My Favorite Things About Boatanchors
Cool Boatanchor Sites
R390A Receiver Home On The WWW
The R-390A Frequently Asked Questions Page
Fair Radio - military and industrial surplus electronics
Rovero Research Boatanchor Page (including tons of info on the R-392/URR receiver)
Go to my Hallicrafters page!
Go to my R-390A page!
NOTE: My website has a new address! The address is http://www.electronixandmore.com/adam/index.html.
Please update your bookmarks to reflect the new address.
Welcome to my boatanchor page! Boatanchors (in the metaphorical sense) are very heavy communications receivers which are jokingly said to be able to anchor a boat (hence the nickname). They are usually very large, use multitudes of vacuum tubes, and are often overengineered. Many of the boatanchors out there were produced for the military, but there were some consumer sets built as well (two examples of civillian boatanchors are the Hallicrafters SX-28 and SX-42).
My first boatanchor (actually a semi-boatanchor, since it isn't all that large) was a Hallicrafters S-118. While definitely not a true boatanchor (it weighs only 15-20 pounds), it does use a healthy amount of iron (it has a power transformer, unlike other communications receivers of the early '60s), has five bands (ranging from 190kHz to 30MHz), and doesn't look like a normal consumer radio (with a large slide-rule dial extending across most of the faceplate). More about it can be found on my Hallicrafters page.
My second boatanchor is a R-390A/URR made by Electronic Assistance Corporation (EAC), a subsidiary of Hammarlund (makers of civillian boatanchors), in about 1967. The R-390A/URR, which was designed for the military by Collins Radio Corp. as a low-cost version of it's predecessor, the R-390/URR, is considered one of the best communications receivers of all time. Around 65,000 of them were made from 1951 all the way up to 1984. They use 26 vacuum tubes, have a Veeder-Root mechanical-digital tuning display (uses number wheels for MHz and kHz indications), and weigh approximately 75-85 pounds. Of the many manufacturers who produced them under contract from the U.S. government, EAC produced over 15,000 of them (more than any other R-390A manufacturer, even Collins, who built around 10,000 of them). When I first got this set, it was complete for the most part (including original meters), but it was missing two of it's tubes and tube shields, which I recently replaced. I have done preliminary testing on my R-390A, and it appears to be working fine so far. More about my R-390A, as well as a journal on it's restoration so far, can be found on my R-390A page.
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My third boatanchor, is a R-392/URR made by Collins (who also designed the R-390/URR and R-390A/URR, among other military boatanchors). The R-392/URR was designed as a vehicular version of the R-390/URR, and is far more compact. Built as part of the AN/GRC-19 receiver/transmitter set, the R-392 was meant to be paired with the T-195 transmitter, and mounted in the back of a Jeep. Even though it runs on only 28V DC (with no dynamotors or other voltage-boosting methods), it's performance is said to be nearly as good as the R-390. The R-392 uses 25 tubes, weighs around 50 pounds, and is meant to be totally waterproof (mainly due to it's outer case, which is unfortunately missing on mine). I have yet to test this set, partially because I have yet to put together a 28V 3A DC power supply, and also because it uses a strange power connector which I will most likely need to jury-rig for the time being.
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My fourth boatanchor is a R-48/TRC-9 made by Espey Mfg. Co. Inc. I do not know much about this receiver, other than it was meant to be part of the AN/TRC-8 receiver/transmitter set. It receives on the oddly-picked 230-250MHz band, which is most likely vacant today. I have yet to test it, since it needs a new power cord, and I have yet to examine it's innards.
