Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Hammarlund HQ-140-X

Category: Receivers: Amateur Radio

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Hammarlund HQ-140-X
Reviews: 9MSRP: 264.00
Description:
General Coverage Receiver
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0095
K7LZR Rating: 2021-01-13
Wonderful and very much still usable receiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought a nice Hammarlund HQ-140X about 4 years ago, briefly tested and listened with it for a day or so, and then stored it on a shelf for later restoration. I pretty much forgot about it until a couple of days ago.

I'm so glad that I revisited this receiver. After a bit of restoration work, it plays beautifully. I've owned & used other Hammarlund receivers in the past - a couple of HQ-170s, an HQ-100A, and another model which I don't recall. None of them them were very frequency stable, and they all required constant tuning even after warm up. I didn't keep any of them for very long.

The HQ-140X is worlds above many receivers of the same vintage in terms of performance. Hammarlund put careful consideration into the design and quality of this receiver and it shows. It has stood the test of time and still looks and performs very well, some 68 years after production.

The HQ-140X is quite sensitive, and is very stable after warm up. It also has beautiful, warm, full-bodied audio. The frequency scales are accurate, and bandspread is very good. Navigating crowded bands is a snap. Use of the crystal filter allows good selectivity.

I also have modern equipment including a good SDR receiver. The HQ-140X holds its own against these radios very well. It doesn't have many modern features such as a spectrum scope etc. but I find that when using it I don't miss them. In fact, its like a breath of fresh air :). No endless plethora of adjustments, menus, touch screens, and digital everything. Just the important things for great reception.

All-in-all a very nice and still useful receiver for any station, even in 2021. Bravo Hammarlund, well done!

AA4WA Rating: 2020-02-23
A beautiful, great working vintage receiver! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The Hammarlund HQ-140-X Shortwave Radio Receiver
My review, 2/23/2020:

For its time, in the early fifties, I think this model represents the ultimate in quality of design, material, workmanship, ease of maintenance, simplicity and coolness for a single conversion shortwave receiver. With mine, I recapped the 6, easy to access, paper and electrolytic caps, realigned and it was ready to go! Great band cruiser and great 6V6 audio! The one I found had been exquisitely taken care of. It's definitely one heavy boatanchor I'm keeping!

Other positive factors include geared tuning for both the main tuning and band spread (no dial strings), so there's no backlash; 6 bands to cover AM and SW bands, instead of the typical 4 band shortwave radios; amazingly designed gold anodized variable capacitors under the inside cover; the best working ANL I have ever had, period; 3 I/F stages; the crystal filter when properly aligned and with the BFO offset just right, gives a good "single signal" reception; it uses a couple older tubes in the best situations, but uses more modern and common miniature tubes for all the rest. The round S meter is very cool and the VFO is quite stable. Because of its size, I like the case with the heavy duty side handles. I don't know of any other boatanchors that has that. Sensitivity is good, I can monitor the 27 Mhz frequencies for openings on 10 meters, but typically, the images are not good on the highest band due to its 455 Khz I/F. The factory did a superb job in building and soldering the parts, clean, simple and neat.

I use this radio for shortwave listening, but I also use it for vintage and NRR operating and I just want to comment that the bandspread on 40 meters is the widest I have ever used. I had the classic Hallicrafters SX-100 as a novice and the novice band was very tight on its bandspread. The HQ-140-X's bandspread is marked in 10 Khz, but it could have easily been marked in 2 Khz spacings. The tuning from 7.100 to 7.125 is very easy to see and resetable.

It's a 1950's vintage radio and doesn't compare in many ways to modern radios, but there are so many special things about the HQ-140-X, I just can't say enough good about it!
N4KH Rating: 2015-07-01
I'll never let it go Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Ok I have my HQ-140 back from a friend who had it for a number of years. I bought this gem in high school and will never let it go again. It is so incredibly well built and sounds so good its hard to believe. Its a bit tricky to tune in SSB/CW with it but it shines on AM with the AVC turned on. Its the only vintage piece I have at present but it has a prominent place in my shack and always will. If you have an opportunity to get one go for it!

----------------------
Earlier 4-star review posted by N4KH on 2003-12-23

Had one of these for years, great for shortwave listening, AM broadcast band DXing, and AM amateur radio listening. Super reliable, the only thing I had to do was replace a rectifer tube in 20 years of operation. Not good at all for SSB/CW though. A big, heavy boatanchor, nice to look at.
K7WXK Rating: 2012-01-06
Handsom, sensitive, stable Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I now have 3 of the four classic single conversion HQ's, and this may be the best overall. It is handsome to look at, reasonably sensitive at the higher freqs, and quite stable on CW and SSB. The basic difference between it and the HQ-150 is the lack of a Q-multiplier and xtal calibrator. But it is definitely more stable than its more expensive cousin. Don't get me wrong; if I had to chose one to keep, I don't know which it would be, for they all are gems. Here again, the HQ-140-X is a great receiver at a fair price. If you find one in decent shape grab it and have fun.
KY6R Rating: 2010-03-30
Big Fun Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought an absolutely mint specimen that has the crystal calibrator - and use it for BCB DX-ing and SWL-ing. My antenna is a broad banded home brewed K9AY, and theis receiver is plenty sensitive, and the tube audio is the best. It is also very stable - no drift even while warming up.

A real classic.
KZ4B Rating: 2010-02-27
kz4b@hotmail.com Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Contrary to some of the reviews below--I have found the HQ-140-X to perform unbelievably well on SSB & CW for a receiver with a diode type detector (as opposed to a product detector). It has hi-fi SSB reception! BFO injection must be unusually strong as it is one of the best sounding SSB & CW receivers I have ever owned or used in my 50 plus years of hamming! As reported below--the received audio (for both SSB & AM)is excellent when using the large matching factory outboard speaker.

Tuning is unusually accurate, smooth and stable after a 30 minute or so warm-up. It still could use a crystal calibrator. To avoid irreversible modifications--I use an old compact outboard (9 volt "transistor radio" type battery operated) 100 kc transistorized crystal calibrator by Heathkit that I scrounged at a Hamfest.

The HQ-140-X looks like an antique with it's round S-meter, large brown knobs, factory "rack" cabinet, etc. But it works on par with (or sometimes even better than) many new solid state (and even software defined microprocessor-based) receivers at least on broadcast up through 40 meters. You may have guessed that it is my favorite single conversion tube-type general coverage SW receiver (of which I have owned many--both commercial and military). I sure could have used it (with it's excellent crystal filter and other features)when I was a Novice instead of my drifty Hallicrafters S-53-A!
FORMER_W3AMF Rating: 2008-08-01
51 Years and Still Going Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my HQ-140X new in 1957, as a student with "surplus cash" from a summer job. I mated it with a Harvey-Wells TBS-50D/VFO. While I have modern equipment, I still use the vintage station occasionally. I use the HQ-140X fairly often as a SW receiver. It works well for AM and CW and does tune SSB OK, but I have to "juggle" the pitch and sensitivity controls. I added a SO-239 and xtal calibrator/switch but made no other modifications. It has required very little maintenance. I recently dug my RME DB-23 preselector out of a closet and interfaced it with the HQ-140X. It now is a "very hot" receiver with adequate selectivity for today's bands and a noise limiter that actually works without distorting the signals. I believe I got my money's worth!
W4PTO Rating: 2005-09-27
A great classic unit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I used to own a Hammarlund HQ-150. Nice looking rig but it had drift issues. Annoying to use when you're doing CW. Going from STBY to OP was an iffy proposition. No so with the HQ-140X. This doesn't have that problem at all (which is funny because the HQ-150 is supposed to be an improvement over the 140).

I got this beauty at a fairly reasonable (cheap?) price along with the matching speaker. After cleaning off the rx from cigar smoke and putting a soft start device and squirting the controls with the Dexoit, the HQ-140X played well.

I did use a plain wire antenna for operation. With an external verticle or outside wire antenna, I suspect the sensitivity will be much better. But as is, I was able to tune in SSB and CW signals very well. On SSB, with strong signals, you would have to "ride" the RF gain to get proper reception. I teamed the HQ-140 up with an old Bud FCC-90 crystal calibrator. After zeroing the frequency, the kcs tracks the ham bands quite well.

I envision using this unit in a classic BA position alongside a restored Viking 2. The two just seem to go togther quite well. Looking forward to seeing you on 40 meter CW with this set up!
KC0SHU Rating: 2005-02-05
Top-notch Boatanchor Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have a Hammarlund HQ-140XA, which, as stated by another reviewer, is the same as the 140 with one of two newer types of S-meter. In short, this is a great receiver. Though from the days prior to built-in SSB product dectectors, is tunes SSB just fine and SSB is perfectly workable just by detuning the bandspread a little. The unit is pretty stable after a 20 minute warm up, and only requires slight tuning adjustments. Selectivity is limited to different crystal positions with attendent phasing control, but when used correctly works pretty well and is in fact a lot of fun as it's an aquired skill. Though I have used my 140 for CW, SSB and AM, I generally use it on a daily basis for AM, due to the surprisingly good audio quality. I also have a Hammarlund HQ-180, which has far better selectivity and hotter sensitivity, but the 140 has much better audio quality due to its open bandwidth and extremely well-designed audio stage. It's typical Hammarlund--straightforwarward, very well designed circuitry combined with top-notch craftsmanship and parts. At 50 years old and with essentially trouble-free daily operation, it's no wonder Hammarlund earned the reputaion it did. If you get a chance to pick one up that's in good shape, don't hesitate to do it. They're worth considerably more than they cost. When your ricebox is in the trash can your 1950's Hammarlund will still be singing like a Nightingale!