National
Radio Co.
When I first started collecting old Boatanchors, I was enamoured with the Hammarlund monicker. After doing this for awhile now, National RadioCo. has a place in my heart much as Hammarlund does. James Millen built some awfully nice radios and his designs that made use of removeable coils or sliding “catacombs” transcended decades.
I have refurbished several HRO’s now as well as
taken apart and lubricated my share of sliding catacombs. Witness the mechanism
used to switch bands, perform main tuning and bandspread all with the same knob
as on the NC-200 Anniversary or NC 2-40D, and you’ve got an idea of the
engineering that went into the Nationl product line.
Who can forget those pewter looking feet of the NC
2-40D flaring out majesticly in the light of a well lit hamshack or living
room. Looking at the infamous National
dial knob and rounded surfaces of the HRO-50’s and 60’s, one might think he was
in the cockpit of a Buck Rodgers spaceship. And all those coils … Whatever
happened to the coil boxes ?
My National Collection, for your perusal …
NC-200 Anniversary Model
Before
Restoration
After
Restoration
This model uses the famous catacomb method of band selection. In a nutshell, instead of using a bandswitch to switch in and out all of the RF and multiple IF section coils, with wire flying everywhere around the bandswitch section, the “catacomb” is an actual cast aluminum housing containing all those RF/IF section coils that moves on a rail system underneath contacts. When the catacomb gets to a certain position on the rail that, lets say where the 5.0 – 15.0 mc band is supposed to be, the appropriate coils are making contact. Mr. Millen theorized that there was just too much signal loss with all those wires flying around everywhere using a bandswitch.
NC-100A
This receiver seems to come in two versions. One with an internal
power supply and another with an external “doghouse”. Mine is the latter.
Both these also used the Sliding Catacomb
RBH-2 / NC-156 ( one of many NC-100
variants)
Because this receiver has a second rf section attached to the back which is known as the “back porch”, it also has two separate catacombs.
This is a NC-46 receiver. It’s a so-so performer most known for its
art deco design.
Here is one of my favorite receivers, the
HRO 50T1 with speaker. This teams up
with a Johnson Valinat for the Number one station.
This is ,of
course, the NC-300 ham band only reveiver. It is very nice sounding and does a
very respectable job on AM, CW and SSB.
It is the receiver I use for my Vintage Sideband Station.
This radio is the “last of an era”. This is
the National HRO 500 solid state receiver and optional LF preselector. It is
the last receiver National Radio Co. put out to the public before “going out of
business” and selling the name to Japan.
The radio uses 37 transistors and 21 diodes to replace all of the tubes
of a comparable radio. It uses point to
point wiring so service is actually possible by “Joe Blo”. Contrary to popular
belief, the glass window above the dial is NOT a digital readout. This is revolving drum with a mask over it
that shows one of sixty bands as the synthesizer knob is turned. As pictured, I have the preselector but
honestly haven’t found a good use for it yet =)