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An R-390A was, is, probably one of the finest tube shortwave receiver ever produced. Even now, 50+ years after they were 1st produced, they are STILL one of the sets that all the others are judged by. A good one can be tweaked to provide sensitivity close to the theoretical limit of what's possible to produce, they have incredibly strong "front ends" that are almost impervious to signal overloading, & being a tube design, they have none of the built in self-generated elecronic "hash" noise microprocessors typically have. Designed for 24/7 military use, they should last indefinitely in civilian use. The only real drawbacks are complicated design, a few of the tubes are hard to find, as are the antenna connectors. The speaker output is 600ohms, so you have to fit an adaptor to make 'em work w/8 ohm speakers. And at 85 LBS, one of them is prolly NOT gonna be too portable. But for pulling an AM signal out of the air from 500 KC to 30 MC, they have few equals.
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Benevolent Despot
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