The case is in good physical condition, but the finish is pretty awful. The speaker’s grill “cloth” isn’t really cloth, but a metal mesh, and it has stains and looks pretty awful, with some of the mesh clogged with crap.
Now I currently use a R-46A in the shack and love it. This one I’m working on was cheap it looked so rough; I later bought a third one in really nice shape. Now I didn’t need a third speaker, but this one was in such great condition and the seller accepted my low-ball Buy It Now offer.
The speaker’s metal case has several components: The most important is the 10-inch speaker. The metal speaker grill is backed by a 1/8-inch fiberboard that is cut to match the shape of the grill.
Tonight I disassembled the speaker; tomorrow I’ll hit the metal case with an orbital sander and some sandpaper. I’m also going to try to clean the grill cloth message and prep it for refinishing.
PARAGON ON PHONE. A couple of nights ago I was at my desk tuning my WebSDR and I found an old friend, W4DAN, on the high end of 80 meters. I ran up to the shack and fired up the Paragon and we had a great QSO. It was the first phone contact I’ve made on the Paragon, and Danny said the audio was good. Of course, I was only running 100 watts, he was running a Ten-Tec Centurion mobile amp.
FIELD DAY 2021. I have to decide what radio I want to run on Field Day. I’m thinking of using my Icom IC-756PROII or my Yaesu FTDX3000. I need to see which radio I can find the necessary cables to run the radio(s) on digital as well as CW and phone. Wish me luck, hi hi!