General Electric "Things" What Are These?

bigcaddy64

Super Member
I was posting about a tube amp earlier this morning and it got me thinking. I was at a garage sale a few months ago from a gentleman who was really into old tube radios. Since lots of the tubes can be interchanged, i remembered somewhat of an unsolved mystery. Maybe it can be solved on here.



As i hunted throughout the garage/shop, i found one item i couldn't identify. Pics were sent off to my brother but he didn't have a clue which suprised me because he rebuilds military radios for fun. After seeing Western Electric caps, and what they sell for & possible uses, i dug up the pics again to check but they are obviously not WE.

The "items" are painted grey with a aluminum badge across the front. Some are classified as "A, B, C, or AB, etc" The backsides have individual sheetmetal covers that house some sort of electrical component.

If anybody can identify what these things are, and if they hold any significance to audio equipment, ill go back and get them all. I seem to recall there being many boxes of them, all NOS!

sorry for the crappy pic. I was in rush and figured this was all i needed for my brother to make an ID.
 

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The letters on each coil represent the frequency range that they covered.
Supplied coil ranges: A 14-30, B 7-14.4, C 3.5-7.3, D 1.7-4 MHz. Other optional coils: E 900-2050, F 480-960, G 180-430, H 100-200 and J 50-100 kHz. Also: AA 27.5-30, AB 25-35, AC 21-21.5, AD 50-54 MHz
 
This isn't the forum to discuss value in if you want to ask about what they might be worth you can use dollars and sense here on ak or just use ebay now that that you know what they are and there's lots of examples there to get a good idea of what they sell for. If you do go back I'd be asking if the radio is there also if these are n.o.s there just might be a n.o.s hro 60 kicking around and that'd be a great find. Please go back and see what else is kicking around. Although not audio gear these radios and parts are still being used by myself and others. I have a older hro sr but it uses different coils than the ones you posted but they also plug in. If you want a complete history on the national hro receivers visit this link.
http://www.radioblvd.com/National HRO.htm
 
Not a hro but a national 183d that I use to own
and regret selling:(it was mint the picture doesn't do it justice with all the reflections on the front of the receiver.
national2.jpg
 
Saw them in the flea market at the Orlando Hamfest last weekend - the radios, that is. To our OP, if you still have them, go over to QRZ.com or eHam.net and place the band tray in the Classifieds there. You'll get lots of hits. Just read their requirements for posting pictures first otherwise, it is a free service targeting the buyers who will value it.

Cheers,

David/KG6IRW
 
This isn't the forum to discuss value in if you want to ask about what they might be worth you can use dollars and sense here on ak or just use ebay now that that you know what they are and there's lots of examples there to get a good idea of what they sell for. If you do go back I'd be asking if the radio is there also if these are n.o.s there just might be a n.o.s hro 60 kicking around and that'd be a great find. Please go back and see what else is kicking around. Although not audio gear these radios and parts are still being used by myself and others. I have a older hro sr but it uses different coils than the ones you posted but they also plug in. If you want a complete history on the national hro receivers visit this link.
http://www.radioblvd.com/National HRO.htm

I wasn't looking for a value, just an ID. The workshop was packed to the ceiling with old radios (spanning 1900 to 1960s), tube testers, free standing speakers and other related items. I ended up with a big box of tubes, (2) RCA Type 245 amps, a massive container of knobs/indicators and more items.

I saw the coil things sitting in a box and wasn't sure if they had any useful quality to them. They were, for the most part, forgotten and unknown until something jogged my memory a few days ago and wanted to solve the mystery.

Thank you all for a quick and positive ID. Ill make the trip back over there and see what else is available, which hopefully is something good. I did talk with the widow, on the day of the sale, and she mentioned that a couple from up north came down and loaded up (2) UHAUL trucks full of LPs, long before the sale started.
 
Hopefully, they still have the HRO receiver which goes with those coils. It'll likely need new capacitors (and perhaps some new resistors), but shouldn't be too hard to bring back to life. I have yet to own something from the HRO series of receivers, though I would't mind at least playing around with one at some point. For now, I'll have to make do with these:
r390a_setup.jpg

r392_setup.jpg

hq129x_setup.jpg

nc183d_front1.jpg
 
wow, your 390A remind me of my brothers workshop. Its filled with military radio stuff he restores.

As for the receiver being present, i really doubt it. When i was there i saw a guy with a stack about 5' high by 5' wide, all grey cased Navy stuff/Hallicrafters/Collins equipment, with a sold tag on it. I would bet the HRO 60 was in the pile but the coils were missed because they weren't in the shop. They were located outside in an area i was given access to for the very first time that day.
 
To all the knowledgable folks above, me not knowing a whole lot about this stuff...

So, the operator would change out the coil when needing to work on another frequency in another range? Pull out the "module" and insert another and snap those brackets down?
 
This was not totally uncommon. Below is an example of a very basic multi-band radio. Note the optional coils.

upload_2018-2-13_12-46-18.png

There were books that gave coil winding information.

upload_2018-2-13_12-49-35.png

If I had a dollar for every turn of wire that I have wound, I could purchase a lot of audio gear.



 
Another place to sell that coil pack would be the classifieds at www.qth.com. Love the ad for the "Ocean Hopper"! I might have one...I do know there's a Lafayette "Explor-Air" packed away, along with a Knight "Space Spanner". Fun radios to mess around with.
 
Yes, the name. It was designed to appeal to our interest in what was happening in the rest of the world. It was a sign of the times. No internet, no transoceanic satellite communications.
 
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