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Issue No. 6 · June 19, 2026 · The Wayback Dispatch
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This Week in Ham Radio History
The Radios That Refuse to Die
The Hallicrafters legacy, the boat anchor argument, and why Gus might be right after all. Part Two.
Last week we left off with a boy in Florida. A piece of wire. And WLS Chicago coming in clear from a thousand miles away on a Hallicrafters S-107 that a dying man had handed to his twelve year old nephew.
This week we talk about what happened to the company that built that radio.
And why operators who still own them might be onto something the rest of us missed.
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From the Hallicrafters Era
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A Hallicrafters Super Skyrider, one of the receivers that helped build the company’s reputation for serious, repairable communications gear. Photo: Daderot / Wikimedia Commons (CC0), hosted by Ham Radio Wayback.
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FCC License Watch
This Week’s New-Ham Snapshot
This is a weekly segment, so it should feel like one. The latest FCC snapshot shows 11,396 new individual amateur licenses issued in 2026 so far.
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2026 YTD
11,396
New individual licenses
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Since May 31
+366
Mostly first week of June
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Florida Watch
504
Up 18 in the past week
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Technician
10,361
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General
864
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Extra
171
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What Changed This Week
• +366 new individual licenses since the May 31 snapshot.
• Florida new-ham count moved from 486 to 504 — up 18 in the past week.
• January through May shifted slightly due to normal FCC record corrections and admin updates. Nothing concerning.
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Source: FCC ULS license data · New individual amateur licenses issued monthly · Updated weekly by HRG
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The Legacy
The SX series receivers were the crown jewels. The SX-28. The SX-42. The SX-100. Operators who used them in the 1950s still talk about them the way car collectors talk about a ’57 Chevy. With reverence. With a little grief.
The company peaked in the early 1960s and then the market shifted. Solid state technology arrived. Japanese manufacturers entered the market with equipment that was smaller, cheaper, and easier to produce. Hallicrafters tried to adapt. It didn’t work.
The company was sold in 1966. Changed hands again. The name disappeared.
But the radios didn’t.
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The Boat Anchor Argument
We make fun of the Gus character on Ham Radio Gizmos. Gus loves tube radios and boat anchors. He talks about them with the kind of devotion that makes the rest of us roll our eyes.
But here is the thing about Gus.
He’s right.
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A Hallicrafters receiver is one of the only radios you can actually repair yourself. And the irony is they go UP in value when you fix them and clean them up.
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Modern transceivers are marvels of engineering. But when something goes wrong — and something always goes wrong, that’s part of the hobby — you’re shipping it to a service center and waiting six weeks. If they still support the model. If parts are available.
A Hallicrafters from 1955 has a schematic that’s been publicly available for seventy years. The components are standard. The design is logical. You can trace a signal path with a meter and figure out what went wrong.
That’s not nostalgia. That’s a different relationship with the technology.
I’ll be honest with you — I don’t have a single piece of tube gear in my shack anymore. Even my amplifiers are solid state. Don’t tell Gus. It would break his heart.
But I understand what he’s holding onto. And I respect it.
William Halligan built radios that were meant to last. That could be understood. That could be fixed by the person who owned them.
There’s something in that worth thinking about. Just another example of how much technology we take for granted nowadays. The things that were built to endure are still out there. Still working. Still putting WLS Chicago into headphones in Florida at midnight if you know how to listen.
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-20dB
Below the Noise
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What nobody mentions about the Hallicrafters story.
Bill Halligan was rejected in the middle of the Great Depression and still started a company. That’s not stubbornness. That’s a specific kind of vision — the ability to see a market that doesn’t fully exist yet and believe in it anyway.
The same quality that Martin Cooper had when he told AT&T the phone belonged to the person, not the car. The same quality that drives every ham operator who builds something in their shack that people say can’t work.
This hobby has always attracted people who see something others don’t. Halligan was one of them. The radios he left behind are still working seventy years later. That’s not a footnote. That’s the whole point.
The signal was always there. Most people just weren’t listening.
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HF Propagation Intelligence · June 19–21, 2026
This Weekend on the Bands
Source: NOAA SWPC 3-Day Forecast · Translated for actual operating
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Mostly Usable Weekend · Quiet to Unsettled
The magnetic field is expected to stay below geomagnetic-storm levels. That gives ordinary HF operating a fair shot. The main wildcard is a small chance of short daylight radio blackouts, which can briefly soften higher-band paths on the sunlit side of Earth.
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What This Actually Means for Your Weekend
Start on 20 meters if you want the best chance of making contacts without a séance. Check 15 meters during daylight and keep an ear on 10 meters for surprise openings. After sunset, 40 meters should be the dependable choice for regional and domestic work.
Do not judge the whole weekend by one dead band. If SSB gets thin, FT8 and CW may still squeeze through. If a daylight path suddenly disappears, give it a little time and try again.
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Band-by-Band Outlook
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10m / 12m
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Worth checking late morning through afternoon. Openings may be brief, so listen before writing them off.
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15m / 17m
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Best daylight DX hunting zone if 10 meters does not cooperate. Try 15 first, then 17 for a quieter band.
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20m
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The safest daytime bet for POTA, casual SSB, digital, and general weekend operating.
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30m / 40m
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Your evening toolbox. Forty meters should be the money band after sunset for regional contacts.
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80m
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Useful after dark for closer-in work. Summer noise may be the villain, but the geomagnetic outlook is not the problem.
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Compared With Last Weekend
This weekend looks calmer and more predictable than last weekend’s storm watch. Upper bands still need checking rather than trusting, but 20 and 40 meters should require less wrestling with the ionosphere.
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Geomagnetic
Quiet–Unsettled
No G1+ expected
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Best Day Band
20m
Check 15m too
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Best Night Band
40m
80m for local
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Market Intelligence · Powered by HRG Blue Book℠ Data
HRG Blue Book Signal
As of June 5, 2026 · 90-Day Window · QRZ, QTH & eBay completed listings
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Icom IC-7300
HF / SDR · 24 listings
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▲ HOLDING VALUE
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Floor
$720
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Trading Range
$780 – $890
Where most deals close
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Ceiling
$1,195
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Median $825. Still the most liquid HF radio in the used market. Volume is up slightly from last issue. Floor units move within 48 hours. If you see one clean under $750, it sells before the weekend.
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Yaesu FT-991A
HF / VHF / UHF · 16 listings
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▲ TIGHT RANGE · STABLE
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Floor
$700
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Trading Range
$740 – $820
Where most deals close
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Ceiling
$875
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Median $775. Reliable, all-band package. Spread has tightened since last quarter. The all-in-one capability keeps it moving at consistent prices. Good value for a first HF rig with no upsell needed.
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Icom IC-705
HF / VHF / UHF / Portable · 9 listings
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▲ STRONG RETENTION
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Floor
$860
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Trading Range
$920 – $1,150
Where most deals close
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Ceiling
$1,250
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Median $1,090. Owners hold these tight. POTA and SOTA activity keeps demand ahead of supply. When one shows up clean, it goes fast. The market is telling you the 705 is still the portable rig people want.
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Kenwood TS-590SG
HF / 6m · 12 listings
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▲ STEADY · CONTESTER FAVORITE
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Floor
$780
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Trading Range
$840 – $950
Where most deals close
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Ceiling
$1,050
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Median $890. Contest-grade receiver at a used price. The contester and DXer crowd keeps demand steady. Discontinued, so supply is finite. Prices have been firming slowly over the past two quarters.
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Icom IC-7610
HF / 6m / Dual Watch · 8 listings
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▲ PREMIUM · SOFT DEMAND
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Floor
$1,400
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Trading Range
$1,500 – $1,800
Where most deals close
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Ceiling
$2,100
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Median $1,650. Capable radio but sitting longer than it used to. The 7300 at half the price handles most of what the 7610 does. Buyers know it. If you’re selling, price it right the first time.
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Xiegu G90
HF / QRP / Portable · 10 listings
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▲ FLAT · ENTRY LEVEL
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Floor
$380
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Trading Range
$420 – $490
Where most deals close
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Ceiling
$510
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Median $435. Tight band, low spread. New retail is close enough that condition matters a lot here. Accessories and original box move the needle. Stripped units sit.
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Data sourced from QRZ, QTH, and eBay completed listings. Prices reflect private party and auction transactions. Dealer pricing excluded. Powered by HRG Blue Book℠ data. Full pricing database available to HRG Blue Book℠ subscribers.
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Coming Up
Coming up — the clandestine radio operators of WWII Britain. The SOE agents who parachuted into occupied Europe with suitcase radios. The ones they called pianists. And what happened when the Germans found them.
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HAM RADIO WAYBACK MACHINE · THE WAYBACK DISPATCH · ISSUE 6
POWERED BY HAM RADIO GIZMOS · © 2026
hamradiowayback.com
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