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Is there any salvage value to this old Collins equipment?


A buddy of mine found this in a house he is renovating. Told me to come get it or it's going in the dumpster. The stuff was sitting a long time in a non heated garage so I wouldn't trust putting power to any of it.

My FIL had about 200 ham radios in his basement and business, when he died. They got he ones in he basement, but the ones the his business are still there.

Classic Collins gear. Worth money, as is, $1000. Assuming original and not corroded.

Calling Owl - calling Owl !
Come in, Owl !

From looking over it I would say there is a fair bit of surface corrosion but not to the point where the dials and switches don't function.

Closer look shows the cabinet lids bent, so with corrosion maybe a little less $. However the "Collins mystique" keeps the prices up. Just need the right guy to buy them.

Collins is way before my time in Amateur radio.

There are shops that specialize in complete restorations of Collins gear, but it’s expensive.If they look that bad on the outside they’re likely much worse on the inside.

There is a Collins collectors association IIRC. Don't throw it out until you get the model numbers and do an online search.

The Transmitter is a 32s-3
Receiver is a 75s-3b
Amplifier is a 30L-1
312b-4 station console
516e-1 power supply
collins speaker

It appears to be a complete radio station.

In 1979 the engineers from Collins visited us at Boeing when we were designing the 767 electronics.

In 1993 when I got my ham licence, Collins was way out of my price range.

In 1979 the engineers from Collins visited us at Boeing when we were designing the 767 electronics.

In 1993 when I got my ham licence, Collins was way out of my price range.

Do you have a local ham radio club nearby? They would probably point you in the right direction.
Might check with sheriff's dept. also to see if any hams provide emergency communication drills. They would give you a place to start.
Looks like you have some good equipment that someone would like to restore.
Maybe look on line at ARRL.com.

Both QTH.com and QRZ.com have substantial ham classified ad sections.

There are hams whose main enjoyment of the hobby is restoring classic old ham gear. One of those would pay a pretty penny for that stack.

I think St. Georger's estimate is in the right ballpark.

Transmitter cleaned up better than I thought.

Changed out the paper capacitors and replaced a zeiner diode and a resistor that was bad on the receiver. Now Its receiving signals with good audio.



Recapped and installed solid state tubes on the power supply to get that to work. The transmitter has issues on the 800 volt side, it has a delayed short that smokes a resistor and pops the fuse on the power supply. Going to take some time to trace that down.

Good luck with the 516f2. There's a YouTube video by El Paso Tube Amps or something like that addressing the 516f2 power supply issues. His had a short caused by poor/deteriorated wires in the harness that ran from the rectifiers to the power transformer and other places. It's worth A look.

Another suggestion is to consider installing A Young Kim regulator for the 275v line. It works very well. He also sells other parts and kits to restore Collins gear. His ps board and other items for the 30l1 amp are FBOM.

Finally, Dennis Olson in Michigan has Collins parts and also hardware such as new feet and new shiny inserts for the knobs.

Again good luck. I am surrounded by, use and restore vintage tube gear! Like firearms, too many to use, too old to get to them all, but it's a lot of fun trying!

Art kb7loq

I thought the fuse issue on the 516f was arcing between the Tubes so I installed the Harbach solid state kit and capacitor kit. After that did not solve the issue i dug a little deeper and found cracked wire on L1. Purchased L1 and L2 from Dennis Olsen and that resolved the short. I purchased a power board for the 30L-1 from Young Kim and he threw in the 275V regulator for the 516f. The issues with the 32s-3 might be a little over my head, its has been worked on before as several of the covers on the underside are missing. I might just look for a clean round emblem 32s-3 and keep this one for parts. Patrick, kc3pjg

Glad you got the power supply issues resolved and did the ps board upgrade from Young Kim. I can relate to your 32s3 issues. I have one in similar condition, complete but someone has in soldered and resoldered everything, so it's tough to tell what's factory or not. You definitely need those bottom covers for the rig to work. I agree it may be a whole lot easier to find another rig.

One thing I've experienced with Collins gear is the need to clean all switches, relays and other contacts with deoxit d5. Also, the white colored circular trimmer caps found on the top surface of the chassis can sometime problematic. They can stick and the rubber spacer can be damaged when turned. They can be taken apart and cleaned by sliding off the metal fastener underneath, no need to unsolder anything.

One final thing. An old Collins guy said never to diddlestick the tunable slug rack. It is adjusted at the factory. Messing with it will only cause beadaches!

Good luck. They are great pieces of bear and will sound great and big Sig so on the air with that 30l1. One final note. The 32s3 is known for having the cleanest !was distortion signal on the air

Whoops, not done. Only recently have the digital transceivers like the Anon with its "pure signal" software have rivaled the 30l1.