I'm not much into radio but had an uncle who was. Out of curiosity I googled the model to see a picture and it is an impressive looking piece of equipment. Can't imagine why anyone who had ever owned the thing could be so callous as to just toss it - maybe it was a PO'd wife/girlfriend. You know how that can happen...
Here is some more info I found:
National Company, Inc. - HRO-60R
Introduced in 1952, the HRO-60 was the last of the evolution of tube-type HRO receivers from National. The power supply is built-in but, to the last, National retained plug-in coil assemblies and the famous micrometer dial (it wouldn't have been an HRO otherwise.) The HRO-60 is double conversion above 7MC, has two RF amplifiers, three IF amplifiers and P/P audio output using 6V6s - 18 tubes in all. The selling price was high at $480 but by production's end, in the early sixties, the price had escalated to nearly $750! Coil assemblies were available for frequency coverage from 50-430KC, 480KC-35MC and 50-54MC. The linear dial uses removable plastic scales that are mounted to a rotatable drum for single band-in-use readout. Two accessory sockets are provided for the optional NBFM adaptor and optional 100KC-1MC Crystal Calibrator. Shown in the photo is the unusual HRO-60R, a rack mount version that included the MRR-2 table rack and the SC-2 speaker panel featuring storage for extra coil assemblies behind the doors. The HRO-60 receivers are sometimes considered inferior in performance to the HRO-50 (single conversion) though this opinion is usually based on the audio response which is more restricted on the HRO-60 due to its increased selectivity. Additionally, the HRO-60's first conversion oscillator can be substantially mis-aligned and the receiver will still seem to function correctly, receiving stronger signals on the higher bands. Additionally, National published two different first conversion oscillator frequencies, 1990KC and 2010KC, making alignment errors common. When properly aligned, the HRO-60 has tremendous sensitivity with low noise, impressive selectivity and respectable audio from the P/P 6V6s.
Sounds like a very valuable piece of equipment worth fixing!
