Hallicrafters SX-42 Communications Receiver

Ebay: $67.

As received:

The gear train is quite sophisticated. It had some rust, and one of the cogs had completely seized up. Here is a picture of the gear mechanism after partial disassembly to fix this problem. After oiling and minor adjustments it works like a charm!

Here are a couple of pictures of the chassis, as received, and after cleaning.

Notice the replacement choke at the far left. This replaced the mains transformer that was previously attached (primary windings only). Subsequently I replaced that choke (whose inductance was a little too high) with a Hallicrafters audio transformer primary from my SX-62 (the secondary was burned out), which measured around 5 Henries, and 270 Ohms DC resistance.

Cleaning the panel ... I used "Bam" foam cleaner, which worked wonders. The panel is supposed to be light blue, but appears brown: this is probably nicotine/tar :-(

Pictures from the seller:

High resolution scan of the SX-42 manual.

Sams photofact for the SX-42.

Service hint no. 21 for the SX-42.