My R-390 webpage
Motorola built R390
So far with this mailing list
I have found out a lot about this old radio and also have learned
a lot about how to do some basic trouble shooting. One tool which
has been extremely invaluable has been a cd rom made by Jeffrey Adams.
This cd rom has the manuals ,schematics,instructions ,and just
about everything you want to know about working with ,or repairing
the R390 series of radios. I believe there were 390A's, 391's
and 392's made that are various versions of the original Collins
R390.
A copy of this manual is very
inexpensive at $10 .00 in the USA, and can be found by emailing
this address
eengineer@erols.com.
For this price alone,the headaches are considerably reduced when you can read about the radio , and most of all, it is clear and legible even after a printout on a Hewlett Packard DeskJet 600. I have done some minor work on it using these cdrom files and I have to say that when I first opened it up it was kinda scary. Some of the things that was wrong with it when I took it out of the closet after two years was defective bands,a bad IF tube, non contacting bandswitch,bad crystals,and a few other things . After digging through the manual I have now fixed it to where it is 99% functional,all bands working,and all filters operational . The only thing it really needs now is a total alignment to bring back into spec the performance ,but without the right equipment ,that is not something I want to try at the moment .
Fast forward the time clock to February 2002..
I now am trying it out
on a 50 foot or so dipole antenna,strung up behind the building maybe 6
feet off the ground at the moment.It's fed into the radio by way of some
75 ohm tv coax I scrounged up. So far it seems to do fairly well here at
the new apartment.Earlier this month I was able to hear Radio Uganda on
4976 khz one night at about an 20 or so on the carrier meter.
South American stations have
been pretty audible as well for the most part here,and early in the mornings
I have been hearing the NBC-Port Moresby from Papua New Guinea real clear
on 4890 while I've been getting ready to go to work.Europeans have been
fairly strong here and the Africans on the tropical bands kinda have
come and gone as conditions permit. Soon as I am able to get a slingshot
,this antenna will hopefully be a bit higher. But for now it's working
as best as it can.
There have been several makers of this radio . Some makers have included EAC(Electronic Assistance Corporation),Stewart-Warner,Motorola,Imperial, and others.Without a doubt ,I have to say I would love to have a basement full of these radios.