Hallicrafters HQ-180

[Intellifax]

Hammarlund HQ-180

Just acquired a Hammarlund HQ-180 from an estate. Friend of mine passed away 18 months ago, and had a LOT of radio equipment. His wife called me to come clean out the radio room for her last week. So, I get to keep the 180 if I sell all the other (modern) stuff. This thing looks perfect. No scratches, dents, paint fading at all. It was hooked up when I removed it (power, antenna, speaker), but I didn't get an opportunity to actually try it out. It has the clock in the upper left corner, which makes it an HQ-180C I guess.

Anything I need to know before I fire it up? I'll have to get a photo and upload it here.

 

[K4OM]

The HQ-180 was a HAMMARLUND product.


K4O

 

[Intellifax]

Ha, I was walking past the rig while going through the garage, and noticed the Hammarlund, NOT Hallicrafters. Original posted edited. And only 1 guy called me on that one (but it was up only an hour). Thanks.

 

[majoco]

Visit antiqueradios.com - they are likely to tell you more about restoring your radio - for the moment I wouldn't turn it on. The electrolytic capacitors in the power supply may well have dried out and various paper coupling capacitors gone short circuit. If you manage to destroy any major parts you could well end up with a true 'boat anchor'!

 

[woody_46]

Nice find! That's a great receiver!

I agree, do not power it up, the electrolytic capacitors could be bad. If original I replace those first without question.

 

[woody_46]

Intellifax here's a good link for you. Hammarlund HQ-180AC Communications Receiver (1966)

Sorry about your friend..

 

[John_S]

Firing up older rigs

Some of this depends on how long it has sat without being powered up. First thing to do is give the insides a good lookover and make sure there are no obvious problems with power cord or broken wires around the power supply. You'll need to find a variac and plug the radio into the variac. With the radio out the cabinet and a volt meter monitoring the output from the variac, turn the voltage down to about 40 or 50 volts. Turn the radio on and watch the power supply caps carefully. Slowly increase the voltage till you get up to about 75 or 80 and you should be starting to see the filaments light up in the tubes if you turn out the room lights. If everything is good to that point, leave it sit turned on for at least a day or more. If the caps aren't totally dried out, they'll reform and you'll be OK. The trick is to go slowly with the voltage and watch for smoke from the caps. Make sure there's a fuse in line with the variac. Another good trick is to wire in a low wattage bulb in series after the variac. 40 watt bulb is fine. This acts as a current limiter.

 

[ridgescan]

Sweet deal mister fell into the right hands of one who will appreciate it. Pics please! Also if you can get a video up of it in action one day that would be some cool rare sight to see!

 

[LtDoc]

The only suggestion I can add to the above is take a good look at those capacitors, do any appear to have leaky spots or discolorization on them, or around their bases?
- 'Doc

(Ahem... if this is starting to sound like 'too much' to you, I just happen to know of someone who'd take that monster off your hands! I wouldn't even charge you anything. That's a good deal, ain't it??)

 

[woody_46]

You can always live on the edge like the people that sold me my Hallicrafters. I asked if it was working, they said, oh yes, it lights up and gets static! They plugged it in and it gave AC hum at full volume! I shut it off right away, lol.

It did lower the price for me though.

 

[KC4RAF]

Years ago, we used a variac

transformer as John S has suggested. The only problem, and it isn't that great either, is variac is not electrical isolation. But like I meantion, it's NOT that big a problem. And using the light bulb does afford protection along with the fuse.
You do have a really great radio, and you'll be proud of it once you've got it up and running!
Sorry that you aquired it because your friend pasted on though.
Back to using the variac, you should stay and watch for flashing and smoke for about half an hour or more. Also, if you have a meter that you can watch the voltages with, that would be helpful.

 

[elk2370bruce]

I have been using my 180AC continuously since I purchased it new. It took two summers of cutting grass and stocking grocery shelves but worth every penny. I would definitely recommend recapping the rig and then doing a full-scale tune up. It is a great rig that has seen many happy hours in my shack.

 

[Intellifax]

Thanks much for all the help guys, much appreciated. When I cleaned out that room, this rig was plugged in, and all hooked up, ready to go. The antenna attached was a Palomar Loop with the BCB element, so it appears the 180 was his AM broadcast band rig. A friend of mine has a light bulb device that checks caps, I'll see if that is what I need to ease the power on for the first time, and go from there. Knowing my SK friend that owned it previously, I'm quite sure he kept it in pristine condition.