Hallicrafters SX-110 AM - Shortwave Receiver - 1959 - R-48 Speaker
WB6FZH

1959 Hallicrafters SX-110 Receiver
R-48 Speaker

SX-110 Receiver Circa 1959

SX-110 Receiver Circa 1959

Shortwave Listening and Ham Receiver .5 to 34mc

SX-110 Receiver

R-48 Speaker

Operating and Service Instruction Manual

SWLing and Ham Radio with the SX-110

The Hallicrafters SX-110 was my FIRST commercial radio receiver. It replaced my Philmore AM-SW regenerative receiver kit...quite a step up! In 1962 the radio came to our home from the estate of my uncle. I remember hooking it up, plugging it in and turning it on...the dials illuminated, and my lifelong affair with radios that "glow in the dark" began. I was about 12 years old.

My bedroom was on the second floor, and an antenna wire stretched out the window to a nearby tree. I would listen to the shortwave and made notes relating to what I received. Soon I was sending in "RECEPTION REPORTS", along with IRC Coupons to the various SW Broadcasters and they in turn sent me SWL CARDS, confirming my reception. They were the size of a picture post card. The cards had the reception information and usually a picture taken in of the country with other information.

I remember listening to "Big Ben" tolling with signals from the BBC, London. I remember a beautiful wood cut picture from Radio Japan, The card from Radio Moscow with it's red background. I collected cards from Austrailia, Equador, Germany, Cuba, China and many more places that stimulated my interest in the world around me.

After a while, I heard some "Amateur Radio Stations", Ham Radio Operators talking with eachother from around the world. That did it!... I found books in the library, and studied for my first FCC radio license. I was licensed as WN6FZH in 1963, to transmit in the "Novice" section of the Ham Radio Bands using morse code. Before long I too was communicating from the San Francisco Northbay Area in Marin County to stations around the world.

The next year I passed my General Class License, then my Amateur Extra Class License, and soon I was literally "speaking" to folks a world away. Amateur Radio was a great stimulus to my educational persuits, I wanted to learn more about the people and places I contacted.

As I grew older, and continued to listen to the Short Wave Broadcasters, I learned that you could get more than one opinion of world events in the "News". This too was very interesting.

As I became an adult, I eventually purchased better and better radios. Today I have radios of modern design, with transistors and integrated circuits that bring the short wave signals to me, and send signals to others from me.

I eventually needed radios with greater selectivity, sensitivity and special features to allow me to pull weak morse code, AM and Single Sideband Signals in and clearly decode them. Periodically, I unbox my SX-110 and listen to the AM Broadcast Band or Short Wave, and stare into the illuminated dials and remember the many hours of joy the radio brought me.

These days however, my favorite radios still "glow in the dark", using tubes. I often use one of the more famous SWL General Coverage Radio Receivers, a Military R-390a. It weighs about 100lbs, is 10 1/2 " tall and mounts into a 19" rack cabinet, with lots of switches and dials. It was manufactured in 1968 and is still one of the best radios ever made.

One of my other favorites is the Natioal RAS-5, a WW2 Navy radio with "plug-in" coils for changing bands. It uses a 1934 design, and tubes of the same era into the 1940s. Takes up 4 feet of vertical space in a 19" rack cabinet.

I often wonder where these radios have been, who used them, what they did, etc. I will maintain these parts of radio history, and hope that their next owner will do the same.

Greg - WB6FZH - 2/2008

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Last Updated: February 10, 2008

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