My first SW radio was a Hallicrafters S-201A. Got it for my 10th birthday, I still even have it. Not very sensitive.
I got into SWL & Ham studying in 1973. Suspots were crummy as it was then, so I never even heard WWV on 25
MHz, back when they still transmitted there. Almost nothing on 15 meters then, and nothing picked up on 10
meters. I did hear VOA, Radio Nederland, BBC, Radio Peking, Radio Moscow (hard to miss when they used like 15
transmitting frequencies).
An OM, Mr. Wright, Extra Class, DXCC, etc. helped me with my Scouting Radio Merit Badge. He mentioned he was
on the air for 3 days straight after the 1947 Texas City explosion, working radio traffic. I should have taken the
Technician Exam back then. He also showed me that reducing an SSB signal strength with a simple pot (there's
no gain control on the S-120A), while using the BFO, I could copy SSB. My S-120A manual just said to turn on
the BFO, but nothing said about the signal strength.
The front end still got overloaded by strong SSB signals, to the point I could not copy them, even with my longwire
antenna disconnected! I also did AM BCB DX, experimenting with external tuned loops to boost the signal.
Yes, my RS HTX-10 receive section will run circles around the S-120A on sensitivity & ability to tune in SSB clearly,
at least for 10 meters, but there's still some nostalgia there.
I later was given a CB, and a scanner, but that's another story.