Sunday, Jan. 2, 2011 – I was taking a quick tour through some of my usual eBay searches and ran across this very nice and not-so-commonly-seen Hallicrafters SX-133 receiver.
If I recall correctly, the SX-133 was their final stab at a receiver for the SWL/ham market; in fact, it was their last effort in the SWL field — period. Founder Bill Halligan sold the company in 1966 to the Northrop Corp., and by the time the SX-133 was being built, decided to end manufacture of consumer SWL receivers and focus instead on defense contracts and manufacturing. The SX-133 is basically the same receiver as the SX-130, the chief difference being the bandspread. The bandspread on the SX-130 has Amateur-only bands; the SX-133 added the popular shortwave bands, which was probably a move they should have done with the SX-130. By the early 1970s, the point was moot — with the growing number of Japanese-manufactured receivers — some of which were arguably better performers — you can’t blame Northrop for ditching its receivers, which were by then an afterthought.
The aesthetics of the SX-133 just don’t exactly float my boat; its just plain looking, how else do you describe it? I’ll watch this one on eBay, but out of curiosity’s sake. It’s not one you see for sale very often, so there’s a good chance it’ll go high. There are two SX-122’s listed currently, and frankly, I would much rather snag one of those. However, those command big prices, and I’m not shopping on eBay with major dollars for yet another SW receiver!
73 es CUL … de KY4Z … dit dit