John, while you probably don’t remember me, I asked you about that very thing at the swap meet. I was considering buying it myself before you showed up and was able to bring back to its original home. In fact I had doubled back after picking up a RCA CR-88A and deicing I still had room in the car! Glad you were able to recover it and that it didn’t end up with a re-seller. Especially interesting heritage.
I have my own 390 that I thought had a significant heritage, but I think it but pales compared to yours. Mine is a a regular production with a serial number of 9. The individual components have similarly early numbers in double digits, such as 24 on the IF module. My understanding is that during the assembly process the S/N numbers didn’t necessarily match. My 390 woks well and I like the LC filter much better than my two 390A’s. The tuning is smoother than any other 390 I have tried. As I recall, yours was similarly smooth. Congratulations on being able to recover it and to say the hell with weight restirctions! 73 Grant KC1OMA > On May 21, 2026, at 12:00 PM, [email protected] wrote: > > Send R-390 mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/r-390 > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of R-390 digest..." > Today's Topics: > > 1. I'm back AKA R-390(XC-2)/URR (John Flood) > 2. Re: I'm back AKA R-390(XC-2)/URR (Mike Peace) > 3. Re: I'm back AKA R-390(XC-2)/URR (John Flood) > 4. Re: I'm back AKA R-390(XC-2)/URR (Les Locklear) > 5. Re: I'm back AKA R-390(XC-2)/URR (John Flood) > > From: John Flood <[email protected]> > Subject: [R-390] I'm back AKA R-390(XC-2)/URR > Date: May 20, 2026 at 4:39:29 PM EDT > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > > > Greetings, > After the stroke i had 3 years ago and selling off all of my > R-390,R-390A,R725,and R-392's that I had because the weight exceeded what I > was allowed to carry.,. one of the radios i sold followed me home from a > flea. Forgive me if I asked this before, the brain is quite dusty, This unit > has a phenolic tag from Collins R-390(XC-2)/URR Serial No. 2 Order N. > W36-039-SC44552. Does any one here know what the XC-2 mod was? The owner > had a great laff when I asked him about it... He said you should know you > sold it to me! I do recall that now and told him I must have told you! At > least i had the stroke as an excuse! Well needless to say with the help of > my son. the beastie is now inside my shack Now starts a mission to again > figure out what's so special about this one. > John Flood N1JAF > T email list: QSL.net - Donate Site > > | > | > | > | | | > > | > > | > | > | | > QSL.net - Donate Site > > > | > > | > > | > > > > > > > > From: Mike Peace <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [R-390] I'm back AKA R-390(XC-2)/URR > Date: May 20, 2026 at 4:50:44 PM EDT > To: John Flood <[email protected]> > Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > > > John, > > Good to hear from you, and glad the radio made it home. > > Short answer: you've got something very special. That contract number, > W36-039-SC-44552, is the original Collins development contract for the > R-390. Under it, Collins built only three R-390 prototypes for the Signal > Corps at Fort Monmouth before any production radios were made: > > R-390 No. 1 — January 1951 > R-390 No. 2 — September 1951 > R-390 No. 3 — February 1952 > > The "X" in (XC-2) means experimental. Your plate says Serial No. 2, so you > almost certainly have R-390 No. 2 — the second R-390 ever built, delivered > to Fort Monmouth in September 1951. > > That's a museum-grade radio. It pre-dates the entire production run. > > Before you do anything else with it, take a lot of photos — inside, > outside, the data plate, any paper tags, any handwriting on the chassis. > Don't clean anything off. The little details on a prototype are part of its > history. > > The primary source on these three radios is the Collins Final Engineering > Report (CER No. 297), here: > > > https://www.collinsradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/R390-CER-No-297-Signal-Corp-Final-Eng-Rpt-Includes-R-389.pdf > > And contract background is on r-390a.net: > > https://www.r-390a.net/faq-manuf.htm > > If you post some interior photos to the list, several of us can help you > figure out exactly what's original and what isn't. > > Quite a find, John. > > Glad it followed you home. > > 73, > > Mike Peace VK6ADA > r-390a.net Administrator > > On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 3:39 PM John Flood via R-390 <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Greetings, >> After the stroke i had 3 years ago and selling off all of my >> R-390,R-390A,R725,and R-392's that I had because the weight exceeded what I >> was allowed to carry.,. one of the radios i sold followed me home from a >> flea. Forgive me if I asked this before, the brain is quite dusty, This >> unit has a phenolic tag from Collins R-390(XC-2)/URR Serial No. 2 Order N. >> W36-039-SC44552. Does any one here know what the XC-2 mod was? The owner >> had a great laff when I asked him about it... He said you should know you >> sold it to me! I do recall that now and told him I must have told you! >> At least i had the stroke as an excuse! Well needless to say with the help >> of my son. the beastie is now inside my shack Now starts a mission to >> again figure out what's so special about this one. >> John Flood N1JAF >> T email list: QSL.net - Donate Site >> >> | >> | >> | >> | | | >> >> | >> >> | >> | >> | | >> QSL.net - Donate Site >> >> >> | >> >> | >> >> | >> >> >> >> >> ______________________________________________________________ >> R-390 mailing list >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/r-390 >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >> Post: mailto:[email protected] >> >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > > > > From: John Flood <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [R-390] I'm back AKA R-390(XC-2)/URR > Date: May 20, 2026 at 8:00:49 PM EDT > To: Mike Peace <[email protected]> > Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > > > Mike, > Why dont i have that luck when I play the lotto?!? The first R-725 I had was > a pre-production unit as well. There were some photos of it in the E.R. > article done by George Rancourt several years ago. No cleaning, will be done > Here is one photo of the Data Plate. There are some numbers above that > I'll get more when I can. > John Flood N1JAF > On Wednesday, May 20, 2026 at 04:51:21 PM EDT, Mike Peace > <[email protected]> wrote: > > John, > > Good to hear from you, and glad the radio made it home. > > Short answer: you've got something very special. That contract number, > W36-039-SC-44552, is the original Collins development contract for the R-390. > Under it, Collins built only three R-390 prototypes for the Signal Corps at > Fort Monmouth before any production radios were made: > > R-390 No. 1 — January 1951 > R-390 No. 2 — September 1951 > R-390 No. 3 — February 1952 > > The "X" in (XC-2) means experimental. Your plate says Serial No. 2, so you > almost certainly have R-390 No. 2 — the second R-390 ever built, delivered to > Fort Monmouth in September 1951. > > That's a museum-grade radio. It pre-dates the entire production run. > > Before you do anything else with it, take a lot of photos — inside, outside, > the data plate, any paper tags, any handwriting on the chassis. Don't clean > anything off. The little details on a prototype are part of its history. > > The primary source on these three radios is the Collins Final Engineering > Report (CER No. 297), here: > > > https://www.collinsradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/R390-CER-No-297-Signal-Corp-Final-Eng-Rpt-Includes-R-389.pdf > > And contract background is on r-390a.net: > > https://www.r-390a.net/faq-manuf.htm > > If you post some interior photos to the list, several of us can help you > figure out exactly what's original and what isn't. > Quite a find, John. > Glad it followed you home. > > 73, > > Mike Peace VK6ADA > r-390a.net Administrator > On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 3:39 PM John Flood via R-390 <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Greetings, > After the stroke i had 3 years ago and selling off all of my > R-390,R-390A,R725,and R-392's that I had because the weight exceeded what I > was allowed to carry.,. one of the radios i sold followed me home from a > flea. Forgive me if I asked this before, the brain is quite dusty, This unit > has a phenolic tag from Collins R-390(XC-2)/URR Serial No. 2 Order N. > W36-039-SC44552. Does any one here know what the XC-2 mod was? The owner > had a great laff when I asked him about it... He said you should know you > sold it to me! I do recall that now and told him I must have told you! At > least i had the stroke as an excuse! Well needless to say with the help of > my son. the beastie is now inside my shack Now starts a mission to again > figure out what's so special about this one. > John Flood N1JAF > T email list: QSL.net - Donate Site > > | > | > | > | | | > > | > > | > | > | | > QSL.net - Donate Site > > > | > > | > > | > > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > R-390 mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/r-390 > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > > > > From: "Les Locklear" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [R-390] I'm back AKA R-390(XC-2)/URR > Date: May 20, 2026 at 8:21:32 PM EDT > To: "John Flood" <[email protected]>, [email protected] > > > Experimental, you must have been dealing with George Rancourt. > Welcome back! > Les > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: John Flood via R-390 <[email protected]> > Reply-To: John Flood <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: 5/20/2026 3:39:29 PM > Subject: [R-390] I'm back AKA R-390(XC-2)/URR > ________________________________________________________________________________ > >> Greetings, >> After the stroke i had 3 years ago and selling off all of my R-390,R- >> 390A,R725,and R- >> 392's that I had because the weight exceeded what I was allowed to carry.,. >> one of the radios i sold followed me home from a flea. Forgive me if I >> asked this before, the brain is quite dusty, This unit has a phenolic tag >> from Collins R-390(XC-2)/URR Serial No. 2 Order N. W36-039-SC44552. Does >> any one here know what the XC-2 mod was? The owner had a great laff when I >> asked him about it... He said you should know you sold it to me! I do >> recall that now and told him I must have told you! At least i had the >> stroke as an excuse! Well needless to say with the help of my son. the >> beastie is now inside my shack Now starts a mission to again figure out >> what's so special about this one. >> John Flood N1JAF >> T email list: QSL.net - Donate Site >> | | | | | | >> | >> | >> | | | QSL.net - Donate Site >> | >> | >> | >> ______________________________________________________________ >> R-390 mailing list >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/r-390 >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >> Post: mailto:[email protected] >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > > > > From: John Flood <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [R-390] I'm back AKA R-390(XC-2)/URR > Date: May 20, 2026 at 9:50:15 PM EDT > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Les Locklear > <[email protected]> > > > Hi Les, > No the radio did not come from George The first time I had it, I got it at a > SK estate sale in MA. > John Flood N1JAF > On Wednesday, May 20, 2026 at 08:21:37 PM EDT, Les Locklear > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Experimental, you must have been dealing with George Rancourt. > > Welcome back! > > Les > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: John Flood via R-390 <[email protected]> > Reply-To: John Flood <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: 5/20/2026 3:39:29 PM > Subject: [R-390] I'm back AKA R-390(XC-2)/URR > ________________________________________________________________________________ > >> Greetings, >> After the stroke i had 3 years ago and selling off all of my R-390,R- >> 390A,R725,and R- >> 392's that I had because the weight exceeded what I was allowed to carry.,. >> one of the radios i sold followed me home from a flea. Forgive me if I >> asked this before, the brain is quite dusty, This unit has a phenolic tag >> from Collins R-390(XC-2)/URR Serial No. 2 Order N. W36-039-SC44552. Does >> any one here know what the XC-2 mod was? The owner had a great laff when I >> asked him about it... He said you should know you sold it to me! I do >> recall that now and told him I must have told you! At least i had the >> stroke as an excuse! Well needless to say with the help of my son. the >> beastie is now inside my shack Now starts a mission to again figure out >> what's >> so special about this one. >> John Flood N1JAF >> T email list: QSL.net - Donate Site >> >> | >> | >> | >> | | | >> >> | >> >> | >> | >> | | >> QSL.net - Donate Site >> >> >> | >> >> | >> >> | >> >> >> >> >> ______________________________________________________________ >> R-390 mailing list >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/r-390 >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >> Post: mailto:[email protected] >> >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > > > _______________________________________________ > R-390 mailing list > [email protected] > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/r-390 ______________________________________________________________ R-390 mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/r-390 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
