You Go, Girl!! aka the 10,000th SP-600

[W7TFO]

September 1953 issue.

73DG

[ve8xj]

Great picture .

Any rough guesses as to how many still exist ? I would imagine a fair amount of them are still around they seem to come up for sale fairly often .

What a great old receiver . Love mine, maybe this gal worked on mine ,a SP600 J
serial #1037

[W3GMS]

The SP-600 is one of my favorite receivers.  In many ways, I prefer it to my R-390.  I ended up with 4 or so over the years but have only retained the one that was given to me along with the large Millen high power transmitter. 
Great picture!
73,
Joe, GMS

[flintstone mop]

I guess with the right speaker it would make a room full of sounds....Pair of 6V6's??

Fred

[W7TFO]

Unfortunately just a single 6AQ5.

73DG

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Yep, a whole different kettle of fish than its namesake. Falls behind in the audio dept but makes up for it in the tuning, among other areas. Got rid of my JX-14 at Frostfest, replaced it with Steve's JX-21. My third. It's one of the 'Must Haves' at some point in a boatanchor career, IMO.

[KA0HCP]

Pretty astounding that they made 10,000 in three years, let alone 10,000. 

[N8LGU]

You would think by the law of supply and demand that they would command the lowest prices at hamfests. I doubt Hallicrafters sold that many S-120's. Actually, although I see them at hamfests, I don't see very many. Did the Gov scrap these, or are most of them still extant? Also, with a run of 10,000 the SP-600 must have been the most successful receiver of all time.

[W7TFO]

The wartime Hammarlund SP-200 production exceeded 14,000.  Some serial numbers exist in excess of 30,000.  Phenomenal for the short time involved.

Some of those were built by Howard Radio under contract late in the war.

National and Hammarlund were the only receiver manufacturers that made virtually everything in one of their products.

Hallicrafters, RME, and the rest farmed out a lot of internal parts.

73DG

[kb3rdt]

Unfortunately just a single 6AQ5.

73DG

For the output has a single 6V6-GT I have a National NC-300 I pick my Hammerlund SP-600 JX

[Les Locklear]

Pretty astounding that they made 10,000 in three years, let alone 10,000. 

It has been estimated that Hammarlund produced 25,000 SP-600's. I have seen serial numbers in the mid 24,000 range. They were produced from 1950 - 1972 when the last run was produced, the JX-21A's with a product detector and 22 tubes vs, 20.

Les Locklear
Gulfport, Ms.

[W7TFO]

As with any standardized military gear, don't forget the scads of spare parts that pop up from time to time.  I swear they produced enough to build another 10,000 radios...

73DG

[W3LSN]

Not very well known is that the Hammarlund name lives on as a manufacturing division of the Cardwell Condenser Company in Long Island. They bought the variable capacitor line from Hammarlund in 1971 and still manufacture the Hammarlund air variables.  Cardwell also purchased all the SP600 parts and related stock from Hammarlund. As recently as a few years ago, the balance of SP-600 spares was said to be mostly mechanical parts, but also included several NOS SP-600-VLF units. The company president keeps the very last Hammarlund HQ-215 off the assembly line in his office. Cardwell also bought the capacitor line from E.F. Johnson, and the assets of National Radio. 

73, Jim
WA2AJM/3

[W7TFO]

Good facts to know, Jim.

Another crazy thing is the EAC (made a lot of R-390A's) was another division of Hammarlund.

73DG

[k4kyv]

Not very well known is that the Hammarlund name lives on as a manufacturing division of the Cardwell Condenser Company in Long Island. They bought the variable capacitor line from Hammarlund in 1971 and still manufacture the Hammarlund air variables... Cardwell also bought the capacitor line from E.F. Johnson, and the assets of National Radio.  

But you should see their prices.  They list those little coil clips for 1/4" flat edgewound stock that I was looking for.  I e-mailed them and asked for a price.  They replied, something like $19.95 each, and there would be something on the order of a 3-month wait. I suspect they don't carry all that stuff in stock, and pull out the blueprints and custom manufacture it to order as they receive a purchase request.  If they produced those things in any reasonable quantity at all, they shouldn't cost more than a couple of bucks each, or at most, $5 in 2012 dollarettes.  Ripoff Sales of Nebraska had some in stock, now sold out.  They were asking over $9 apiece for them.

I was planning to just make my own, but I managed to work up a trade with someone who happened to have some on hand, and right now I think I have enough original EF Johnsons to complete the antenna project I'm working on.

Regarding the SP-600 girl, if she is still alive, I bet she isn't anywhere near as well preserved as most of those receivers we see for sale on-line or at hamfests.

[W3LSN]

But you should see their prices.  ..... I suspect they don't carry all that stuff in stock, and pull out the blueprints and custom manufacture it to order as they receive a purchase request.  
[/quote]


Don, that's exactly what they do. They are a registered vendor for the federal government and mainly serve to supply spare parts for old equipment on contract.  They basically produce those $50 claw hammers.

73, Jim
WA2AJM/3