The HQ-120 and HQ-120X (with crystal filter) is a general coverage receiver produced from 1938 to 1944 by the Hammarlund Manufacturing Company of New York, NY and Mars Hills, NC. It featured 12 tubes and an audio output of two watts. When new the price was USD $120. Back then radios like were big and heavy. This radio measures 11" high x 20 1/4" wide x 13 1/2" deep and weighs 58 lbs.
I purchased this one on eBay on March, 2016 along with a PSC/10 speaker (1939 original). The radio was first restored by KE7RD, the collector who owned this unit for years. This was a late production version. It has 6K7’s tubes instead of 6S7’s (that's good). The O/P TRANS has been replaced and an SO-239 connector added. It was recapped and aligned both IF + RF and worked well on all bands.
I had the cabinet repainted locally with a black semi-gloss crinkle powder coat paint. I cleaned the chrome part of the handles with Quick Glo and stripped and painted the two shoulders with black gloss enamel. I had the speaker enclosure stripped and painted at the same time as the cabinet with the same black semi-gloss crinkle powder coat.
The original 1939 speaker was a 10″ Jensen. It worked, but I wanted the best possible sound. A current production model Jensen Alnico speaker fit exactly.
I had the faceplate rescreened by by a local precision screen printing company. They created a film positive first, then a negative screen. It was a perfect job. The color and sheen matched original. This should last longer because it is an epoxy ink that has been baked to harden. The lettering came out clean. Even though they made a 1.5X negative they still had to create artwork for the fonts. The original letters were just etched into to aluminum. It looked like it was done by hand. I refurbished the dial windows myself. They were easy to strip and I used a flat black enamel spray. The S-meter glass was dirty so I disassembled it and cleaned with Quick Glo.
White lines for the knobs were done using white out. The lines are grooved so I just gobbed it on and wiped off the excess.
This unit's final resting place is my office and looks pretty good next to an original Tiffany’s lamp.
You can read the full story and see detailed pictures of this restoration here: swling.com/blog/2016/06/colins-hammarlund-hq-120x-restoration/
I purchased this one on eBay on March, 2016 along with a PSC/10 speaker (1939 original). The radio was first restored by KE7RD, the collector who owned this unit for years. This was a late production version. It has 6K7’s tubes instead of 6S7’s (that's good). The O/P TRANS has been replaced and an SO-239 connector added. It was recapped and aligned both IF + RF and worked well on all bands.
I had the cabinet repainted locally with a black semi-gloss crinkle powder coat paint. I cleaned the chrome part of the handles with Quick Glo and stripped and painted the two shoulders with black gloss enamel. I had the speaker enclosure stripped and painted at the same time as the cabinet with the same black semi-gloss crinkle powder coat.
The original 1939 speaker was a 10″ Jensen. It worked, but I wanted the best possible sound. A current production model Jensen Alnico speaker fit exactly.
I had the faceplate rescreened by by a local precision screen printing company. They created a film positive first, then a negative screen. It was a perfect job. The color and sheen matched original. This should last longer because it is an epoxy ink that has been baked to harden. The lettering came out clean. Even though they made a 1.5X negative they still had to create artwork for the fonts. The original letters were just etched into to aluminum. It looked like it was done by hand. I refurbished the dial windows myself. They were easy to strip and I used a flat black enamel spray. The S-meter glass was dirty so I disassembled it and cleaned with Quick Glo.
White lines for the knobs were done using white out. The lines are grooved so I just gobbed it on and wiped off the excess.
This unit's final resting place is my office and looks pretty good next to an original Tiffany’s lamp.
You can read the full story and see detailed pictures of this restoration here: swling.com/blog/2016/06/colins-hammarlund-hq-120x-restoration/