Vintage National NC173 General Coverage Broadcast, HF and 6 Meter Receiver.
This is the same model that was brought on the famous "Kon Tiki' Expedition!!
This unit lights up and seems to be ok once the tubes warm up but I have no antenna to test it, so it is sold as is. Comes with the matching speaker too!
Here are some excerps from the original brochure circa 1950 as well as some about the 'Kon Tiki' Expedition.
The National NC-173 is the best all around receiver in the moderate price field. It is engineered for the host of application for which one stage of high gain r.f. amplification and 3.5 watts of audio output power are adequate. The Amateur will find this receiver chock-full of features to widen his scope of activity. The NC-173 has proved itself thoroughly dependable in a great many applications. Short wave listeners can now enjoy true world wide reception; all users can be proud of owning a mighty attractive piece of equipment, an excellent example of modern product design. The frequency range of the NC-173 is exceptional in that it includes the conventional 540 kc. to 31 Mc. range plus the 48 to 56 Mc. portion of the spectrum which covers the Amateur six meter band. The tuning system employs separate directly-calibrated dial scales with associated control knobs for General Coverage and Bandspread tuning. Both dials are well-illuminated and have auxiliary linear scales for logging purposes. Calibrated bandspread tuning is provided for the main Amateur bands, i.e., 6, 10-11, 20, 40 and 80 meters. Band changing is accomplished by means of a highly efficient band-switch system. Essentially the circuit consists of one stage or radio frequency amplification, a first detector and a separate stabilized high frequency oscillator, two intermediate frequency amplifier stages, a diode type second detector, an audio limiter, a high gain type audio stage and an audio output stage plus a separate AVC amplifier, a stabilized beat frequency oscillator plus voltage regulator and rectifier stages. A crystal filter is connected between the first detector and first i.f. stage.
FEATURES
Calibrated electrical bandspread for 6, 10-11, 20, 40 and 80 meter amateur bands!
Automatic noise limiter effective on both phone and CW, with adjustable threshold!
Highly flexible crystal filter provides 6 steps of selectivity!
S-meter for both phone and CW!
New temperature compensation and voltage regulation assure exceptional stability!
Accessory socket for NFM-73 adaptor!
Trimmer control permits panel adjustment of RF stage!
Tone control. Phono input jack also provided.
In his book "Kon-Tiki" (Rand-McNally 1950, p. 263), Heyerdahl describes the NC-173 slowly drying out on an uninhabited South Sea island after getting soaked in the shipwreck of the Kon-Tiki, gradually receiving at higher and higher frequencies towards the ham band segment they needed for their contact (13.990 MHz was mentioned earlier in the book). They finally managed to send an "all well, all well" to their ham contacts so as to avoid a massive rescue attempt.
Heyerdahl writes, "We set about putting together the soaked radio apparatus; we must do it quickly so that Torstein and Knut might get on the air before the man on Rarotonga sent out a report of our sad end."... "Coils and radio parts lay drying in the tropical sun on slabs of coral. .. The whole day passed and the atmosphere grew more and more hectic. The rest of us ... crowded round the radio in the hope of being able to give assistance. We must be on the air before 10 P.M. Then the thirty-six hours' time limit would be up, and the radio amateur on Rarotonga would send out appeals for airplane and relief expeditions. ... Seven o'clock, eight, nine. The tension was at the breaking point. Not a sign of life in the transmitter, but the receiver, an NC-173, began to liven up somewhere at the bottom of the scale and we heard faint music. But not on the amateur wavelength. It was eating its way up; perhaps it was a wet coil that was drying inward from one end. ... The transmitter was as dumb as ever, but the receiver was sputtering upward toward the right wave length. Suddenly it crackled on the Rarotonga man's frequency."
On Nov-18-08 at 21:20:26 PST, seller added the following information:UPDATE!!
Tested the receiver with a 5' antenna. Picked up many transmission s on 40M, 80M and AM bands. I am sure with a proper antenna would receive much more on 20M and 6M but those bands didn't seem to lively with my makeshift antenna (5' piece of extension cord randomely hanging from the back of the receiver)
I Have also added more detailed pictures!
On Nov-22-08 at 06:17:38 PST, seller added the following information:More pics added!!!