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Reviews For: National NC-98

Category: Receivers: Amateur Radio

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Review Summary For : National NC-98
Reviews: 2MSRP: 99
Description:
General Coverage Receiver with calibrated ham bands
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0024
N4KZ Rating: 2017-09-26
Not bad for its day Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought my NC-98 used in 1969 for $75. It became my novice station receiver. It put 50 countries in my log on 15 meters in a mere 3 months. OK, my 3-element beam was the main reason for my success but the receiver was decent. It drifted from a cold start and wasn't the best on filtering strong nearby CW signals but worked fine. National made them for 2 years during the mid-50s so you never see a ton of these receivers at flea markets or on eBay because not that many were made. I sold mine around 1972 at a hamfest in Lexington, KY and figured I'd never see it again. Fast forward to September 2011 and I am walking around the Louisville Hamfest. I see an NC-98 across the flea market parking lot. I had to check it out. To make a long story short, I checked out the back of the receiver where I had put my markings on mine in 1969 in case it was ever stolen. My heart skipped a beat or two when I saw MY Markings on the back of this NC-98. Yep, it was MY former NC-98. I opened the receiver cabinet lid. Darn thing was clean inside and out. I don't know where it had been all those years but it had been well taken care of somewhere. I asked the guy how much. "It's late in the day and I don't want to carry it home," he replied. "Make me an offer." "How about 25 bucks?" I asked. "Have fun with your new receiver," he said. Little did he know my "new" receiver was actually my old receiver. Still got it. Never turned it on since getting it back. I'm afraid too much smoke will try to escape. It sure has been pretty to look at up on the operating desk.
N8FVJ Rating: 2017-09-26
Good mid quality Receiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The National NC-98 is general coverage from .54kHz to 40mHz. Uses 8 tubes featuring an RF amp, separate mixer & oscillator tubes (not a noisy converter) and two IF stages.

The radio works well. It is comparable to mid range price receivers of the era. Not a Hammarlund SP-600 by any means, but performs well for shortwave listening and performance exceeding the 4-5 tube shortwave radios of same era.

The radio is inexpensive often selling for under $100 making for a good bargain. The lower model class National NC-88 is in same price range and missing the NC-98 crystal filter and noise limiter.