R-390A Restoration Services

Services

*** UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE ***

I have stopped accepting new restoration work requests.  As of March 2003, I have almost one year of work scheduled, which I will complete.  God and family require my attention elsewhere.

The information provided on this site is hopefully enough to encourage you to do most of your own restoration.  For those of you who do not wish to undertake this most rewarding task, I can assist you with some or all of the restoration work.  This includes everything from filter capacitor rebuilds, front panel painting, knob painting, refurbishing individual decks with new orange drop capacitors and alignments, to restoring the entire radio.  I also do an alignment-only service if that's all you need.

For top performance,  a  complete restoration of your R-390A will bring your radio back to top operating condition and should greatly extend the useful life of your receiver.   Complete restoration includes panel and knob painting, replacing all paper capacitors, rebuilding the two filter capacitors, making sure all solder joints are clean (including many hidden ones), checking and replacing out of tolerance resistors, adding missing production modifications, adding a couple of standard mods (for improved SSB reception and an inrush current limiter), reconditioning the gear train, a complete alignment (at least twice through), and many more items.  I'll probably spend about 60 or so hours with your radio before I'm finished, usually at a pace of about 10 hours per week.  Details of a complete restoration are described here. 

I do not get in a rush to complete any restoration work.  I do all work at a leisurely pace and I treat each radio as if it were my own.  I take personal pride in each unit, and will not settle for less than the best I can achieve.  If you want your restoration work done more quickly, email me for recommendation on others who can provide a faster turn-around.

Pricing 

Alignments begin at $35 for the IF deck alone, to $100 for all alignments including IF deck, RF deck, mechanical gear train, and PTO endpoints.  These prices assume a good working radio.  At these prices, I do not test tubes or document initial and final performance.

Basic restorations (without any modifications or gear train disassembly) start at around $400.  Even basic restorations include replacement of all paper capacitors, checking resistors, rebuilding of filter capacitors, all alignments, but do NOT include a repainted front panel.  A full restoration is closer to $750, which also includes a repainted front panel and knobs, full disassembly and rebuild of the mechanical gear train, lubed PTO with desiccant reactivated, PTO linearization, precision carrier meter potentiometer plus three other suggested modifications, and tweaking the sensitivity via tube substitution and swapping.  I can also add modifications such as solid state power supply, B+ fuses, and 3-prong line cord when needed.

To receive detailed pricing on partial or full restorations, please use this web-based form.

For full restorations, $250 is due when I receive the radio and the final payment is due before I return the radio to you.  For other work, money is due before work begins.  Payments can be by cashiers check, money order, or personal check (which will have to clear before return shipment).

Deliverables

You will receive your radio (or individual modules) in top performing condition with all the work complete as listed in the details.  You will receive a checklist of all the work that was performed and will list module contract numbers.  If I restore your entire radio, you will receive a "performance summary," which will give you a chart of sensitivity measurements across the bands, similar to these.  I reserve the right to post the performance and pictures of your radio on my webpage to demonstrate the quality of these restorations.

Schedule

For full restorations I typically have a ten month backlog or longer, but this changes.  Email me to schedule services or to discuss your needs.

If you're ready to commit to having a full restoration done, email me so I can put you on the waiting list.  I can squeeze in a limited amount of work on filter capacitors, front panels and knobs, or individual decks at almost any time. 

Additional Information

A typical full restoration includes the following parts:

The most important optional item is the rebuild of the filter capacitors.  The inrush current limiter can help protect the Function microswitch.  The SSB/AGC mod is helpful if your receiver will be used much for SSB listening.

Front panel color is usually a satin finish smoke gray.
Knobs will be a semi-gloss black, unless you ask for high-gloss or flat.

Lettering will be white.

Radio should be in general good working order with no major circuit modifications for the listed prices to apply.  I will gladly work on your problem radios, but charges may increase above those listed.  I have a test bed radio in my shop area that allows me to isolate the problems pretty quickly.  Once I isolate your problem to a module, I'll refurbish that module first.  If that corrects your problem, there will be no additional charges above the listed price.  Additional work beyond this will be charged at $15 per hour plus parts, with a maximum charge of 2 hours to find the problem plus actual time for repairs.  Some problems can take longer to find, but here's my philosophy:  1) these are valuable learning experiences for me, and 2) it "should" not take me more than 2 hours to isolate any problem.  Total charges to repair any single problem will not exceed $50 labor plus actual parts cost to resolve any problem.

Shipping

I will assist you with any shipping problems or damage that may occur in either direction, but I will not take financial liability for any damages.  Unless you do an exceptionally poor packing job, I will return the receiver in the same way it was sent to me.  So you can drastically improve your chances for an undamaged shipment by carefully selecting the box and packing materials initially.

You will be responsible for return shipping costs with insurance.  Shipping cost by FedEx Ground is usually about $50.  You may wish to insure the radio for a higher price on the return trip because the value of your radio increases at least equal to the cost of restoration.  I will not be responsible for damage during shipment in either direction.  You should include adequate shipping insurance to cover your radio.  I will carefully inspect the shipping carton upon delivery.  I will pack the radio very carefully for the return trip.  Here are my shipping recommendations:

I have been on the receiving end of an R-390A damaged in shipment twice now.  It all depends on how you pack it.  First, find a sturdy box.  Stuff paper or bubble wrap inside the radio all around the tubes so they can't rattle loose and put the covers back on (if it has covers).  Wrap it in two wraps of the big bubble wrap around the sides and top and then three more wraps over the front and back.  This gives five layers of protection on top and bottom, three on front and back, and two on the sides.  Tape the bubble wrap on tightly, and then pack it with hard styrofoam sheets about 2 inches thick all around the edges.  Tape a layer of styrofoam sheets to the bubble wrap.  For extra protection, put 1/4 inch plywood in the bottom and top of the box, cut to fit, with the hard styrofoam inside the plywood.  The plywood will provide good protection for corner damage if yours is dropped on a corner.  Start stuffing additional thicknesses of styrofoam sheets until it's tight.  Then tape the box very well around all circumferences.  Remember, UPS checks the packing on almost every big package using the 3-foot drop test.

On their webpage, UPS states:

Checkout The Quest Online to see where I now spend much of my time.  God Bless!

© 2005 by Walter Wilson, KK4DF.  All information is offered for non-commercial use without warranty, expressed or implied.