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Reviews For: Hallicrafters S-38E receiver

Category: Receivers: Amateur Radio

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Review Summary For : Hallicrafters S-38E receiver
Reviews: 1MSRP: 59.95
Description:
The last of the S-38 series tube driven receivers
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0015
VK5JNL Rating: 2010-09-25
A classic receiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The S-38E was the last in a long line of receivers designated as S-38 (B, C, D). To my mind, the E model is the best of the lot aesthetically, although the electronics did not change much in the nearly 20 years they were in production. A thing to bear in mind is that the chassis (remember those?) is LIVE, so keep your pinkies off it! Run it through an isolation transformer. My particular receiver was bought on an on-line auction site and arrived into Australia working, but only just! The case had rust and the bottom and rear masonite was missing.I stripped the rig of its capacators, and replaced them, and replaced also those resistors displaying high readings. A friend stripped the case and baked-enameled it the same colour as standard - a sort of light gray. Decals are available for the radio, as are the tubes, knobs, and bottom and rear case panels. I now have a genuine Hallicrafters S-38E which is probably in better condition than when it left the factory in the early 1960's. Performance is not up to 21st century standards, but it can still pull in DX, SSB is resolved by using the CW switch. Several versions of the E model were made, including one in a faux-wooden case, and another in a "domestic" case for use in the lounge room rather than the shack. I think that I paid about US$25 for the radio, and about twice that amount in freight! However, these are an important part of radio history and should be preserved. If you have the opportunity to acquire one, please do so even if only to pass onto your kids!
Kind regards
Norm VK5GI