------>I've seen worse examples go for more. <-----
And with me being landlocked with work and kids, I don't get a chance to go to the shows, and the couple "ham' swap meets here in town just don't have anything other than old scopes, handy talkies, and TNCs it seems like.
I know, I know.... I'm rationalizing myself into thinking this was a good purchase.
So, I just blew a cool G on this.









I based my decision not on the seller not knowing if it was operational or not, but the condition, and caliber of the "estate" he's selling. Top notch stuff that looks well cared for.
I know I overpaid by most of you guy's standards. But hey.... time is money, and I ain't getting any younger.

Now... When united package smashers drops this insured thing off. Do I hold up the driver until I inspect it?
What if I'm not home and my girlfriend has to sign for it?

Time to hear the DX on HF before they're all gone, for good.

Congratulations. At least they sure are not going to be able to throw that receiver over the fence like the FedEx guy did with that guy's monitor back around Christmas.

Curtis Eickerman

That's a nice looking receiver. Why shouldn't you indulge yourself a bit. Part of the whole nostalgia thing is being able to connect with the past with a nice old example that looks new.
I'd say that one qualifies.
Don't worry about the money. Heck, I paid 910.00 bucks for a SX96 restored by the"Hallicrafters Guy" a few years ago but I use it every day on AM and It looks and works like new.
I say "Good for You"!!!!!

Pete

Manly Man gear - love it! As kids, how many of us drooled over that Collins gear? I certainly did - think it was in the old Fair Radio Sales catalogs.

Do you get a free low-boy 17" rack mount with the purchase?

If ya wanna play ya gotta pay... as the saying goes, and I Hope your new toy brings you many hours of hunting successes, or listening pleasure, as the case may be.

That must be a new record for a Capehart if its the 1961 contract version. I could see it for an all original Collins but you dont even know what brand modules are in it.

OTOH if its as nice as the photos it might have had a professional restoration and then its a bargain. Just the IERC tube shields are worth some $$ and shows somebody was into it after it became surplus.

The first thing Id do is remove the IF module and be sure its been recapped before turning on. If its original there is a good chance the mechanical filters are blown, recap before trying to find out.

Keep us posted.

Carl

I've heard before that certain manufacturers/contracts are preferable to others.
I've also heard that anymore the condition is more important than the contract.
Other than people not liking the cosmos PTO, or cut corners RF deck from teledyne (the same folks that make the showerheads?!),
I'm unlearned in these matters.
Please enlighten.

P.S. whats that resistor with it's heat sink screwed down over the tube socket in the photo about?
Here's a photo. Once it loads hold down control, and hit the + key as many times as you like to make picture bigger.
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Collins-Ham-Radi ... ~60_12.JPG
And by that photo, it has it's filaments glowing, so.......

That looks like a beautiful receiver. If you want enlightenment about these rigs, the web is your friend. There is a ton of material out there about them. If you haven't already, go to http://www.r-390a.net/ and start reading. The "reference" section is where the meat is.

The IF deck is easy to remove. The Filter Killer cap C553 is called that because it provides a path from B+ through the filter coils to ground if it shorts. If it is bad, you blow each filter as you flip through the bandwidths. There is a checklist in the reference section that covers every conceivable issue:

http://www.r-390a.net/AI4NI-Checklists.pdf

It stands as a monument to "analness" in my opinion but you will find the above cap and many others mentioned.

When you get the receiver, you should check the IF deck to make sure C553 has been replaced at the very least. You should get a set of Bristol wrenches to undo the various clamps. They sell them on ebay but you can get them a bit cheaper from McMaster Carr ( www.mcmaster.com). I bought a set but there are only a couple of sizes that you need. I don't recall which ones. It's also a good idea to check the plug-in PS filter caps to make sure they are not dead before attempting to power up. With that kind of an investment, you don't want to rush it.

Also, the reference section of the site I mentioned also points you to the Y2K manual, created by enthusiasts as an improved and more complete manual. It is on this page: http://www.r-390a.net/Y2K-R3/index.htm . This will answer just about every question you can have about servicing and maintaining the radio.

I paid about 950 for my 67 EAC including shipping. It is in very nice condition but yours looks even prettier. I paid too much but I have come out way ahead on some of my other radios so I'm still on the plus side overall. The tuning on mine was stiffer than I thought it should be, but following the documents available on the web, I have it tuning nice and smooth. I've also done a couple of minor mods to improve the audio and SSB reception. I use a 600 ohm to 8 ohm transformer to connect an 8 ohm speaker. Unless you have a 600 ohm speaker, you will need something like that.

Have fun with it!

Tony

Thanks Tony. I plan to pretty much use the diode load out to a home stereos aux input.
Should I load the local audio with a 600 ohm resistor to keep it happy?

Thats a 3TF7 ballast tube substitute. There is much discussion of this in the "Pearls of WIsdom" section of the site I gave you. This is another area where excessive attention has been paid by some. The 3TF7 tube is getting rare and expensive. It is basically a current regulator for the VFO filament. It provides a small improvement in VFO stability but you will never notice it. I put a jumper on the bottom of the socket and installed a 12BY7 if I remember correctly. The filament of the 12BY7 provides a "close enough" approximation to the 3TF7. There are quite a few varieties of 3TF7 substitute circuits including solid state current regulators. There was a german guy selling them on ebay not too long ago. the simplest replacement for the 3TF7 is a power resistor which is what you have, I think.

Tony

The diode load approach is OK. I get pretty good fidelity with the mods I have done. The diode load has some drawbacks. The normal volume control knob is bypassed and the narrow audio filter can't be used since you are bypassing the audio amp in the radio. The audio filter is not used much anyway except for CW. If you don't mind having to use the volume knob on your amplifier then you will be happy with the diode load.

Tony

Eh, in the event I want to use the audio filter, I do happen to have a set of 600 ohm headphones that I got for 10 bucks to use with an RBL-5 I have here. Thanks for the tip!

Well, after a week of telling this guy every suggestion I could think of to make sure that this makes it here safely, he is ready to ship it today. I'll be gritting my teeth till then. I was browsing through googles image search and found a 390 that looks like it has a similar tag on the back as the one that's listed on ebay that I'd bought. The one on image search says miltronix. It also has the red markings on some of the back panel labeling.

I hope I hit a miltronix restored 390!

Here's the back panel image on ebay of the one I bought.


Here's the one that turned up on google image search. Not the same radio, but I'm hoping the tag on mine says the same thing.

Sure looks like it to me. That would explain why it looks so good. Rick Mish has a first class reputation.

Keep 'em crossed!

Tony

Speaking of shipping. Mine came from a place in New York called "Hassan's Rugs" or something like that. That is no joke. When it arrived, it was packed in a color TV box with some bubble wrap and scraps of foam rubber. There were a couple of old seat cushions shoved in the box. My wife watch the UPS guy shove it off the tail of the truck with his foot. A 2 to 3 foot drop to the street before loading it onto the two-wheeler. When she told me that I just about had a heart attack. Surprisingly, there was no damage whatsoever to the set. The color TV box was very stout and the foam rubber stuff took the shock pretty well. What a scruffy packing job though.

I know what you are going through. Hope it arrives in ship-shape with a Miltronix label on the back.

Tony

If it is a Miltronix, you basically scored the radio for free, and it should be good to go for the next 20 years. Good score!

It's a Miltronix. From 1996. Upon general visual inspection, the only trouble I see is the little RF coax cables inside have their yellow shielding cracking, and flaking. Other than that, I'd eat my breakfast off of it, and not worry. Will post pix soon.

For anything over 50 pounds, the UPS guys are told to not strain their backs lowering the packages to the ground, so the packages end up getting kicked out the back of the truck. UPS is not coy about this, they say it right in their packing instructions. You need several inches of resilient padding on all sides of anything heavy.

That looks like a nice clean radio. Enjoy it.

Well, I insisted picking it up off the truck. He wouldn't let me, but I feared the worst as I saw a hole in the box, and peanuts coming out..... Yikes! Inside was another box, and another box in that one. All spaced with u stick em high density foam.

I've had it apart. Every module is a capehart 1961. Restored fully. All caps replaced etc. I think I may have a Miltronix from the museum price range on his site, as all modules match. Or this was possibly sent in by the owner that already had it with all matching modules. In any case, I'm pleased.

Plays beautiful. I hung a random wire out the door stuck in the whip socket, and it hears better during the day than my 180 does at night on a sloper dipole.

I'm sold on it in the 10 minutes I tuned around. WWV on the nose. All filters work.
Only concern in operation is the carrier meter. It doesn't do much unless the rf gain is choking the radio.

At 1100 shipped I think I came out on top.

I run mine with the RF wide open all the time and let the AGC do it's thing. It is normal for the carrier level meter to die as the RF gain is turned down. You don't need to turn down the RF gain except for strong SSB stations. I have Lankford's 2 diode mod in here for SSB so I leave the RF gain up all the time.

I find my HQ-180 sensitivity to be on a par with the R-390a. Both are very good. Of course my R-390a has not had a treatment by Miltronix.

Congrats on a great score. You did well.

Tony