"New" boat anchor receivers

[n2ffl]

Picked up a pair of boat anchor receivers at the Sussex "fest. I saw them sitting on the bed of a pickup truck and they looked like they needed a home. I just couldn't resist. Got them as a "package" deal.

#1. Hammarlud HQ-170 a... (no clock  ). It looks pretty good and works. Needs cleaning of all the switches and alignment. I've always wanted one of these.

#2. National NC300. I was told it powers up but you can't hear anything. I "cut my teeth" as a new ham on a NC300 way back in high school in 1978. They had one in the school's shack. I've always wanted one of these too! I haven't powered it up yet so I don't know exactly what the deal is with it.

These will keep me busy for a while. The manuals came with both.

The fest was well attended with lots of goodies to be had. This was the first time in about 8 years I've been to this 'fest.

Ron
N2FFL

[K6JEK]

Congratulations.

I'm especially curious about the sometimes maligned HQ-170.  As a kid I was intensely jealous of my buddy's HQ-170 when all I had was an old HRO-50. That was way back and all we operated was AM and CW. i suppose now I would reverse my opinion but somehow that longing for an HQ-170 has never gone away.

[wb1ead]

Hi Ron..nice find!..the NC300 is a bit nicer than the HQ-170 overall..but you'll decide once restored..wonder what that "extra" knob is on the HQ-170 above the mode switch??..don't think it's original so just wondering..it WILL be tuff finding the clock mechanisim..someone out there used to make up the replacements but not sure if that was a Telechron movement or not..I think the fella sold the original knobs too..have fun Ron!    73 de DAVE

[wa2dtw]

..wonder what that "extra" knob is on the HQ-170 above the mode switch??..don't think it's original so just wondering..

That controls the position of the frequency indicator.  It moves the plastic window over the vernier, so that the reading can be calibrated.   I agree that the actual knob is likely not original.

[n2ffl]

..wonder what that "extra" knob is on the HQ-170 above the mode switch??..don't think it's original so just wondering..

That controls the position of the frequency indicator.  It moves the plastic window over the vernier, so that the reading can be calibrated.   I agree that the actual knob is likely not original.

You are correct sir on both accounts.

[n2ffl]

Congratulations.

I'm especially curious about the sometimes maligned HQ-170.  As a kid I was intensely jealous of my buddy's HQ-170 when all I had was an old HRO-50. That was way back and all we operated was AM and CW. i suppose now I would reverse my opinion but somehow that longing for an HQ-170 has never gone away.

I've always had the same longing for one since the first time I laid eyes on one as a kid in the late 60s. There used to be  an electronics / ham radio supply store in Eatontown, NJ named Atkinson & Smith. They dealt with a fair amount of used ham gear and every now and again one of these would show up. The store was owned by two local hams and I think everybody that worked there was a ham also. The store closed in the mid 90s after one of the owners died. A sad time for us hams here in central Jersey. This was one of those places you'd go to for one quick part and end up leaving 3 hours later with God only knows what and maybe a little extra knowledge.

All in all the rig is in pretty good shape and seems to work fairly well. It's not really banged or scratched up and there's no wear marks on the front panel. A little cleaning and an alignment and she'll be good I think. Yeah every rig out there has it's pros and cons, haters and lovers even to this day but I love the older representations of the technology of bygone eras. This rig brings back a lot of memories.

[WB2EMS]

An HQ-170 was my first 'decent' ham radio receiver, after a Knight Kit R-100 and a BC-348. I loved the slow bandspread tuning dial on the right, and the ability to tighten up the filters in steps and also move the BFO. Fiddling with those settings is what finally made the light bulb come on about how the signal fit into the receiver passband. I remember tightening up the filter to 1 kc and sliding the BFO up to get that real "space shuttle audio"   

Was the first decent rig for copying SSB for me, and I ran it paired up with a Knight T-60 transmitter. I wouldn't mind having one again.

I also cut my teeth on the NC300. My scoutmaster and Elmer, K2EAW, had one in his shack and I spent many happy hours as a JN tuning around on that thing. My buddy in school scored an NC303 when I was running the knight kit R100 and I was uber jealous. Wouldn't mind finding one of those sometime either.

Good finds on both. You'll have fun.

[n2ffl]

Hi Ron..nice find!..the NC300 is a bit nicer than the HQ-170 overall..but you'll decide once restored..wonder what that "extra" knob is on the HQ-170 above the mode switch??..don't think it's original so just wondering..it WILL be tuff finding the clock mechanisim..someone out there used to make up the replacements but not sure if that was a Telechron movement or not..I think the fella sold the original knobs too..have fun Ron!    73 de DAVE

Yeah finding an original working clock for this would probably be pretty tough. I think most of them are kaput by now. I was thinking maybe getting a new quartz movement and hands, I think the craft stores sell them. As far as the face goes I can make something up on the computer that will closely resemble the original and mount it all place without molesting anything. Yeah it won't have the full functionality of the original but I think it'd look pretty good.

[n2ffl]

More pics of the HQ 170A....

[n2ffl]

More pics of the HQ 170A part II...

[W3GMS]

Picked up a pair of boat anchor receivers at the Sussex "fest. I saw them sitting on the bed of a pickup truck and they looked like they needed a home. I just couldn't resist. Got them as a "package" deal.

#1. Hammarlud HQ-170 a... (no clock  ). It looks pretty good and works. Needs cleaning of all the switches and alignment. I've always wanted one of these.

#2. National NC300. I was told it powers up but you can't hear anything. I "cut my teeth" as a new ham on a NC300 way back in high school in 1978. They had one in the school's shack. I've always wanted one of these too! I haven't powered it up yet so I don't know exactly what the deal is with it.

These will keep me busy for a while. The manuals came with both.

The fest was well attended with lots of goodies to be had. This was the first time in about 8 years I've been to this 'fest.

Ron
N2FFL

Ron,

I have an HQ-170 parts unit and if I can help you out with any parts just let me know.  The dial calibration knob on my parts unit is not original otherwise I would send it to you. 
Aftermarket clocks were available for those receivers years ago but I believe they are not available anymore but I could be mistaken on that. 

Good luck with the project.

Joe, W3GMS     

[W1RKW]

you're gonna love the NC300 also once you get it working.  I have one too. Got it from Bruce, W1UJR.  Though mine worked when I got it home.  Tweaked it and replaced a few caps in the PS as insurance and it works like a champ.  Excellent fidelity and sensitive too even on the higher bands.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

The clock in my HQ-170A-VHF was always worthless since I power down the entire station when I'm not there or not operating. You should fit AADE's DFD digital readout in the clock space. At least it would be more useful. I had two NC-300's and the HQ-170A-VHF. Got rid of both 300's but kept the 170. Never really cared for the quality of sound in the 300's. The 303, which sound better, also didn't last to long at this station. There was something about Nationals (and I've had a number of them) that never perked my love very long although I still have the HRO-500.

[n2ffl]

you're gonna love the NC300 also once you get it working.  I have one too. Got it from Bruce, W1UJR.  Though mine worked when I got it home.  Tweaked it and replaced a few caps in the PS as insurance and it works like a champ.  Excellent fidelity and sensitive too even on the higher bands.

I got the NC300 going today. Took most of the day but it sounds great even with the bad audio output tube. Somebody went to town on this thing with the golden soldering iron, screwdriver and whatever other golden tools you can think of. All the controls still need cleaning and it's needs to be aligned but it sounds great.

[KM1H]

The NC-300/303 audio is easily improved with a 1M resistor between the driver and audio output plates and then add an electrolytic from the driver cathode to ground. Pick a value that sounds good, I use 47uF which brings up the lows a bit as well as compensates for the resistors gain reduction.
These mods go back to the 50's and work on many makes and models.

National either had too wide an IF for crowded bands or too sharp for hi fi AM. Adding a ceramic filter to the wide ones helps a lot and Ive done that to my NC-183, 240D, and HRO-50. My favorite for general listening or a 75/40M rat race is the somewhat scarce NBS-1 which is a rack mount 183 with a 3rd IF stage and variable selectivity IF plus the crystal filter. It was a competitor to the SP-400 Hammarlund for that contract.

The HQ-170 has a reputation for poor audio and rebuilding to a more conventional circuit is more pleasing on AM. Its been documented on the Internet and is rather simple. Ive done it to my HQ-180 and its a lot more pleasing plus much less distortion.

Carl

[W8IXY]

Speaking of an HQ-180.... a problem with many of them, especially as they aged, the 3 gang tuning caps would not track as closely as one would like.   This resulted in lower sensitivity as you tuned across sections the selected band, and was especially noted on the two higher bands.  If you adjusted the trimmers for the low end of the band, the high end would not track quite right and vice versa.  I spent many hours trying to get the tracking to follow, but never could get it quite right.  I remember someone either had a kit or at least a circuit diagram to install a varicap diode in parallel with the mixer section of the variable caps to act as a variable trimmer.  The kit had a small panel that attached to the opening where the clock went.  My 180 didn't have a clock, but I never got to installing the kit.  Now I wish I would have.  Its probably very easy to come up with the circuit, but I was wondering if anyone remembers the mod, and if you know where a diagram of the original mod is.  All it needs would be a varicap, a good pot, and a little regulator for a few low volt milliamps you could steal from somewhere in the HQ.   Does anyone remember?

73
Ted W8IXY

[K9PNP]

#1. Hammarlud HQ-170 a... (no clock  ). It looks pretty good and works. Needs cleaning of all the switches and alignment. I've always wanted one of these.

Picked up my 170 basically the same way at the Evansville [IN] hamfest last November.  Now I have the station I wanted when I was a senior in HS in 1962:  HQ-170 and Viking II with 122 VFO.  All mine needed was 3 tubes and a little TLC.  Works great now.  Was using a HQ-110AC but the 170 is much better selectivity wise.

[n2ffl]

Ron,

I have an HQ-170 parts unit and if I can help you out with any parts just let me know.  The dial calibration knob on my parts unit is not original otherwise I would send it to you. 
Aftermarket clocks were available for those receivers years ago but I believe they are not available anymore but I could be mistaken on that. 

Good luck with the project.

Joe, W3GMS     

Thanks Joe, I will keep you in mind. I'll probably end up needing something!

Ron, N2FFL

[n2ffl]

Videos of the HQ-170A and NC300 in action.

The NC300... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS4lHFTweIY&feature=plcp

The HQ-170A... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOtMx0VRB0E&feature=plcp

The 300 is very stable after a short warm up (it's not all that bad when it's cold). Not bad at all considering it's age. Hell it's more stable than I am and it's about 5 years older than me!

The 170 is a bit more "drifty" but on AM it doesn't really matter much. As far as the clock goes I think I'll make one up. AC Moore sells a quartz movement kit with hands and I can make up a reasonable reproduction of the Hammarlund clock face on the 'puter. I'll do that after I'm done "tweaking" the rest of it. In my opinion the clock really makes these things.

Ron
N2FFL

[KM1H]

The 300 is very stable after a short warm up (it's not all that bad when it's cold). Not bad at all considering it's age. Hell it's more stable than I am and it's about 5 years older than me!

Check to see if the 2nd conversion oscillator has been upgraded to crystal control as in all NC-303's. Once the 303 came out every 300 that came in for service was given the update at no charge and Id say hundreds of DIY kits were mailed. With the conversion even 10M SSB is very stable after a 5-10 minute warmup.
A tiny drop of DeOxit on both oscillator switch wafers rotors as well as all the tuning cap wipers eliminates intermittent "warble".
Adding a 5W zener to the product detector/BFO B+ will help a bit more. Pick a voltage about 5-6V or so below the measured B+, a couple in series can be used.

http://bama.edebris.com/manuals/national/nc300fsn/

Carl

[n2ffl]

Just came across this...

A face to print out for the Hammarlund clock and a Hammarlund QSL card.

Cool stuff 

http://bama.edebris.com/manuals/hammarlu/hqclock/

[n2ffl]

Check to see if the 2nd conversion oscillator has been upgraded to crystal control as in all NC-303's. Once the 303 came out every 300 that came in for service was given the update at no charge and Id say hundreds of DIY kits were mailed. With the conversion even 10M SSB is very stable after a 5-10 minute warmup.

Thanks for the info!

Mine does not have the crystal. It's pretty stable as it is and I'm using it mostly for AM but if I happen across the 2295 KC crystal I'll make the modification.