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Reviews For: Hallicrafters S-107 General Coverage Receiver

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Hallicrafters S-107 General Coverage Receiver
Reviews: 3MSRP: $94.00
Description:
5 band general coverage receiver
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0034
N1IG Rating: 2020-10-05
Nice general coverage receiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My parents had one of these when I was growing up and I remember spending many hours using it. The radio did take a bit to warm up and start working properly. But once it was ready, it had good sensitivity and worked very well.

I spent many nights using it to listen to SW broadcast stations from around the world. The BBC, Deutsche Welle, Radio Moscow, Radio Havana, Radio South Africa, and many others were regulars that I would listen to. I would even pick up random amateur radio stations every now and then, which helped me get interested in the hobby.

Unfortunately the radio got damaged during a move, and was pretty much unrepairable at the time.

I wish that we were able to get it repaired, because it was a fun radio to use, and provided many great memories.
VE3MVW Rating: 2016-10-30
A Decent Entry Level Receiver In It's Day Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I love old radios and I picked this one up several years ago in excellent working condition. It works as good as any receiver for AM reception. It does have a BFO but not variable (pot controlled) so for CW or SSB reception you must have some finesse adjusting the bandspread and sensitivity settings. Also covers 6 meters from 48 to 54 MHZ which was a little unusual for a receiver in its price range.Built at a time when North America was a dominant leader in electronics.
KA8DLL Rating: 2010-01-05
Best U.S.made under $100.00, non kit radio in 1960 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hallicrafters used several advertising claims for their beginner radios. Such as, "The radio that amazes the experts" or "The finest small communication receiver made". In general this describes the S-107 receiver.
The S-107 receiver is really a continuation of the S-53 design. Indeed, the chassis is the old S-53 with filler plates around the IF stages and some tube sockets. It still has the original S-53 tubes stamped on it next to the new stamps for the S-107.
Looking like a cross between a S-38E receiver and a S-108 receiver it has many high quality parts in it. Some of the parts would be a 8 modern tube design,(it even covers 6 meters), power transformer for safety, and very attractive and expensive looking knobs and switches from the more costly SX series. The tuning capacitor is shock mounted and has several gears for smoother tuning. It used high quality "tiny chief" paper capacitors which all tested good after 50 years. Top notch, rigid construction is seen throughout the entire radio. A bonus is a large built in speaker which also sounds good.
The actual performance of the S-107 is close to it's big brother the S-108 at less than 1/2 the weight, the cost, and the size. The size and weight of the S-107 is about the same as a Icom R-71 receiver.
The radio does SSB pretty well with the sensitivity control adjusted for the signal strength.
Tuning a SSB signal is easy because it has plenty of band spread. Stability is quite good after a 30 minute warm up. This radio could be used in the ham bands today. It is also a hot performer on the AM broadcast band.
The S-107 became the S-118 in 1962. Hallicrafters reduced the number of tubes from 8 to 5, got rid of the 6 meter band, and still had a very competitive radio for under $100.00. That is engineering on a budget. Well done, Hallicrafters.