If the radio is similar to a Military Radio or most other ordinary tube
type radios,you don't need to wait untill it warms up to use it.If you
are going to stack tube type radios on top of tube type radios,I think
it is a good idea to use some one inch by two inch strips of wood
between the radios for air ventilation or you could buy or build some
sort of "book cases" for the radios.If you are worried about too much
heat,set an electric fan to blow on them.Tube type radios are not
similar to computers,computers can't handle as much heat as tube type
radios can.
cuhulin

"SR" wrote in message
...
Hello guys: Because the radio get hot. I was wondering after turning
it on, how long does the radio needs to take to warm up before I could
use it? And how many hours per night can I use it without blowing a tube
or fuse? I am trying to understand my limmits without abusing it.


I used to keep my SX-62 turned on for nearly all the time I was at home. I
like radio, and the 62 is a general coverage receiver with low VHF and FM.
There's always something to hear on it. It's been on for over a couple of
days several times. If the radio is in good condition, there is no limit.
The power tubes, such as the rectifier and audio output tube, will last
thousands of hours. The small signal tubes will last tens of thousands of
hours.


Also, I have limmited space, do not want to stack other plasic case
radios on top of a tube radio because it gets hot. However, could I
stack a tube radio on top of another tube radio? The idea is that since
both radios are mostly made out of metal and they get hot anyway, I
would think the radio on top should be able to take the heat from the
bottom radio.

That should be fine. I've always have some radios stacked and it's never
been a problem. Actually, the heat probably wouldn't bother most plastic
radios, either. I'll bet they'd get hotter in the direct sun.



Of course if I were to stack tube radios like that I would have a little
space in between them so heat could escape. I wonder if wooden shelves
can absorb heat?

Should be fine. Many tube radios also had wood cabinets.



Also, could I have a tube radio near my computer monitor or CPU? I
don't have it near because I am trying to advoid interference by near by
electronics.

Put the radio where it's convienient. If other electronics interfere with
the radio, turn them off. The radio won't interfere with the other
electronics.

I would have to find a way to add a fan to the Hammarlund 170.

It's lasted a long time without a fan, and it should last yet longer without
one. Most of my radios are from forty to sixty years old, and none of them
have fans. I consider all of them relible enough to leave powered up
indefinately. And, if one of their transformers or something should go up
in smoke, I really doubt a fan would have helped.


73, SR!

Frank Dresser

SR wrote:
Hello guys: Because the radio get hot. I was wondering after turning
it on, how long does the radio needs to take to warm up before I could
use it? And how many hours per night can I use it without blowing a tube
or fuse? I am trying to understand my limmits without abusing it.



Barring a component failure, you can use it as soon as you turn it
on. It comes up pretty quickly.

It will become stable within about a half hour.



Also, I have limmited space, do not want to stack other plasic case
radios on top of a tube radio because it gets hot. However, could I
stack a tube radio on top of another tube radio? The idea is that since
both radios are mostly made out of metal and they get hot anyway, I
would think the radio on top should be able to take the heat from the
bottom radio.


Probably not a problem. What you'll be doing, is, in effect, creating
a thermal buffer for either radio, increasing stability. The Hammar will
vent away much of it's heat through the louvres in the cabinet. But the
chassis will remain warm. That's actually a benefit to stability.

As long as nothing gets too hot to touch, don't worry about it.



Of course if I were to stack tube radios like that I would have a little
space in between them so heat could escape. I wonder if wooden shelves
can absorb heat?


They will. And it's not a problem. The shelves have the chassis
between the heat source and the wooden surface. That's a heat shield.
Wooden cased tube radios have a piece of silvered cardboard, or foil
between the wood and the warmest tubes, as a heat shield. Same principle.


Weight on the shelves will be a bigger issue than heat.



Also, could I have a tube radio near my computer monitor or CPU? I
don't have it near because I am trying to advoid interference by near by
electronics.

I would have to find a way to add a fan to the Hammarlund 170.


Don't bother. Unless the transformer gets too hot to touch, you're
fine. Heat in a tube radio is normal, and retained heat, within reason,
enhances stability.

In a tube radio, short of some resistors, heat dissipation is
accomplished by convection and component size, ie, a large surface to
volume ration. Solid state devices don't have that benefit, and will fry
as a junction, often smaller than a pencil point, generates more heat
that it's small surface can radiate. Tubes are big, generate less heat
per unit area, and have a larger surface to volume ratio. They'll get
hot, but they'll stabilize.

As long as your transformer isn't too hot to touch because of a
perforated cap, or a resistor out of tolerance, enjoy the warmth.




73, SR!

SR wrote:

I got a Hammarlund HQ-170. Not the Hammarlund HQ-170A. I am not sure
what the (A) stands for or what is the differences in these models.

The radio is big and it works. I do not have any instructions for it
yet. But I was able to buy a manual, which should come to me sometime
soon.

The radio is very sensitive. And it has no speaker. I am using a
small speaker and sometimes headphones. Sometimes it can over power
the speaker and headphones

When I pick up a signal, say a voice, it does not sound as clear. The
sound need to be better clarified. Although I play around with the
buttons, and try to figure out how to better tune in a signal.

The radio has no volume button, so I use the NOISE LIMITER button and
RF botton to adjust the volume acordingly.

There is a AF button but I am not sure what it does. When I bring it
up the signal get stronger.

There is a ANTENNA button, I guess that works like a antenna turner.
Which I also use the MFJ 956. I wonder if I could use them both?

I am not sure what the SLOT/FREG and the SLOT DEPTH buttons are for.

The radio has a few terminal screws in the rear. (A, A, G, 6m and SPKR)
I have two alagator clips on A and A and to a PL 259 coax connector
then too my MFJ 956 tuner then to my antenna switcher then to my
homebrew 90 feet coil dipole or to my 8 foot fiberglass whip.

I have the G (I guess this is for gound), on a clamp and to my
radiator pipe.

6m must be for the 50 MHZ! VHF

SPKR is this for 2 speakers or 1?

I plan to find a way to add a rear female coax connector to the back
of the radio so I could better connect it to a PL259 coax.

I wonder if their is a way to add a frequency counter to this radio?

Their is one button missing. Their is a small piece of metal sticking
out under the clock. Is their a way I could set the clock?

Behind the clock their is a rod in the inside and it reaches the back
with a hole. Maybe that is the way to set the clock. Their is
another hole like that on the other side on the SLOT FREQ side. But I
do not see a rod behind it. It their suppose to be one?

Also I notice a few holes in the back and inside a plasic you can turn
with a scew driver. Not sure what that is for.

I hope I could find extra tubes and fused should I ever need them.

And I wonder how others who have this radio feel about it?

73, SR!

I don't remember which company it was and I think it was back in the
1960's.A company was experimenting with some vacuum tubes for radios and
they claimed the tubes generated much less heat than the other kinds of
regular vacuum tubes for radios.The tubes emitted a blue glow instead of
the familiar red glow of regular vacuum tubes and the company also
claimed their tubes lasted much longer because of much less heat too.I
read about it in a Popular Science magazine back in the 1960's,,, or it
might have been in the late 1950's when I read that article.
cuhulin

I notice something interesting about this radio. Their are terminal for
6 meters. Throughout the last 10 years when I had scanned the 6 meters
on my scanner, I do not think I had never picked up any hams. (BTW I am
in the New York City area) Yes it is a very short band and it might be
more related to 2 meters, I would think.

So why would Hammarlund go through the effort to add terminals on the
rear of this radio. My only guess is that at the time hams were using
the 6 meters a lot more.

Also, this radio does not seem to pick up much on the 21-21.6 and 28-30
bands.

I have a reprint copy of the manual. I was reading the part of the SEND
RECEIVE CAL button. And somehow this has something to do with something
called BREAK-IN RELAY. (There is a relay female chassis connector at
the rear.)

Because of this can this radio make some kind of transmission?

Could someone please explain this to me in layman terms.

BTW I love the radio!

Thank you, SR!



SR wrote:
I got a Hammarlund HQ-170. Not the Hammarlund HQ-170A. I am not sure
what the (A) stands for or what is the differences in these models.

The radio is big and it works. I do not have any instructions for it
yet. But I was able to buy a manual, which should come to me sometime
soon.

The radio is very sensitive. And it has no speaker. I am using a small
speaker and sometimes headphones. Sometimes it can over power the
speaker and headphones

When I pick up a signal, say a voice, it does not sound as clear. The
sound need to be better clarified. Although I play around with the
buttons, and try to figure out how to better tune in a signal.

The radio has no volume button, so I use the NOISE LIMITER button and RF
botton to adjust the volume acordingly.

There is a AF button but I am not sure what it does. When I bring it up
the signal get stronger.

There is a ANTENNA button, I guess that works like a antenna turner.
Which I also use the MFJ 956. I wonder if I could use them both?

I am not sure what the SLOT/FREG and the SLOT DEPTH buttons are for.

The radio has a few terminal screws in the rear. (A, A, G, 6m and SPKR)
I have two alagator clips on A and A and to a PL 259 coax connector then
too my MFJ 956 tuner then to my antenna switcher then to my homebrew 90
feet coil dipole or to my 8 foot fiberglass whip.

I have the G (I guess this is for gound), on a clamp and to my radiator
pipe.

6m must be for the 50 MHZ! VHF

SPKR is this for 2 speakers or 1?

I plan to find a way to add a rear female coax connector to the back of
the radio so I could better connect it to a PL259 coax.

I wonder if their is a way to add a frequency counter to this radio?

Their is one button missing. Their is a small piece of metal sticking
out under the clock. Is their a way I could set the clock?

Behind the clock their is a rod in the inside and it reaches the back
with a hole. Maybe that is the way to set the clock. Their is another
hole like that on the other side on the SLOT FREQ side. But I do not
see a rod behind it. It their suppose to be one?

Also I notice a few holes in the back and inside a plasic you can turn
with a scew driver. Not sure what that is for.

I hope I could find extra tubes and fused should I ever need them.

And I wonder how others who have this radio feel about it?

73, SR!

SR wrote:

Because of this can this radio make some kind of transmission?

Could someone please explain this to me in layman terms.

No, it can not transmit. The "TR-REC-CAL" just provides a switch closure
that you can use to put a separate transmitter in the transmit mode.
Your "break-in" plug is a hook up for a relay that usually ties in with
your antenna change over relay, a device that switches your one antenna
between the separate transmitter and the receiver. It is an "interlock"
scheme, if you will, that "mutes" or locks out the receiver when you
turn on your transmitter (to keep from blowing out the front end of your
receiver while transmitting).

A careful look at the hook up diagram in your manual should clarify this
a bit more.

SR ) writes:
I notice something interesting about this radio. Their are terminal for
6 meters. Throughout the last 10 years when I had scanned the 6 meters
on my scanner, I do not think I had never picked up any hams. (BTW I am
in the New York City area) Yes it is a very short band and it might be
more related to 2 meters, I would think.

So why would Hammarlund go through the effort to add terminals on the
rear of this radio. My only guess is that at the time hams were using
the 6 meters a lot more.

Also, this radio does not seem to pick up much on the 21-21.6 and 28-30
bands.

Different bands have different propagation. The lower bands are lousy in
the day time, and great at night. The higher bands reverse the process.
But also, as the frequency increases the more sporadic the good propagation.
So ten meters, 28-29.7MHz, will be fairly dead much of the time, until
good propagation comes along. The same with 15Meters, 21MHz, though to a
lesser extent, and the moreso on six meters. When conditions are good, then
they can be really good.

If a band is not being used much locally, then you won't hear anything
until conditions are good. And you have to listen quite a bit to hit
the good times. It's like good DX on the FM broadcast band (though since
it's even higher in frequency than 50MHz, it's even less common); when it
happens you can hear stations so far away, but it comes suddenly and
disappears as fast. If you weren't listening to the radio at that time,
and listening to a non-local station, then you might never know that
anything had happened.

Even up to forty years ago, six meters was often the band of choice
for those who used VHF. There was the US Technician license that only
allowed for operation at 50MHz and up (and here in Canada, you could only
use voice with the basic license at 50MHz and up). Since 50MHz was the
lowest band useable by the Technician class licenses, they tended to use it.
Because as uncommon as good propagation was, it was more common than at
2meters. And when conditions were good, you could work fairly good
distances, and with relatively little equipment. Plus, there was a lot of
simple and low power commercial gear manufactured for the band, so the band
did tend to be used for local use. Ironically, when a band is in regular
use it means people are more likely to notice the good propagation, because
they are there already.

So it made a lot of sense to add the 6meter band to a ham-band only receiver.
If nothing else, it was a feature one could boast about over the other
receivers didn't cover the band. People could buy the receiver, and not
need a converter to receive six meters. They could then build or buy a small
and cheap transmitter, and be on the air.

Another good reason for adding is is that the HF ham bands are relatively
small, with the largest of the bunch being the not quite 2MHz of the 10meter
band. All the VHF and UHF bands are larger. The common way to receive
higher bands was to build or buy a converter that translated those
higher bands down to a frequency range your receiver could tune. But with
an HF-only ham band receiver, the biggest slice was about 2MHz. Adding
six meters provided a 4MHz band, which was better, and that provided a band
that did have a wider range. So adding the band gave some VHF coverage,
and set the stage for the reception of higher bands.

I have a reprint copy of the manual. I was reading the part of the SEND
RECEIVE CAL button. And somehow this has something to do with something
called BREAK-IN RELAY. (There is a relay female chassis connector at
the rear.)

Because of this can this radio make some kind of transmission?

No.
Since it's a ham band only receiver, pretty much everyone using it
would be pairing it with a transmitter. The switch was there to
manipulate the receiver so it wouldn't be bothered by the nearby
transmitter, and included a means of controlling the transmitter, in
one simple switch. If the receiver didn't include it, you'd need
a separate switch to take care of switching between receive and
transmit.

Michael

Six meters will provide long range DX during the height of the solar cycle -
F layer skip
And not dependent on the solar cycle is Sporadic E -- with long range DX --
typically occurs during the summer months and a smaller peak in late winter

There are several other propagation modes as well -- see URL:

http://www.anarc.org/wtfda/propagation.htm

The east coast routinely works Europe on six meters if the band is open. The
west coast occaisionally works Europe and routinely works the the Pacific
with band openings

With sporadic E it is entirely possible to work all USA states including HI
and AL

But the band can be dead for long periods of time. DX is mostly SSB and some
CW


However many locations have line of sight operation either simplex or
repeaters
Check your repeater guide. Repeaters are FM of course

The packet clusters will alert you as to 6M activity

Also see URL:
http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=6072
--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !


SR ) writes:
I notice something interesting about this radio. Their are terminal for
6 meters. Throughout the last 10 years when I had scanned the 6 meters
on my scanner, I do not think I had never picked up any hams. (BTW I am
in the New York City area) Yes it is a very short band and it might be
more related to 2 meters, I would think.

In article ,
Michael Black wrote:

SR ) writes:
I notice something interesting about this radio. Their are terminal for
6 meters. Throughout the last 10 years when I had scanned the 6 meters
on my scanner, I do not think I had never picked up any hams. (BTW I am
in the New York City area) Yes it is a very short band and it might be
more related to 2 meters, I would think.

So why would Hammarlund go through the effort to add terminals on the
rear of this radio. My only guess is that at the time hams were using
the 6 meters a lot more.

Also, this radio does not seem to pick up much on the 21-21.6 and 28-30
bands.

....
Even up to forty years ago, six meters was often the band of choice
for those who used VHF. There was the US Technician license that only
allowed for operation at 50MHz and up (and here in Canada, you could only
use voice with the basic license at 50MHz and up). Since 50MHz was the
lowest band useable by the Technician class licenses, they tended to use it.
Because as uncommon as good propagation was, it was more common than at
2meters. And when conditions were good, you could work fairly good
distances, and with relatively little equipment. Plus, there was a lot of
simple and low power commercial gear manufactured for the band, so the band
did tend to be used for local use. Ironically, when a band is in regular
use it means people are more likely to notice the good propagation, because
they are there already.

6 Meters is right below Channel 2, and is guarenteed to mess up televison
if it's used in your city. That rules out base stations with big antennas,
unless you like fighting with your neighbors.

Mark Zenier
Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)

On Mon, 03 Oct 2005 02:05:29 -0400, SR wrote:

I notice something interesting about this radio. Their are terminal for
6 meters. Throughout the last 10 years when I had scanned the 6 meters
on my scanner, I do not think I had never picked up any hams. (BTW I am
in the New York City area) Yes it is a very short band and it might be
more related to 2 meters, I would think.

So why would Hammarlund go through the effort to add terminals on the
rear of this radio. My only guess is that at the time hams were using
the 6 meters a lot more.

Also, this radio does not seem to pick up much on the 21-21.6 and 28-30
bands.

I have a reprint copy of the manual. I was reading the part of the SEND
RECEIVE CAL button. And somehow this has something to do with something
called BREAK-IN RELAY. (There is a relay female chassis connector at
the rear.)

Because of this can this radio make some kind of transmission?

Could someone please explain this to me in layman terms.

Most likely the CAl position turns on small quartz crystal osciallator
with a 100Khz crystal. It generates harmonics at 100Khz intervals, and
isued to calibrate the dial on the radio. Turn it on, set the receiver
to CW, and zero beat the calibrator signal, adjust the tuning dial
accordingly. It makes the dial readout more accurate.

You don't want it on all the time, because it will wipe out any signal
you reall want to hear that is close to a multiple of 100Khz.

Many receivers have a provision to put them into standby by remote
control. The remote control was often provided by a relay.
In a PTT or VOX operationg, the transmitter would provide a signal to
either activate a relay, or command the receiver into standby when the
transmitter came on, and take it out of standby, back into receive
when the transmitter went off. This was frequently called break-in
operation, and is much easier and faster than turning the receiver to
standby, turning on the transmitter (even with PTT), turning off the
transmitter and turning the receiver back on.

.. Even with a T/R switch in place, it would be rare to be able to
provide enough isolation to prevent the receiver from 'hearing" the
transmitter, hence the need to take the receiver effectively offline
in standby..

'Send' just puts the receiver in standby usually