RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #22
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The front panel of the HCR-62 |
(You can click on all photos in this article for a close-up view)
E.I.L. HCR-62
(a.k.a. Sanwa NR-409)
by Craig Seager VK2HBT
Now, here’s something uncommon; a general conversion communications receiver sold only in Australia by E.I.L during the early 1960s, but with a pedigree that is anything but Aussie.
Never heard of E.I.L? Think again!
Rod Smith’s excellent book Just Astor (ISBN 0-9579092-1-7) recalls the formation of Radio Corporation of Australia Pty Limited during the 1920s from an amalgam of several smaller entities based in Melbourne. The company went on to produce some of Australia’s most iconic valve domestic receivers, under the Astor branding, including the Mickey Mouse (quickly dropping the “Mouse” part after Disney took umbrage), followed by a long line of distinctive consoles and Bakelite mantle sets (my vintage radio collection needs an Astor Baby Grand!).
In 1939, a larger group was formed, incorporating Radio Corporation, Homecrafts, and Eclipse Radio, to become Electronic Industries Limited. At its peak, Astor employed more than 1,200 people at its Melbourne base.
Electronic Industries Imports Pty Ltd was formed in October 1946 to handle overseas agencies. Its portfolio included responsibility for local pressings from the U.S. jazz label Clef Records. Somehow, somewhere along the way, someone decided it might be a good idea to release a general coverage communications receiver onto the local market. E.I.L looked towards the north for a suitable, ready-made candidate.
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| An advertisement for the HCR-62 from a 1962 Australian magazine, Radio and Hobbies. |
By the late 1950s, Japanese manufacturing prowess was building, and Western countries were also beginning to lift post-war trade restrictions, in the process opening up a source of low-cost electronics.
Sanwa Denki Keiki Seisakusho was formed in the early 1940s as a designer and manufacturer of test equipment to support the growing popularity of radio receivers. In 1962, it released the Sanwa NR-409, a single conversion Superhet covering the shortwave bands, et voilà, E.I.L had something that it could simply rebadge and sell to expectant radio amateurs or shortwave listeners across the country.
The E.I.L HCR-62 is a stylish looking receiver, with the front panel dominated by a large horizontal perspex covered bandspread dial calibrated for the 10, 15, 20, 40 and 80 metre amateur bands. A separate window displays the MHz, and full coverage is from 3500 to 30200 kHz in 3 bands. I understand there are also versions that cover down to 550 kHz and have 4 bands.
I confess to not knowing where the Australian model number came from, but I can only guess that the “CR” part stands for “Communications Receiver”, and the 62 perhaps signifying year of release. As for the “H” – choose your own adventure; “Heavenly”, “Hot”, “Handy”. Certainly not “Horrible”!
More on appearance….the aluminium faceplate is almost paper-thin, and though not structurally relied upon, will readily show buckling if messed with at all. The chassis is, however, quite solid and weighty.
Modes are AM and SSB/CW, with manual and auto AGC both selectable. Pots for AF, RF gain and BFO, plus toggle switches for Send/Receive and ANL on/off complete the available controls, plus there is a ¼ inch socket for headphones and traditional S-meter. There is no internal speaker.
At the rear are screw terminals for the antenna, earth and speaker, S-meter zero adjust, octal socket for mute line and I.F. output.
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| HCR-62 rear view |
The HCR-62 has one RF stage and is, in large measure, not dissimilar in design to other contemporaries from the likes of Trio and Lafayette. Somewhat distinctive, though, is a row of five large RF coils at the rear of the chassis that affords very sharp selectivity. It is not great for program listening fidelity, but it is de rigueur for the HCR-62’s target constituency, amateur radio hobbyists, and their ilk.
The tube line-up is:
5Y3GT Rectifier
6AR5 Power Amplifier
6BA6 RF Amplifier
6BA6 I.F. Amplifier (x2)
6AL5 Detector and ANL
12AT7 A.F. Amplifier, B.F.O and ‘S’ Meter
6BE6 Mixer
6BA6 Local Oscillator
All nine are miniature types, and replacements or substitutes are readily available.
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| HCR-62 top view |
According to an article on the valveradio.net website, this receiver had various incarnations, with older models displaying point–to–point wiring and later with PCBs. A couple of helpful modifications are also offered. My example is of the point-to-point variety.
Performance on the bands is what one might expect from a receiver of this vintage, and if you can tolerate the poor frequency readout (compared with modern sets), it is a pleasurable set to operate and listen to.
Mine was picked up cheaply because it had no top cover (I reckon I’ll repurpose a bit of aluminium from elsewhere in time). One of the 6BA6 (I.F. amp) tubes also appeared to be “milky” at the top, an indication of a vacuum leak—and sure enough, a pretty serious crack was found near the base. It was duly replaced, and off the set runs when power is applied.
It's always a good idea to check the electrolytic capacitors on sets of this vintage, and when in doubt, whip ‘em out! The filter cap is a can type, and there are a couple of other aluminium sorts branded Nippon Chemi-Con. It's interesting that there are also some oil-impregnated .05 MFD caps and a few .01 MFD that are actually labelled “Sanwa.”
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| HCR-62 Underside (point-to-point wired version) |
The HCR-62 was also sold in Japan and elsewhere as the Kikusui Denpa NR-409 and the aforementioned Sanwa NR-409. So, entering those into your favourite search engine may uncover more facts about this interesting set, for which there is a dearth of information (and probably not too many surviving examples). You may need to translate from the original Japanese. Knock yourself out!
The only real difference between the E.I.L-branded sets is the brand name printed on the glass below the bandspread dial.
It also seems to have been a Sanwa NR-408, amateur bands only, released contemporaneously. This was sold as either a kit or factory-constructed. It has similar styling but lacks a separate MHz tuning window. A large S-meter occupies that real estate. According to Osterman, it had I.F.’s at 2.18 and 455 kHz.
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| The SANWA NR-408, a similar, slightly earlier offering from the Japanese manufacturer (courtesy https://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/f1033793455/) |
The HCR-62 sold for around £75 less trade-in (that’s Australian old money equating to around $150 decimal/USD $100 at current exchange); quite a sum in the day! By comparison, I’ve seen adverts from around the same time for the Lafayette HE-30 for £85. Australian male adults' average weekly earnings in 1962 was around £23. I don’t think too many teenage enthusiasts were buying these receivers new!
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| Here is a magazine advertisement for the Lafayette HE-30 receiver. On the Australian market, this rig was a direct competitor to the HCR-62. |
Performance is nothing out of the box, but certainly not out of step with similarly priced and configured receivers of the early 1960s. At that time, stations were abundant, and tuning was often finicky, but most of today’s hobbyists will simply regard the process as “quaint.” Sideband tuning, in particular, is fussy and ultimately unrewarding.
The most cheap and cheerful SDRs will now afford better all-round fundamentals. Still, regrettably, as a by-product of modern compactness and functionality, we have traded away the charm of sets such as the HCR-62.
As far as I can tell, this receiver stands alone in the E.I.L catalogue. Nothing like it before or since. By the time it was released, the company had already come under majority ownership by British brand Pye, which had some communications receivers in its own stable, though uncommonly encountered in Australia by collectors. Later, in 1970, Phillips Australia took control, already having a solid manufacturing base in Australia. By then, transistorisation had become the norm, though in many cases, it hadn’t yet achieved the receiver performance of valve predecessors such as this.
As for Sanwa, it continues to market useful test equipment, but desktop communications receivers were not an ongoing part of its roster.
Whether the Australian or Japanese branded versions, I think this receiver is worth owning.
A schematic of the HCR-62 can be found here:
Key Specifications:
Frequency Range:
3.5-7.3 MHz7.0-14.5 MHz14.0-30.0 MHz
Bandspread:
80m (3.5-3.75 MHz)40m (7.0-7.14 MHz)20M (14.0-15.2 MHz)
Sensitivity: 3µV
Selectivity: 60dB with 7-0-7 KHz detuning
Further Reading:
Historical Radio Society of Australia https://hrsa.org.au/ Radio Waves Magazine, Issues 95 (Jan ’06), 108 (Apr ’09)
http://www.seidensha-ltd.co.jp/~seiden/nr409.html (Japanese - Google Translate does an okay job of converting to English)
A more abbreviated version of this review originally appeared in Australian DX News in April 2017. I'd like to thank Craig VK2HBT for revealing the mysteries behind this receiver.
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