I have a chance to buy one or the other of the above receivers with a matching speaker, and although I like both, I only have room (barely) for one. Price is good about $150-$200 and the rigs are in pristine condition. What are your thoughts? Thanks in adavnce!

Hi Dave,

I'd vote for the national, better performance, and looks lots nicer.

I have both here, but the 183D is hands down one of the best receivers
I've ever used. Has great audio too.

The 183D for sure.

I have both and I would choose the NC-183D for overall performance and audio quality. The only caveat is the NC-183D is from the era when at least a number of the National receivers were built with resistors which drift up radically in value. I had to replace far more out-of-spec resistors in my NC-183D than any other receiver I have restored. Once done it performs very well but it is something to consider if the NC-183D performance isn't also in pristine condition. A lot of them also had power transformer problems, Carl can shed more light on that issue.

The HQ-129X is a slightly older design but very competent and it certainly isn't a bad receiver. This model is known for having front panel paint wear, probably from poor original surface preparation. I bought a reproduction panel for mine. The original main tuning and band spread knobs were also small, often called mushroom knobs. Most HQ-129X receivers don't have these original small knobs because they were usually quickly replaced by the original owner.

Rodger WQ9E

Thanks for all the input guys, looks like I'll be going with the National. Will be picking it up on Monday and let you all know how it goes. Just need to find some room for it now!

The price is way low for the 183D and high for the 129X.

I prefer the 129X for BCB DXing because it has the best dial calibration going in that price range (along with its other HQ siblings). OTOH the 183D beats it hands down everywhere else.

Carl

Thanks for the reply Carl, couldn't pass up such a good deal on the 183D!

If they were both for sale on a hamfest table and the HQ-129X was $150 and the NC-183D was $250 the NC-183D would be the first to sell. On the otherhand they'e both great receivers so you should get both but buy the NC-183D first.

Regards, Greg

Bear in mind that the 129X was probably half (or a third)the price of the 183D when they were new. I also have both and like both of them very much. The 129 X does have a good AM DX feel to it, but if I could only have one, I'd grab the 183D. I just bought one at a yard sale last Saturday for $20.00. It's a bit rusty/moldy but it came up on the variac and played after a few squirts of De-oxit. Simply amazing!!! My other one was a Hamfest find for $40.00 and was missing the bottom plate and S-meter. It's a bit rusty as well, but even though neither of them is particularly pretty, they perform quite nicely. The $40.00 one was already recapped when I bought it(except the filters... go figure) It had a contact tension issue in the L.O. bandswitch which was easily rectified. The 183D will be one of the last to go!!! I hope this helps!! Ross

Thanks guys. Just picked up the 183D today and it looks better than the photos that I had of it initially. Inside and out. Haven't looked under the chassis yet, but I'm guessing it's just as nice. Will probably bring it up with a variac and ammeter on Sunday since it hasn't been on in over 5 years, and I'll post some photos as well.

I wouldnt do that Dave. They are infamous for frying both transformers and choke so AT LEAST replace the electrolytics and audio section paper caps before applying any power.
Actually, pull the rectifier as first step and then replace the line bypasses and then use the variac just in case the power transformer is already fried.

Carl

Yup...What Carl said!!!! National trannys are notorious for burning out... Ross

Thanks for the advice guys!

It doesn't hurt to have a few spare transformers on hand. There for a while I would buy every National power transformer that came my way.

Occassionally you will find a good buy on a National receiver which someone has changed the transformer and if you have a good original on hand you can put it back the way it is supposed to be and have a nice receiver. I don't know that all these transformers would be burning out if more folks paid closer attention to the old capacitors.

Greg

The 183D iron was underated to start with and in 1956, a better one was used and also offered to owners. Identified by S-461 on the top.

Carl

That's the transformer my 183D has Carl. Someone told me, maybe Dan, that this version was rated for continuous duty.

Greg

All Nationals as well as most other brands, especially higher end models, were supposed to be capable of running 24/7 Greg.
Ive collected several of the S-461 over the years, mostly still in their shipping carton, and continue to put them to good use even in other models.

And now with companies such as Edcor expanding with very reasonable priced offerings repairs are less painful.

Carl

Carl,

Thanks for sharing the Edcor info, I bookmarked their product offering site for future use. I have used several Hammond replacement transformers and chokes but Edcor pricing looks very good.

A few years ago Fair was selling a bunch of Paeco transformers that appeared to have been removed from test gear and I bought a dozen of them and have used them in several repair and building projects. They have twin 115 volt 50-1000 hertz primaries, four 6.3 volt secondaries (2 rated at 5 amps and 2 rated at 4.5 amps), a 289 volt @ 200 mil secondary, and a 207 volt @ 125 mil secondary. It uses solder terminals on the bottom for connections and is a good size to fit a lot of vintage gear. There isn't a winding suitable for a tube type rectifier but otherwise it is very versatile and is a sealed unit that appears to be of very good quality and is conservatively rated. I have noticed a few of these showing up at hamfests so I expect a lot were sold into surplus so if you see these consider them for replacement/construction stock.

Rodger WQ9E

Which model # Edcor works for a NC 183D Pwr Xfmer ??

Bill

Hi,

My NC-183D is a later version with the S-461 power transformer. About 12 years ago it was left on for an extended period and leaked a bunch of tar, but continued to work ok. It had been recapped, so I wasn't worried about it that much. However, those caps are now probably 30+ years old, so I'm gong to recap it, as well as replace the 30% or so of the resistors that have gone bad. Prior to this work, the radio still worked pretty well, although I'm sure the alignment is off and it doesn't seem very sensitive above 15mhz or so.

So my question is: aside from replacing the paper and electrolytic caps and bad resistors, should I also be concerned about the power transformer, or should I just leave well enough alone?

Thanks,
Justin