Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Just some notes to record the prices I paid for what I call my dream Hallicrafters station — an SR-400 Cyclone HF transceiver and the matching (and very rare) HA-20 VFO.
An eBay seller put the SR-400 and the matching power supply on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $850. I had seen Cyclones sell on eBay for this much — and more, and I had the cash and decided if I’m every going to own one, now was the time. I pulled the trigger and bought the Cyclone and supply.
The rig and power supply cases had been stripped and powder coated the correct Hallicrafters color. The rig had been maintained by a quality technician; the radio is in good working order, and came with a D-104 mic.
I was delighted to have the station, and love listening to it. I still have to figure out how to properly use the rig on CW.
Not many weeks after the arrival of the SR-400, another eBay seller listed the hard-to-find Hallicrafters HA-20 VFO. It was listed as parts, and it was missing one tube. But the chassis and internals of the VFO were minty fresh; the cabinet had the expected scrapes for a 50 year old radio.
The seller had a Buy It Now price that reflected the rarity of the VFO — $650. I gave it some thought, but I knew in my heart I wouldn’t find another one soon, much less locate a cheaper one. It took me a day or so before I pulled the trigger on the HA-20. At the same time, I ordered a tube to replace the missing one. I hoped for the best.
I was very fortunate, because my $650 gamble paid off — the VFO works! I had to calibrate it but that was about it. So now I have what I consider a “complete” SR-400 station.
I still have some other Hallicrafters rigs to put on the air — I have more than one SR-150 transceivers; I also have the Hallicrafters “twins” — the SX-117 and HT-44 receiver/transmitter. Those rigs will need to wait until I get my main shack moved upstairs, which appears to be a summer project. We’ll see.
Right now my immediate project is to get rid of surplus boxes of “stuff” in Studio C to create more room. I need to be able to store stuff upstairs while I’m in the process of moving gear upstairs.
I haven’t publicly mentioned much about it, but I’m about to severely reduce the number of bugs I own. I plan to keep only the very rare and unique keys; all the duplicates will go on eBay. I just have two many keys.
Well, we’ll see how Operation Sell-Off goes, hi hi.
73 es CUL … de KY4Z … sK …. SK …. (dit dit) ….