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Collins R390

There are a few youtube videos demoing them, they are worth watching if you have interest in seeing one of these in option.
 
The R390 is a rack mount analog tube type general coverage military receiver designed by, and over the years produced by collins and a number of companies under government contract. Tons of ex military have used and serviced these monsters during their duty, so there is quite a bit out on net.

It was (and still is if you listen to some) the top of the heap for full coverage DX receivers.

Some years back, a friend of mine had a R390A/URR, but had to sell it. He used it primarily for SW DX, but it has been used by many for MW and LW DX as well. I do recall that he was often faced with service issues, but that is to be expected from a receiver with hour of usage behind it.

You would love the challange. You should get one!! :)
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
Anyone heard of this ultimate AM DX radio? It's discussed at this link.

http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/...ries/radio/histories.php?id=361&historyID=147

Anyone ever used them? They were apparently used in the military, and were once considered top secret. Any specifications? What bells and whistles does it have?
Click to expand...

I think the TS aspect of the R-390 is more urban legend than fact. The spaces where the R-390 was used and how they were used was probably the TS aspect of their use. None of the manuals were ever TS, as best as I can tell.

Check out:

http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/r-390

and join if you are serious about the R-390 family.
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
Anyone heard of this ultimate AM DX radio? It's discussed at this link.

Anyone ever used them? They were apparently used in the military, and were once considered top secret. Any specifications? What bells and whistles does it have?
Click to expand...

As a navy radioman aboard a destroyer for three years I used the R390 almost every day. We had two of them aboard and never had a service issue with either one despite the severe rattling they got when we were engaged in shore bombardment for almost two years in Vietnam.

Ours were free-standing units bolted to the metal desk which held two typewriters and our code keys. They were easy to use and had many adjustments for AM voice/code/SSB reception and were connected to one of several long-wire antennas. They are very large and heavy units even by the standards of the day (early to late 60's).

I used to spend my nighttime shifts DXing with the R390's as they were much better than the two RBO's we had as ship's entertainment receivers. It was common to hear stateside signals from locations in the Tonkin Gulf and South China Sea.

Ours were used in concert with a pair of Collins URC-32 1KW transmitters.

Apparently they can be picked up with relative ease at Ham meets across the country although I don't think they are cheap. A friend of mine bought one 10-12 years ago and uses it as his primary AM receiver.
 
landtuna said:
Schroedingers Cat said:
Anyone heard of this ultimate AM DX radio? It's discussed at this link.

Anyone ever used them? They were apparently used in the military, and were once considered top secret. Any specifications? What bells and whistles does it have?
Click to expand...

As a navy radioman aboard a destroyer for three years I used the R390 almost every day. We had two of them aboard and never had a service issue with either one despite the severe rattling they got when we were engaged in shore bombardment for almost two years in Vietnam.

Ours were free-standing units bolted to the metal desk which held two typewriters and our code keys. They were easy to use and had many adjustments for AM voice/code/SSB reception and were connected to one of several long-wire antennas. They are very large and heavy units even by the standards of the day (early to late 60's).

I used to spend my nighttime shifts DXing with the R390's as they were much better than the two RBO's we had as ship's entertainment receivers. It was common to hear stateside signals from locations in the Tonkin Gulf and South China Sea.

Ours were used in concert with a pair of Collins URC-32 1KW transmitters.

Apparently they can be picked up with relative ease at Ham meets across the country although I don't think they are cheap. A friend of mine bought one 10-12 years ago and uses it as his primary AM receiver.
Click to expand...

Can you remember any of the stateside signals you heard while in the far east?
 
RadioFan2J3 said:
I think the TS aspect of the R-390 is more urban legend than fact. The spaces where the R-390 was used and how they were used was probably the TS aspect of their use. None of the manuals were ever TS, as best as I can tell.
Click to expand...

While they may have been secret when first deployed, the receivers were not secret towards the late 70's. In fact, several different companies made them, not just Collins, and it was possible to buy one if there were "overproduction" units. I got a Hammarlund R390 for about a kilobuck in 1970, and it came in military oilcloth packing with some kind of material resembling kapok in between layers. It had full military manuals with all the military designations for parts and such.
 
I'm curious... how good is the stock sensitivity and selectivity with the R390A? For example would it be good enough to get armchair copy midday in summer from 1160 KSL from 600 miles SSW even though I'm only 9 miles from 50kW 1170 KCBQ which sends 112kW to me on nearly the same heading?
Or better yet, would it be good enough to hear 800 XEROK and CKLW fighting each other (each at armchair level) just SE of the US-169/I-435 interchange (about 14 mi N Kansas City, MO) without any splatter/blocking/desense from 810 WHB at solar noon on the summer solstice at a high time in the sunspot cycle? And would, for example, a 50kW at 300-400 miles in the 700s-800s over 15 or 30 mS/m ground be "full quieting"?
 
Maybe the strangest thing about this receiver is that

the last one was made in...1984.

A shipbuilding company in MS needed 5 because the

Navy contract required it.So Flowler Industries made

them from NOS parts and some (custom) made

items.

Serial Number 2 (!) was on Ebay and caused a stir,with it's

revised 1984 manual and all. Please see "Flowler Industries":

http://www.r-390a.net/faq-manuf.htm
 
I think someone told me about these years ago, probably the 1970s, but I never heard the model number before. I think they said that with a 3 foot quad loop antenna and one of these, they listened to Detroit Tiger baseball on WJR in Ethiopia on a fairly regular basis. Does that seem plausible?
 
radioman148 said:
Can you remember any of the stateside signals you heard while in the far east?
Click to expand...

Whoo boy! You are asking for over 40 years ago in a alcohol-fogged environment? ;D

I remember we could usually communicate with S.F. on 12966 much more reliably than Guam, Japan or Manila (which were a lot closer). Occasionally I could pick up harbor radio traffic on 2716 out of San Diego and Long Beach. Those were military frequencies.

On the civilian side I remember KGO and KSFO from S.F. There was a news station from L.A. that came in pretty good every so often but I don't remember the calls. (KFI?) We did occasionally get a station from Mexico (XERB?) and another from Del Rio, TX (religious preaching IIRC). Australia and New Zealand stations in the 27Mhz (?) band were fairly reliable too. WWVH from Hawaii came in pretty good but no voice that I remember. We did receive KORL from outside Midway Island which is a pretty good distance.
 
landtuna said:
radioman148 said:
Can you remember any of the stateside signals you heard while in the far east?
Click to expand...

Whoo boy! You are asking for over 40 years ago in a alcohol-fogged environment? ;D

I remember we could usually communicate with S.F. on 12966 much more reliably than Guam, Japan or Manila (which were a lot closer). Occasionally I could pick up harbor radio traffic on 2716 out of San Diego and Long Beach. Those were military frequencies.

On the civilian side I remember KGO and KSFO from S.F. There was a news station from L.A. that came in pretty good every so often but I don't remember the calls. (KFI?) We did occasionally get a station from Mexico (XERB?) and another from Del Rio, TX (religious preaching IIRC). Australia and New Zealand stations in the 27Mhz (?) band were fairly reliable too. WWVH from Hawaii came in pretty good but no voice that I remember. We did receive KORL from outside Midway Island which is a pretty good distance.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
The best radio I've ever owned. I was lucky to get a real Collins model, with a very low serial no.
Has some issues with 17 mhz upconverter and rf deck contacts.
They do get funny on bands where they have been used for in a full comm environment, when folks haven't
kept the rf off the contacts during transmit.

15 miles from 50 kw WBBM on 780 I could pick out 770 WABC most of the time, daytimes in winter.

The 16 ,8, 4,2,1 selections in IF are dreamy....the peaked 1000 hz audio notch can bring an almost non-existant
cw into easy copy.

WIsh I had time to fix mine. Maybe I should sell it. It needs to live again.
It did get every mod and update, and I have manuals.
 
Tom Wells said:
15 miles from 50 kw WBBM on 780 I could pick out 770 WABC most of the time, daytimes in winter.
Click to expand...

I assume that was daytime skywave? Bet you can't hear it now with the WBBM IBOC! And of course the new WTOR "Toronto" on 770. That overlaps WJR in Canada and over the water. I bet it's also a thorn in WABC's side to no longer be the only 770 station in the state of New York.
 
Tom Wells said:
The best radio I've ever owned. I was lucky to get a real Collins model, with a very low serial no.
Has some issues with 17 mhz upconverter and rf deck contacts.
They do get funny on bands where they have been used for in a full comm environment, when folks haven't
kept the rf off the contacts during transmit.

15 miles from 50 kw WBBM on 780 I could pick out 770 WABC most of the time, daytimes in winter.

The 16 ,8, 4,2,1 selections in IF are dreamy....the peaked 1000 hz audio notch can bring an almost non-existant
cw into easy copy.

WIsh I had time to fix mine. Maybe I should sell it. It needs to live again.
It did get every mod and update, and I have manuals.
Click to expand...

You heard WABC in the daytime? Even in the winter I would be shocked if this happened often. I have heard WABC a couple of times around noon in December, but only a couple of times.
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
Tom Wells said:
15 miles from 50 kw WBBM on 780 I could pick out 770 WABC most of the time, daytimes in winter.
Click to expand...

I assume that was daytime skywave? Bet you can't hear it now with the WBBM IBOC! And of course the new WTOR "Toronto" on 770. That overlaps WJR in Canada and over the water. I bet it's also a thorn in WABC's side to no longer be the only 770 station in the state of New York.
Click to expand...

I would assume WJR is more unhappy as their pattern is away from WABC, but towards Detroit.
 
WABC vs WBBM, I could almost always detect a carrier with BFO , day or night.
On winter daytimes with good skywave dx, I could "copy", on an average day.
On a good day I could just listen.

Iboc makes this level of sensitivity moot.
 
DavidEduardo said:
RadioFan2J3 said:
I think the TS aspect of the R-390 is more urban legend than fact. The spaces where the R-390 was used and how they were used was probably the TS aspect of their use. None of the manuals were ever TS, as best as I can tell.
Click to expand...

While they may have been secret when first deployed, the receivers were not secret towards the late 70's. In fact, several different companies made them, not just Collins, and it was possible to buy one if there were "overproduction" units. I got a Hammarlund R390 for about a kilobuck in 1970, and it came in military oilcloth packing with some kind of material resembling kapok in between layers. It had full military manuals with all the military designations for parts and such.
Click to expand...


The R-390 family certainly was not secret in the early 1970s either. I managed to procure one duing my days in Vietnam and mailed that puppy home piece by piece. Since it was modularized, I pulled out the modules and sent them home, one at a time, over a period of several weeks. When the parents said all the modules had arrived, I sent the chassis. I gave it away a few years later, just had no use for it. Wish I still had it.

I have no idea if it was a R-390 or R-390A. Too many years back to even think about it.

None of the Army TMs for the receivers were ever classified, so it would be highly unlikely the unit is classified but the manuals, with schematics, were not.

Lots of sources for scanned manuals, such as :

http://www.jamminpower.com/main/r390.html

By the way, if Andy Moorer's name sounds familiar, he, among his other credits, is the creater of the THX logo theme.
 
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