Phil,

(The last time I played with one was about 20 years ago). It's a
state-of-the-art 1960s-era _communications_ receiver for SSB, CW and the
kind of intentionally bandwidth-limited AM used for communications years
ago. As I recall, it was a lot more expensive than the similar Collins
amateur radio receivers, but some hams liked to have SWL capabilities
(as I did). I believe the main customers were the military, embassies
and commercial point-to-point communications stations. Its definitely a
lot easier to tune than an R-390, the dial is very smooth and nice.

For MW or SW broadcast listening, you can tell that the AM bandwidth is
limited, and, at least for me, the fact that the tuning is broken up
into 1 MHz bands, is a bit of a nuisance. Also, below about 2 MHz, it
can really use the matching preselector to give it more gain (the lower
bands are upconverted).

I'm not sure about serviceability, but Collins equipment can be tricky
to work on. Somewhere I read that some people refurbishing these
receivers have replaced some of the local-oscillator crystals, and
perhaps the calibrator crystal to make the calibration more accurate.
Not sure about other components that tend to go bad.

I've seen a 51S-1 offered for $1100.00 this year -- according to another
listing the used price is in the $1100.00 -$2100.00 range.

Northe,
N6KO



Phil Nelson wrote:
Someone is offering to sell me a Collins 51S-1 general coverage receiver, a
"winged emblem" model.

I'd be interested to hear how people would compare it to similar-quality
receivers. I can read the specs in the Osterman book, but what is it really
like to use, and how does it stack up against others? Any quirks, PITA
characteristics, standout features, etc.?

And, assuming it's in average condition, what would be a fair price?

Regards,

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html