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| Reviews Summary for HALLICRAFTERS SX- 115 |
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Reviews: 10
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Average rating: 3.9/5
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MSRP: $595.00
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Description: Deluxe ham band receiver
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Product is not in production.
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More info: http://
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W8JI
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Rating: 3/5
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Oct 3, 2010 01:35
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OK but not special
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I bought a Collins 75A2, SX115, and HQ120 and matching speaker for the Collins at an estate auction here in Georgia several years ago.
I paid around $50-100 for the lot of "three CB radios", I forgot the exact bid.
After hearing favorable comments and seeing the price of the SX115, I was really disappointed when I fired my bargain up.
The only radio I kept from the lot was the November 1941 built HQ120, which except for calibration and drift and lack of CW SSB AGC worked about the same as the SX115. To tell you the truth, on AM the HQ120 sounded much better to me and it had 160.
My SX101's were about the same as the SX115 on the lower bands (I rarely work above 20 meters).
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W7MBR
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Rating: 3/5
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Oct 2, 2010 20:25
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A $150 DRAKE 2B WILL EAT IT ALIVE!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I sold my SX-115 a couple of years ago for the big $ they fetch. Although Hallicrafters finally caught on and put in a crystal controlled front end on their SX-115 the old style vfo they kept still suffered from too much warm-up drift. Not really that much better than the SX-101 and SX101A (that I own) on 80-20 meters. The SX-115 does drift initially less on 15 and 10 meters. Old style LC filtering in the IF's still causes agc pulling on strong adjacent signals. Even though the Drake 2B and the earlier Drake R-4 series receivers used LC filtering, R.L. Drake still had his act together and some how made the LC filters work quite well in his radios. The later Drake R-4C and the earlier Collins receivers used either crystal or mechanical filters in their IF circuits. As expensive as the SX-115 was back in the early 60's why did Hallicrafters continue to use 1940's and 1950's technology? No doubt the SX-115 is a beautiful looking receiver but not really any better performing than say a Hammarlund HQ-170 less than half it's original cost. The Moderately priced Drake 2B can almost run circles around the SX-115 in my opinion. I've owned and used both side by side many times. Yet the SX-115 still continues to increase in price but not in performance.
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K8AC
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Rating: 3/5
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Sep 25, 2010 08:36
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Over-rated and over-priced today
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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When the SX-115 was new, one of our club members convinced everyone it was the receiver to use for our 80 meter CW station on Field Day. By 10 PM, we had enough of the intermod problems caused by our 20 meter CW station and one of the guys ran home to get his 75A-4, which had been our FD receiver for a few years. The SX-115, for all its good points, couldn't hold up in the FD environment where the 75A-4 excelled. It would have little value today if Joe Walsh hadn't paid a small fortune for one on eBay many years back (I recall it was over $4K). If you're a collector, it makes a very attractive display and conversation piece, but to rank it anywhere near the best of its time is just wrong.
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W6OU
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 11, 2010 14:13
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Attractive appearance
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The SX-115 has nice styling. The color scheme with silver, black, gray, and a touch of red make a very attractive package. When you pop up the top cover it's like opening a treasure chest--the chassis and tube shields have a nice golden finish. Electrically, the receiver has even consistent gain from low band edge to high band edge and from band to band. This is unlike the HQ-170 which has gain that varies widely from band to band. The only thing I don't like is the tuning knob. It is placed for right-handers (I'm left handed) and it tunes backwards.
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WA7VTD
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 18, 2009 19:58
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Love at First Sight, and Worth Waiting For
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have coveted the SX-115 for many, many years, and recently I came across an opportunity to acquire my old "dream station" I never had -- HT-32B, SX-115 and HT-33B. Prior owner home-brewed a beautiful, diminutive, matching, solid state keying/antenna relay switching box that truly made the system "plug & play;" a far cry from the hours spent as a youth interfacing my SX-100 and HT-37.
Upon firing up the SX-115 and permitting it to warm up, my first observation was how stable it is. I connected a DD-103 digital frequency readout via shield of V-7 and calibrated both it and the receiver. Changing through the bands, the digital readout was spot on and linear though each band, tracking the VFO dial almost perfectly, the VFO dial being within 3-4 kHz from band edge to band edge.
The second impression was how QUIET this triple conversion receiver is. It actually had me worried for a while, as I tuned across 40 meters and heard NOTHING from the speaker. Until that is, I came across a moderately weak CW signal, which literally jumped out of the receiver and made the S-meter wiggle; the signal was not too strong but the internal receiver noise was SO LOW that it was armchair copy. That turned out to be typical on all bands and modes. I'll probably get some brickbats, but honestly, this has a quieter receiver than my 756 Pro II and although not as sensitive as the modern rig, it is pretty darn sensitive and it makes up for it by its low, low internally-generated noise.
And aesthetically...well, there just isn't art, design and craftsmanship like this any more, period. The sculpted front; the vertical red frequency-indicating line that moves up and down the tuning dial to match up with selected band; the attractive and sturdy-looking coloring scheme and over-sized screw heads along the face plate; the masterful matching of styling with the HT-32B; the unique square front shape that actually saves space despite the bigness of this radio; the easily-readable, well-lit S-meter that really moves; the notch control that really works and feels as if one is actually doing something other than "flying by wire..."... this is an ENGAGING receiver, and a lot of fun. YOU WORK THE RIG, THE RIG DOESN'T WORK YOU!
As you probably have surmised, so far the receiver has surpassed my expectations. In fact, I'm probably going to grab another one or two, to always have parts and at east one in perfect condition...although the construction is superb and aside from replacing the caps as one should always do, there isn't much to be done to this rig.
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KG8LB
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Rating: 3/5
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Jun 3, 2009 11:15
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Lacks 160 meter coverage
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Oh, BTW, The SX-115 lacks 160 meter coverage. By comparison the Drake R-4 series covers this nicely, at a lower cost, in a smaller more efficient package. Again, I always considered my SX-115s to be nice receivers that were OK performers.Scarcity aside, there are indeed equal or better out there easier to find for a whole lot less.
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W2ST
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 7, 2009 06:20
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A superb boatanchor
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I own many old receivers -- some, like the SX-115, from the days when they were first made. In its day, only Collins made a radio that could compare in raw RF performance, but -- because of its design -- it couldn't hold a candle to the SX-115 audio.
Part of the SX-115 desirability is its physical build and appearance which -- like its sister the SX-88 (which it outperforms) is magnificent.
Why a reviewer would rate this a 3 based on price is beyond me: by that standard many current top-end radios should be downgraded. In performance terms, the SX-115 remains superb.
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KB8QEN
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Rating: 3/5
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Apr 7, 2009 03:25
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Currently overpriced
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have owned three of these receivers over the last thirty years. While they are a nice receiver and play well, the prices they seem to fetch are indeed way out of line with the performance returned. There is a reason this is a fairly rare receiver. Fact is back when they were new there were other radios that worked as well or better that cost a lot less. That fact remains today.
Unless you are just a speculator looking for an "investment" avoid paying the market price for this one.
If you are seeking a good measure of performance for the dollar spent you may be short changed.
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WB6MYL
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 7, 2009 12:03
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The Pinnacle for Bill
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I do not want to fall into the trap of "reviewing another reviewer" as we all have different opinions about equipment that has varying degrees of condition and integrity (esp. with vintage equipment); I personally believe the SX-115 is/was Bill Halligan's best receiver (boy, this will spur debate); as the first review stated, the quality is just superb; I am experiencing more drift than he indicates as my rig doesn't "settle down" until about a half an hour; the audio is just wonderful! Full and rich and a pleasure to listen to the 40M swap net on; I have A/B compared the rig with the SX-88, SX-100, SX-117, and there is no comparison; The 115 was Bill's attempt to compete with the A-4, then the S/line, but the HT-32/SX-115 was losing out because (IMHO)of the large sizes (subsequently replaced by the SX-117/HT-44 twins but the quality was never the same). The sensitivity is not quite the par of my 590A and it is a little more noisey than the TR-7 or a 390A, but that audio makes up for a lot. If the receiver had come out slightly earlier, I think it would have been better received, but the price tag of $595 for a ham in that era was a lot of money, when for slightly more money, your receiver could have been adorned with the Collins emblem. Still very desireable and collectable as such. Thank you.
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KA8DLL
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 15, 2006 11:26
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Deluxe ham band receiver
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The SX115 is a deluxe ham band receiver. It clearly is the brother of the SX 101 and the HT 32. It is considered by many as beinging the best ham band receiver made by Hallicrafters ever. When seen on EBAY,in good condition, it always sells for more than the original price of $595.00. Weighing in at 40+ lbs. it still weighed some 30 lbs. less than SX 101. Compare that with the DRAKE 2B weighing approx. 30 lbs. less than SX 115. The SX 115 was designed to compete with Collins 75A4. It didn't cost as much because it did't have the mechanical filters. By the time SX 115 started production, 1961 the 75A4 was retired and the Collins new receiver was 75S3. The battleship construction of the SX 115 was old school compared to a Drake 2B and the 75S3. It seems strange that the SX 115 was produced from 61-64 during the time of the much smaller 75S3, 2B, And Hallicraters own SX 117. Keeping that in mind the SX115 is most deluxe of the Hallicrafters line. It's many features are: triple conversion, transmitter vfo, multi loop agc,multi selectivity positions, readout of approx. 1/2 khz, multi mode noise limiters, super stability, and a sculptured front panel. To sum it up this radio babies the operator in every mode of operation. Even though the SX115 is a much bigger radio than the DRAKE 2B the Hallicrafters was smart by making it only 2 inches wider than the 2B and hiding the size 18inches vs 9 inches in the length. A row of equipment would make it look smaller. What did you get for your approx. $250.00 more than a Drake 2b? Well, The construction of the vfo with gears and transmission links built to last a lifetime for one. It is possible to accurately split a 1khz segment into 2 equal parts. Compare this with the string drive of the 2B (which is really pretty Good) with all possibilities of slipping and catching of a piece of string. Five degrees of selectivity vs 3 for the 2B. Weighted tuning knob for just the right feel for long hours of tuning, and extremely attractive knobs,s-meter, and chrome. Simply stated the SX115 doesn't drift, period. It is as stable as a rock after10 minute warm up. There is no cheapness in construction such as the copper platted chassis of the 2B. Like so many luxury items, such as, a Questar telescope or a Rolex watch its qualtity is priceless.
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