I've been helping a.....excessive collector of all things move some essentials out of his property on a trailer for when he moves, and he's been giving me all kinds of things in lieu of money for assisting him. Today, out of all the things, he gave me a Hallicrafters radio, a nice Hickok 800 tube tester, and this:



He said he has the power supply also, and he'll look for it tonight. Thing is...I have NO idea what I have here. Is it a radio, communications receiver, shortwave receiver, or what? I'm leaning towards a shortwave radio, but I've never seen one like this before. I'm guessing it's from the late 30's early 40's, judging from the tube types, and overall construction.

Is this "a good find" or just something that would serve as a nice "boatanchor" ? If you folks can provide me with any details, I'd certainly appreciate it. It looks to have had some work done on it in the 60's-70's, as far as capacitors go. It's missing one knob, and (currently) it's power supply.

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These were a landmark in receiver development - - - and still very respectable performers. Heavy and requiring a lot of space and cooling, they are still sought and restored by eager Amateurs and DXr's - - (plus some other folks who probably slip my mind at the moment).

Here are two "Super Pro" power supplies - - - - front view, stacked





And seen from the rear:



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Hi William!

Check out the following URL: http://www.radioblvd.com/hammarlund_super_pro.htm

This will tell you the history of the Hammarlund Super-Pro series of communications receivers. The one you have there looks as though it was from the war years.... if you scroll down a ways on the above URL, you will come to one that matches your front panel pretty closely. The exceptions will be that the meter you have is not original, and the added knob to the left of your meter (antenna trimmer?) is a modification... not found on the original receiver.

Your receiver is not a particularly good example, since it is missing many of the original knobs and has been heavily modified. Also, it looks to be in rough shape cosmetically. Check on the Hammarlund mailing list (do a Google search for this) or the Communications Receivers section of the Antique Forums to get an idea of what it might be worth.... I really have no idea but I would not think too much due to its overall condition.

These are pretty good receivers when restored.

Good Luck,
Jim T.
KB6GM

Im still looking for a PS.

That one in the photo has been hacked a bit but its hard to tell whats been done inside without photos. Most likely salvagable enough to use but not restore as they are fairly common in much better condition and dont command much money.

Carl

Thanks for the input guys. I tossed a post up in the Communications receivers section, and I'll see what they have to say. I have no plans to fix this one, as I've got too many projects as it is. I'll likely list it here, and if I get no bites, off to Craigslist it goes.

That poor dirty modified SP-200 is a major restoration project, if you are really desperate. You will need the power supply, and always check to be sure that the -50volt bias from the power supply is present - you will burn out the audio driver transformer if it isn't. The dust cover is also missing, but you won't need it if you put the radio in a rack cabinet.

BTW, SP-200 power supplies that haven't lost their dust cover and front panel are rare, in my experience. Those knurled nuts that hold the dust cover to the front panel are even rarer.

--Chuck

Don't worry about it. It's just a piece of junk. Send it to me ASAP, I will pay for the shipping.

cough, cough, cough

I wouldn't expect more than $100 on a really good day. My receiver, power supply and speaker in great condition cost about $250 and $140 to ship. (seller guessed wrong on listing and ended up paying most of it) With all the work yours needs, I would grab the first $50 offered if I didn't have to ship.

At $100 the seller would be laughing all the way home.

At local hamfests its $50 tops on a good day, Ive seen better and complete go for less. I paid $25 for a SP-400X in its factory cabinet. Flaws were a blue latex panel and a cracked glass in the meter which were easy fixes. Inside was near mint and unhacked.

Thats what I need a PS for, its running on a cobbled together one for now. Any SP-200/400 PS will work.

Carl

Does the BC-779 have the same PS as a Super Pro?

I have two units (A & B) with their respective power supllies. Pristine, with cables, I'm looking to sell both of them in the near future. I think a fair price, if I'd to sell them now would be in the 225-275 range. But it would be P/U only.

Locally, there is a commercial crating service here in town but the cost of wood crates is kinda high. Actually the shipping cost by carrier for 130 lbs. seemed pretty reasonable.

But anything less than pristine, IMHO, wouldn't be worth the effort.

The power supplies are very similar, but there are variations in input voltage capability. See TM11-866 for the many military variations, RA-74-A, B, C and D, RA-84( ), and RA-94( ). Also, there was a pre-war commercial version that provided terminals for a speaker field coil instead of a second filter choke.

I'm shocked at your expected price range, as I would expect to get a very clean, ready to run, SP-600 for that much cash. But I'm a notorious cheapskate.

--Chuck

"I'm shocked at your expected price range, as I would expect to get a very clean, ready to run, SP-600 for that much cash. But I'm a notorious cheapskate."

Heh heh...glad you live on the West Coast. Otherwise, we'd be having running gun battles over prices...

And, shippingwise, a '779 with it's power supply is a lot heavier than a '600.
...Jim

I found the power supply! So now, it's a complete set, minus the dust covers.

Jim lives in that rarefied coastal area of Nassau County LI, NY where even a 2 bedroom slab house would sell for 300-500K so he figures they can overpay for radios also He will probably get it also Its a $150-175 package up this way which includes Bahstun.

Carl

I'd agree with Carl's estimates- I've bought three Super-Pros so far: $90 for a BC-779 w/PS in nice cosmetic condition, but with some mods; $160 for a pristine all-original SP-400 w/PS; and $20 for a BC-779 a bit more hacked up than the one shown in the photo (no PS). And then there's the current project, which was a free BC-779 and PS. I'll probably try and sell the last after I finish restoration- I'm assuming I might get $100 to $150. I love the look of the radios, but I'm running out of room.

I've worked at restoring the first BC-779 to all original parts. I finally got an original power cable this year, and swapped tubes out of the other radios to all WW2 vintage VT-XX type tubes. I finally got my knurled nuts for the dust cover and now just need 4 more nuts for the power supply. Interestingly, I was going to swap an original send-receive switch from my freebie into my keeper, but I found a NOS switch at Dayton. The final task is to restuff original capacitors and swap them into my keeper so that the under chassis looks good. Definitely a labor of love, given the low prices these radios go for.
Ed W2EMN

..........


Carl

Yeeeup....I can always depend on a good word from you.

Its called economic and geographic realities. We will never run out of Super Pros in most any condition.

Carl

Here's a nice SP-400 on eBay: 250846255663. It looks all complete except for the speaker, and even has original knobs. I've been watching to see how much it goes for. It now has a bid for $99, plus about as much again for shipping, so maybe Jim's estimate of a couple hundred for one of his Super-Pros is not so far off, provide someone picks it up and avoids the shipping costs.
Ed

And, of course, it's always negotiable.....

Rarefied, coastal areas notwithstanding.....