NCX-1000 which actually got shipped before that was also dropped.

By 69 the whole company was down to about 200 and I bailed for Sanders Associates and a transfer to Chicago working close with Motorola and others. When I transfered back to Nashua in 73 National was down to 12 people doing some service work and building small HRO-600 runs.

When one of the new owners came in during the string of several bankruptcies, he wanted more space, so he had a dump truck back up to the building under one of the 2nd floor windows, and all old equipment went out the window, accelerated by gravity down into the truck, and off to the scrapyard."

Thats not correct if you are talking about the Civil War armory in Chelsea which was stone on the first floor and wood for the second. The second floor was mostly admin and engineering plus a lot of paper storage and most of the old gear had been hidden from/missed by the IRS under the eves behind false walls.

After the final IRS auction in 91 resulted in a good amount of bulk quantities of resellable parts going, the building was opened up to a hamfest style sale for a week. Bring whatever you wanted to a table by the exit where prices were negotiated and they were VERY low. I took the week off from work  
I was there removing whatever vintage products remained, GR, HP, TEK, Hickok and other test equipment, all sorts of spare parts and a bunch of military stuff including huge dummy loads, a 5000W reactive dummy load, vacuum variables, big tube sockets, etc. I carried 6 complete van loads home in an extended wheelbase (the longest they made) 85 Dodge 3/4T van packed to the point nothing else would fit. Luckily I had air shocks on the rear otherwise the rear bumper would have been dragging. (The van was also used for my automotive hobby and was regularly overloaded.)   Others were doing the same but most of the hams were content with a single box of goodies, and what was finally left was of no interest to anyone. There were zero vintage radios thrown out, all remaining partially assembled HRO-500, NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and all their associated parts and cabinets went to me and another person. There were a lot of useless aluminum and steel brackets and the like for the NCL-2000, HRO-500  and several finished military contracts that took up a good part of the remainder. That and hundreds of bins of hardware of which I took enough to last several lifetimes.
I also got all the Litz, enamel, resistance and Teflon wire.

The IRS, nor later National management, knew about the assembly facility in Norway, ME that was run/owned by the former QC manager and was full of NCL-2000 and NCX-500 parts that were actually National owned. There were also HRO-500/600 items that had been hidden there by earlier management. After a phone call from the owner I made 4 trips in the same van and cleaned it out before anybody started sniffing around.  The last NCL-2000 bandswitch/tank coill assemblies finally went a few months ago except for a dozen Ive held on to for customer work. I also built up some nice repair and building stock for myself as anyone who has visted here can attest to.

Carl