Coolest looking radios

[w2amr]

Like cars , there was once a time when styling was important.
I always liked the look of the Icom 735
4877
Vintage gear, the Johnson Invader Transmitter
The National NC-303 receiver4878
4879

National NC-173 receiver
4880

[W1GUH]

The Gonset G-66/77 comes to mind...

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRN8h0zKqNu6gjyG2xQOSQiAhsX0icud G5G2c-HJZ7_tA9mzqD2xg
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQBfRCGYhC4yQiB4WNtx9evjkVg7aaq_ izscHlU5Qw_gELs7cv1

[w2amr]

The Gonset G-66/77 comes to mind...

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRN8h0zKqNu6gjyG2xQOSQiAhsX0icud G5G2c-HJZ7_tA9mzqD2xg
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQBfRCGYhC4yQiB4WNtx9evjkVg7aaq_ izscHlU5Qw_gELs7cv1
Oh yeah, very cool looking .:agree:

[N8YX]

4882

Looks better when powered up:

4881

[W3WN]

I always liked the classic look of a Collins S-Line. Can't afford to own 'em or maintain 'em, but still...

[NQ6U]

I don't know if this is the coolest-looking rig out there but for years it's what I visualized whenever I thought of ham radio:

http://www.dr-boesch.ch/radio/radio-images/drake-r4c-col.jpg

[Jeff K1NSS]

4884The SX-28 is a night flight to Macau at the helm of a China Clipper. It's hunting dinosaurs from open motorcars in the Gobi Desert with Roy Chapman Andrews. It's inching backwards filming King Kong smash the gates of Skull Island. We'll leave the Red Baron to Snoopy. For me and Dash!, the Super Skyrider is so cool, it's Kelvin.

[K7SGJ]

Somehow, I picture Dash having a little problem with the bandspread tuning. I know my dogs nails tend to get in the way. But then, I may be barking up the wrong tree.

[Jeff K1NSS]

Somehow, I picture Dash having a little problem with the bandspread tuning.

No problem for Dash! because he is only a dog-faced ham. In the cartoon tradition, originally started by artists to simplify animation, I think, his hands do each have one less than the usual human number of fingers. And yes, he's actually a dog-headed ham but that sobriquet lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. Speaking of tuning knobs, those of the SX28 are like steering wheels, almost little helms. I submit that, while other radios are more overtly flashy or covertly cool, the Super Skyrider is of a swashbuckling gravitas yet unsurpassed.

[K7SGJ]

I stand erected! :-D

[kb2vxa]

Speaking of three fingered animation characters, Homer Simpson, Patty Bouvier and Peter Griffin are hams and they don't seem to have trouble working the knobs. (KNOBS!) Neither did Herman Munster with his Frankenstein fingers. Even if Dash! had doggie paws he would have no trouble tuning this Collins 75A-4.

Once upon a time I had a few of those stylish boat anchors, among them a National NC-173 I got at a hamfest for $60 and NC-303 with a Bell Labs (where I got it for $50) AGC mod that made SSB copy a real pleasure. A later addition was the rare converter cabinet fully stuffed with 6M, 2M and 1.25M (rare as hen's teeth) converters I snagged at a fester for... get this... $100. Still, even back then sellers thought their shtuff was made of gold but I stepped in a lot of poo so I didn't mind. Then there were the modded out Heapshit twins, you'd probably kill me if I told you what I used them for. (;->)

Here's a funny, on one side of the coin is stepping in poo, on the other are fatal last words. I snagged that 173 the seller wanted a small fortune for because during negotiations he said if he had to drag it home his wife would kill him. Waving my last cash under his nose I told him he had a choice, take the 60 bucks or face the music, he took the 60 and I faded away receiver in hand with that famous Cheshire Cat grin on my face.

WOOF!

[ab1ga]

OK folks, now that we've seen a few, what makes a radio look cool? Or, as an alternative, what makes a radio look like a complete disaster?

[kf0rt]

OK folks, now that we've seen a few, what makes a radio look cool? Or, as an alternative, what makes a radio look like a complete disaster?

It's like porn. I'm not sure, but I know it when I see it.

[X-Rated]

It's like porn. I'm not sure, but I know it when I see it.

BINGO. Like the country cousin taking his city cousin out to the sheep barn and tells him to pick out any of them to be with. After the city cousin chooses one, the country cousin laughs and exclaims, "Hilk hilk. You picked the ugly one."

I remember going over to a friend's shack in 1976. I have never seen any radio with more beauty as the TS-700A.

http://radiopics.com/Kenwood-Trio/TX/Photos/Kenwood-Trio_TS-700a.jpg

Hearing sideband signals on there was just an indescribable enjoyment.

[kf0rt]

Nice lookin' rig. Ugly microphone, though. :rofl:

[ab1ga]

So far I see an absence of keypads and a tendency to one function/knob or button. The frequency displays are large, clear, and don't have a lot of other stuff on the display. Ample "empty" panel space all around the controls and displays.

Anything else I'm missing?

[kf0rt]

Anything else I'm missing?

More tubes and knobs. One gets the impression that the older gear was designed by the users while the new gear is designed by professional "industrial designers." Once the core of the device is a CPU, the UI gets a lot harder just due to its capabilities.

I might suggest (like you) that a lot of the beauty in these old beasts is in their simplicity. 8 controls, 8 functions (one function per control as you say). Can't be done in this "try to please everybody" world.

I think the IC-7000 is a thing of beauty, in its own narrow (modern) category of course.

[w2amr]

OK folks, now that we've seen a few, what makes a radio look cool? Or, as an alternative, what makes a radio look like a complete disaster?Cowthief?

[ab1ga]

Cowthief?

Oh! Now I am wounded, deeply wounded...
On the eve of Thanksgiving, no less.

[ki4itv]

Cowthief?
:lol: both true and hilarious.
Remember that boatanchor he posted with the junkyard paintjob?

[kb2vxa]

"OK folks, now that we've seen a few, what makes a radio look cool?"
Pristine condition like my NC-303 package.

"Or, as an alternative, what makes a radio look like a complete disaster?"
What UPS did to it between me and the one I sold it to.

[Jeff K1NSS]

1.For retro vacuum moments, gotta have a big bandset/bandspread knobs or massive central vernier.


2. For retro hybrid/solid state moments, Nixie frequency display.

[w2amr]

:lol: both true and hilarious.
Remember that boatanchor he posted with the junkyard paintjob?
I remember him telling us once about an R390 receiver he painted blue.

[w2amr]

The Globe Scout Deluxe
http://www.hfradiosales.com.au/codan_ barrett_hf_radio_information/RADIOS/files/Globe Scout Deluxe 10-80mtr 90W.jpg

[kb2vxa]

"For retro hybrid/solid state moments, Nixie frequency display."
Like my Yeasu YC-355D frequency counter? BTW we call them Nixon tubes.

Oh good grief, a FUBAR Globe Scout was on its way to becoming that FM exciter I mentioned in another thread. (;->)

Something else just crossed my mind:
"Or, as an alternative, what makes a radio look like a complete disaster?"
An otherwise beautifully restored Valiant sprayed over with clear lacquer. A friend and I ran into one at a 'fester and of course the seller wanted a small fortune for it so people glanced and passed it by. Up popped my horns and with a glint in my eye remarked that Johnson never used clear lacquer, sand blasting and repainting it is more trouble than it's worth. Then I took off running.

"Ain't I a stinkah?"

[w2amr]

"For retro hybrid/solid state moments, Nixie frequency display."
Like my Yeasu YC-355D frequency counter? BTW we call them Nixon tubes.

Oh good grief, a FUBAR Globe Scout was on its way to becoming that FM exciter I mentioned in another thread. (;->)

Something else just crossed my mind:
"Or, as an alternative, what makes a radio look like a complete disaster?"
An otherwise beautifully restored Valiant sprayed over with clear lacquer. A friend and I ran into one at a 'fester and of course the seller wanted a small fortune for it so people glanced and passed it by. Up popped my horns and with a glint in my eye remarked that Johnson never used clear lacquer, sand blasting and repainting it is more trouble than it's worth. Then I took off running.

"Ain't I a stinkah?"
Or even worse ,painted a maroon metalflake.

[w2amr]

The SX-115 super cool
4895

[W1GUH]

What makes a radio look cool? One detail is that 50's design of the chrome plastic Heathkit on the front of the Apache/Mohawk. Heath got the font just right on that! Wish they'd put that on the Comanche/Cheyenne but on second thought, probably wouldn't have worked all that well on a radio that moves around a lot. At least the font is right.

4897

[w2amr]

What makes a radio look cool? One detail is that 50's design of the chrome plastic Heathkit on the front of the Apache/Mohawk. Heath got the font just right on that! Wish they'd put that on the Comanche/Cheyenne but on second thought, probably wouldn't have worked all that well on a radio that moves around a lot. At least the font is right.

4897
Yep, a touch of class. Todays radios are like cars, they all pretty much look the same.

[K7SGJ]

Yep, a touch of class. Todays radios are like cars, they all pretty much look the same.


And ya can't get them in a rag top, either.

[w2amr]

And ya can't get them in a rag top, either.The roof is the only thing holding them together.:-D

[K7SGJ]

It was always told it was the dirt.