Vintage equipment

Lafayette Gregory

Les-ter not Ly-Chester
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Dec 17, 2016
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Hendersonville NC
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I have a friend with some vintage short wave home base station equipment. He is wanting to get rid of it. If anyone is interested I will try and find out what he has and let ya know. If interested, let me know what questions to ask him,
 
I believe that was built by Collins...

The R-390A is a general coverage radio receiver capable of receiving amplitude modulated, code, and frequency shift keying signals. Its tuning range is from 500 kilohertz to 32 megahertz, in 32 one-megahertz bands. The circuit is the superheterodyne type, double conversion above 8 MHz, below which triple conversion is used. It employs 26 vacuum tubes (6AK6 x 3, 5654 x 2, 12AU7/5814A x 2, 26Z5W x 2, 3TF7 x 1, 6BA6/5749W x 6, 6C4/6100 x 3, 6DC6 x 1, 0A2 x 1), a larger than normal count for most general-coverage receivers. The receiver weighs 85 pounds and can be operated on 120 volt or 240 volt supplies. It fits neatly into a 10.5 inch-tall standard 19 inch equipment rack.





The R-390A was deployed to most branches of the US military and remained in general use through the 1980s. The last major update to its documentation was in 1984. As the military procured newer receivers, many R-390As were released to surplus while others were destroyed. Some receivers were retained by the services, however, when they found that the R-390A's vacuum tube circuitry could easily survive an electromagnetic pulse. There are reports, possibly apocryphal, that R-390A receivers are still in use aboard U.S. Navy submarines since the receiver can withstand the strong radio frequency fields found aboard ship.

Many of the R-390As that exist today are in the hands of vintage amateur radio collectors and amateur radio operators who contend that few modern solid state communications receivers can equal its performance. There is a wealth of information, both printed and electronic, devoted to R-390A restoration and maintenance, as the R-390A is widely considered an example of the best of vacuum tube technology.
 
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That's about 210 lbs of fun right there....
 
My friend has gone to the beach. As soon as he gets back I will post answers to all the questions. Sorry for the delay guys. He mentioned to me he wanted to sell it and I knew somebody here might be interested,He is not a gun guy and has never seen this site. More info as soon as possible.
 
Just out of curiosity, are there more than one or did he just pull it out of the mini rack? At 85 lbs, you'd have to lay the rack down.
 
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