08-04-2019, 12:50 AM
Ron,
Hammarlund made great receivers. Yes the HQ170 is Ham only and the HQ180 is general coverage. There is also a HQ-180A that has a solid state rectifier. The HQ180C has a built in clock. There is a person that sells a frequency readout unit that fits where the clock is. I've had a restored HQ180C for years and it is very sensitive. I like Hammarlund radios so much that I recently purchased a Hammarlund SP-600 which I recapped and had a friend align earlier this year. I still need to clean up the front and paint the two dial lens black as someone painted them blue. I'm going to have the cabinet sandblasted and powder coated the original gray. I've only used it for a month but found that it is an exceptional performer as well. About 10 years ago I had a HQ145 and it was a real performer too. I have 3 solid state radios but find myself using the vintage tube radios the most. Collins and Hammarlund are my favorite tube receivers. There is very little that my best solid state radio can hear that the HQ180 can't, which shows how well designed they were. I rarely listen to SW and have been DX'ing MW for the last 10 years using a wellbrook loop. There is still quite a bit of SW activity if you have a really good antenna.
I'm moving my radio room into a spare bedroom so my radios are out of commision for now until I move the antennas and electrical. I waited for Summer to move things as Winter has the best DX and I'll have them back and going by then.
Here are the two Hammarlunds....
Hammarlund made great receivers. Yes the HQ170 is Ham only and the HQ180 is general coverage. There is also a HQ-180A that has a solid state rectifier. The HQ180C has a built in clock. There is a person that sells a frequency readout unit that fits where the clock is. I've had a restored HQ180C for years and it is very sensitive. I like Hammarlund radios so much that I recently purchased a Hammarlund SP-600 which I recapped and had a friend align earlier this year. I still need to clean up the front and paint the two dial lens black as someone painted them blue. I'm going to have the cabinet sandblasted and powder coated the original gray. I've only used it for a month but found that it is an exceptional performer as well. About 10 years ago I had a HQ145 and it was a real performer too. I have 3 solid state radios but find myself using the vintage tube radios the most. Collins and Hammarlund are my favorite tube receivers. There is very little that my best solid state radio can hear that the HQ180 can't, which shows how well designed they were. I rarely listen to SW and have been DX'ing MW for the last 10 years using a wellbrook loop. There is still quite a bit of SW activity if you have a really good antenna.
I'm moving my radio room into a spare bedroom so my radios are out of commision for now until I move the antennas and electrical. I waited for Summer to move things as Winter has the best DX and I'll have them back and going by then.
Here are the two Hammarlunds....
