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| Reviews Summary for Hammarlund HQ-129 |
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Reviews: 7
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Average rating: 4.3/5
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MSRP: $173.25 w/speaker (1946)
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Description: General Coverage HF Receiver
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write your own review of the Hammarlund HQ-129.
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AC0FA
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 2, 2007 08:46
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Tough Rig Easy to Repair
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I picked up the HAMMARLUND HQ-129X at the local ham fest.
I first saw it turned on its side being used to hold up one end of a 4x8 plywood table. It wasn't pretty. It had some kind of heat realted paint failure and some extra holes for a tape recorder.
I checked back later, because we were at the fair grounds, I figured the guy didn't want to carry it 5 miles back to his car.
Sure enough I found it in the trash barrel.
I just assumed it would be a project. I ordered a new tube kit off e-bay for $69.99.
I asked the nice folks at Just Radios in Canada to stick all the capacitors I would need to replace in a bag and send them here to minnesota.
Very reasonable $29.00 including Sam Photofacts
instructions. Canadian Air Freight on a seaplane takes about a week.
I put it up on the desk to put in the new caps.
The big knobs on the front weren't turning the dials.
Looking up from the bottom I noticed the botton of the front pannel had been pushed in 1/2 inch
and knocked the big circular tuning cards out of the groove in the pulleys at the back of the knobs.
After spending 5 minutes with a hammer and a carpenters square. The front pannel was straight and the big knobs worked fine.
Before I got started on the project I wanted to see how bad things were.
I installed a 3 prong AC plug, brought it up slow on the variac, and the sound coming out of my 600 ohm vintage headset was solid country gold. The Grand Old Opry sounded like they were right here in the shack.
I was relieved to discover the 129 was not the cause of the smoke damage to the front.
I chose to replace the caps anyway.
It appeared to have been serviced in the 50's with some additional aerovox bees wax caps.
I didn't diddle with the alignment adjustments It sounded Great.
I Put in New Caps and New Tubes.
Crystal selectivity is 500KC good enough to pick up Morse Code on 40 meters at night between the BC stations.
In the end, all it really needed was a felt tip marker and some Battle Ship Grey Paint. Which is a good color for this old boat anchor.
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KB2FCV
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 17, 2005 12:01
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great old receiver
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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This is one of my most cherished radios in the collection. I recently got it from the estate of a dear departed friend John, K2AGI. John was someone who always had that part or piece of equipment that someone needed. I happened to need a receiver to use with my Johnson Ranger II 16 or 17 years ago. Without question John lent me his radio he had lying around his basement (if you ever saw his house, it was packed to the gills with radio equipment, test equipment, parts, tools, wire, etc). I was amazed at the performance of the radio! This radio introduced me to shortwave listening.. it pulled in stations with authority. It certainly had nice looks and the S-meter always reminded me of a 'cheese curl'. I had it a year or so when I got a call and he needed it to lend to someone else who was trying to learn more about the hobby. By then I had already bought a few receivers so I happily returned it.
Sadly, earlier this year John became a Silent Key. At his memorial service I learned a little more about the radio. The HQ-129X was one of his first radios (if not the first). It travelled with him while he was in the military (There was a picture of him in uniform standing next to the radio at the service). A few weeks had passed and we learned that his 'stuff' sales were being handled by a vendor who catalogs and puts the items on ebay. I then asked about the radio. At that time, they thought they had already sold it. My hopes were diminished in ever owning the radio.
Did I mention John had alot of Stuff? A week or so after I was told the radio was already sold, I get a call. Apparently they sold his HX-50 transmitter.. the receiver was still in the basement and they wanted to sell it to me without going to ebay. His wife said all the proceeds were going to medical research. She said I could make any donation I would like and the radio was mine. I paid far more than what the radio is worth, but it was for a good cause.. and now it sits at home once again.
I put the radio on a Variac and it came back to life, working flawlessly. With just a short piece of wire it was pulling in stations from all over. It's a great performer and if you collect old boatanchors, it's a 'must have'.
73,
James KB2FCV
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TUBESAREKING
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 25, 2004 16:20
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MW Champ!
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Time owned: months
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I bought a near mint HQ-129-X off eBay very recently, including an original manual in very good shape. I had heard that the HQ-129-X was, and still is, a great MW DXer. My expectations were exceeded!
The first evening I was able to pick up 870 WWL in New Orleans as clear as a bell. This station is over 1800 miles as the crow flies from my home in PEI Canada - I was impressed! The DX just keeps rolloing in on MW.
SW is very good on it - with all the CHUs and WWVs coming in exactly where they belong, but you can buy good modern gear that will equal or better its SW performance. There are other vintage rigs that equal it on SW too. But I've never to date encountered anything that comes close when it comes to MW sensitivity and selectivity.
Sound is very good for a narrow band DX machine. If you want HiHi MW, grab the right vintage audiophile tuner - a Heath PT-1, the right Fisher, MacIntosh etc. Or an SP-600 if you have the money. But for pure DX with superior sound to modern general coverage rigs, this is the way to go.
Crystal filter works well, very well. Dial accuracy and resolution is top notch. Give me a fuzzy and slightly ringy crystal filter any day over a thick as mud sounding ceramic filter!
When replacing the rectifier tube, go for a 5U4GB which is a little slimmer than the 5U4G thus giving more space between that tube and the power and audio transformers. Position the rig so there is ample room around the vents. In the long haul, recap it. If your transformer runs very hot and it has the original electrolytics, recap. They could be starting to short - this goes without saying for any tube gear. The wax caps should go too. Orange drops, orange dips, and yellow tubulars will work fine - metalized fil, film and foil, polyprop or polyester, take your pick based on price and size. Replace the line bypass caps with ones rated for at least 1600 volts. As a minimum, make sure someone didn't replace the 2 amp fuse with a higher amperage. A 2 amp slow blow from RS is cheap partial insurance. A curent inrush limiter can tame your 120 volts to 117 or 115, a nice idea for your old friend! $2 at Mouser and very easy to install under the chassis. A CL-80 usually drop it to 117, a CL-90 to 115. Plus, it seriously tames current inrush, giving you softer starts and longer tube filament life.
Electricity here in PEI is pricey - 12 cents or so per kw/h. The HQ-129-X draws 120 watts max, thats 12/100ths of a kw/h. Simple math reveals a cost of 1.44 cents per hour. I average a max of 2 hours per day of listening, so that's less than a dollar per month. A very small price to pay! You shouldn't be running a 50+ year old receiver 24/7 anyway.
If SWL or Ham is your sole cup of tea, there are better rigs for you. Leave the HQ-129-X for us
In follow up - my HQ-129-X is now recapped, and I am using it with a Quantum QX Loop antenna from Radios Plus+. This makes a spectacular MW DX combo! Gerry Thomas at Radios Plus+ make a custom impedance matcher so the 50 ohms output of the Quantum can match the HQ's 450 or so ohm antenna input. What a combo!
BCB DXers!
Phil R.
PEI Canada
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N6KYR
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Rating: 4/5
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Jan 4, 2004 12:18
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Great old rx!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've owned one for a few years. Teamed it up with a Ranger. FB. Used mostly for AM. I disagree with the previous user with regards to cost of operation. Here's the point: if you are concerned with power consumption and cost, you are, quite frankly, better off getting a total solid state rig. The other tube rx's previously take just about as much power (if not more) than the Hammarlund.
But I digress: get it because it's a classic. She still can perform yeoman service. AM quality is quite good (IMHO).
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WB5OAU
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 26, 2003 19:50
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good cruiser
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Fine old band cruiser. Hard to find one with the original knobs, and there's a reason! They're awful. New replacement panels are available.
Who cares that it costs a 8 cents an hour to run? So does a light bulb! Enjoy the zen of steering a fine old receiver through the bands...
73
John K5MO
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TAILSTRAKE
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Rating: 3/5
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Dec 11, 2002 16:32
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Hot radio, but finiky
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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My Red letter HQ-129X was the first Shortwave receiver I purchased, for $35, in 1969, and I still have it. In all the years I have used it, I put up with the quirks of this radio out of not knowing the true potential. I decided a year ago to make this old Boat Anchor the best possible. Having a manual downloaded from the BAMA website is a must.
Since this rig is so old, tubes are scarce, but available from many internet sources. RF parts in California, and Nebraska Surplus are just 2 sources of many. I discovered that after 33 years, that even though a tube tests just great, in a real RF application it may be a dog. If you have a HQ-129X or considering getting one, and using it, obtain a dozen 6SS7's, 3 or 4 6SJ7's, 3 or 4 6K8's, and several 6SN7's as well. Fire up the radio, tune to a local AM station or better yet a RF generator set at 25Mhz, and hot swap the 6SS7's in the first RF amp socket one at a time. You will find huge differences in the 'S' meter readings. Install the 4 best ones, the best 6SS7 as the first RF amp.
Do the same with the others in their respective sockets.
I have found that alignment of the I.F. must be to the crystal selectivity bandpass and not just to 455Khz. This is crucial. If it is not right, using the selectivity kills the radio's sensitivity. Set the RF generator frequency to "S" meter peak with the selectivity on a mid setting, phase at zero. Now turn off the selectivity, and align the IF cans.
Done right, you can split hairs on 20 meters with the selectivity.
With good tubes, and a good alignment, this receiver is a good sounding and sensitive performer. It gets a bit frazzled with images up above 22Mhz, but for what it is and as old as it is, with optimized tubes, it will pull DX stations out of the garbage very well. And the sound of the 6v6 audio in a good speaker sure beats a Sangean, Sony, or a Grundig Yaghtboy any day. Throw on a MOSFET pre-amp/preselector, and a old Heathkit Q-multiplier, and it will run with the best of them, just don't turn it off and let it cool.
It's a great radio if you AM DX, I have picked up a clear channel station in Nashville Tenn. from Southern California fairly regular in the winter at midnight. A good antenna will get you stations every 10Khz from 540Khz up.
For shortwave broadcast listening, it sounds great, you just cannot tune in like the newer digitals, but you can slide up and down from known strong stations to find the elusive stuff.
The downside is that this radio is very old school design wise, and the metals Hammarlund chose for the tuning capacitors and inductors are not comparible to the thermal expansion rates of the insulators. So when warming up, or in a drafty area, it drifts frequency. You have to leave this radio on and warm to become really stable. During this time, the radio is using about 180 watts to just sit there. The higher the frequency, the greater the drift.
If you inherit a working HQ-129X, or have one and just cannot see parting with a working piece of equipment, then fine. Read on. If you are a collector of all original pristine boat anchors, stop here..
The drift can be helped with reducing the temperature change. First take out the rectifier tube, and place it on a shelf to gather dust. Find another old octal base tube, and remove the tube base. Solder in a pair of 600 volt 3 amp silicon diodes into the octal base in equivalence to the tube functional polarity. Plug it in to the chassis tube socket. That gets rid of 18 watts of heat alone, and cuts the old transformer power load. Next, pick up 6.3 volts a/c from a dial light socket wire. Use a 50 volt 1 amp full wave rectifier module and a small electrolytic capacitor to power a 2" 12 volt DC computer fan with the ~9 volts DC. At 9 volts, the fans are pretty quiet. Mount the fan over the louvers in the inside rear of the cabinet so it draws the air in. Now the temperature inside the radio will stay much closer to ambient, the paint over where the rectifier was will not scorch anymore, the old transformer will be a lot cooler, and you cut the frequency drift by 80%, and increase the tube life to boot.
Would I buy one today from someone to use? Nope. The energy costs to operate it don't justify it. Would I restore a non-working HQ-129X? Nope. The cost of repair would not justify it unless it was really special to you for a personal reason. If you are a tube operated equipment collector, go restore a HQ-160, a 600 series, or a collins 390.
But if you get one as a sweet deal (or free), and it works Okay, you might want to keep it. Hey there's new digital tuning frequency displays available that connect to the 6K8 if you want to make a digital/tube Frankenstein, but remember it costs about 8 cents an hour to just heat the tubes.
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N8FVJ
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 3, 2002 19:32
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Great early Receiver
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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A little older than the mid to late 50s receivers, I was somewhat impressed. The receiver performs well. Audio is excellent and every control feels right! Very little drift (all reviews reference AM signals). I understand why so many were sold. Of course, I would rather have a HQ-160 or perhaps a modern version of this single conversion recever, the HQ-140 or HQ-150. In good condition, I would buy another at the right price.
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