Hallicrafters SX-28 Repair and Recap

This is my baby... I got it when I was a teen in the '70's. In the '60's, a neighbor was a ham, and let me listen to his receiver now and again, and I was fascinated with the stuff I heard. I wanted a receiver of my own, and didn't know anyone locally when I started working on my ham license. I wanted a DX-160 from Radio Shack, but my Dad asked if I wouldn't rather have a much better receiver that I might have to work on and it would be old. He took me to a junk shop that had three of these, $100 each. He loaned me the money and I had my receiver! I spent hundreds of midnight hours listening around the bands, and used it on CW when I got my license. Just a year or so ago, I did a complete recap on it, and it really came alive. I use it for SWL again, though there isn't much to hear, and also on 75M AM.

This page includes work on that original radio, plus two others that have come across my bench in the last couple of years. These are all, I believe, the earliest version.

Doing some initial testing.

A new electrolytic. You can see how tight in some of the paper caps are.

Starting to replace the caps.

I took a lot of photos for reference as I started snipping parts out.

A new cap.

The caps in the RF section are really jammed in there..

IF/Audio done.

I was able to replace most of the RF bypass capacitors without removing the RF cage as most people recommend.

On the first RF stage, I did have to dismount some of the coils.

One of the radios had a broken wafer switch, and I was able to find a replacement.

Look how dirty/dusty the wire is in this particular radio.

One radio was missing the filter caps and the choke was burnt. Someone had partially recapped it, but I still had to do the RF section.

A beauty.

Having these tools helped not having to take the RF assembly out. I did have to pull the band selector shaft out for better access. On most of the caps, I didn't necessarily use the original ground, but I did choose a low-impedance ground, and didn't cross over into another section where it might couple.

My receiver back in the '70's.

There was an SX-28 in the oval office when Truman was there.

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