Repaired 1961 Knight Ocean Hopper Tube Radio Demonstration

[wa5iyx]

I got and built one of these (Xmas 1958) as an 11-year-old. Did a lot SWLing on 40m - didn't "find" 10m and all the DX there until the fall of 1959, after which it was soon replaced with a superhet (Philmore CR-5AC). If you went too far with the regen control with the highest freq coil it could mess up the low-VHF TV channels! I still have it, but probably not fired up for decades.

[W8WHO]

These radios are very collectable and go very high on Ebay. I have one to restore. On mine the original main tuning dial has been replaced with a vernier tuning type. I think there is someone who sells a reproduction knob also. I am getting excited to get mine out to work on. Many Thanks for getting me fired up!!

[K3MOV]

This was my first kit. My grandfather was a carpenter. The only soldering iron I had access to was the one he used for soldering rain gutters, etc. The head was about 1" in diameter. Finally flipped the switch and nothing happened. Took it to several Elmers who couldn't figure it out. Finally took it to a friend of my uncles who was a Westinghouse engineer. In about 20 minutes he figured out screws for ceramic antenna spacers were too long and were touching each other causing a short.

[1903A3shooter]

I had one also as a kid 60 years ago. Got the set of coils but spent most of my time on 80 Mtrs. I got shocked many times also. I gave it away to a sick child when I was still young. I spent many hours reading the mail and hopeing for my Ham ticket. W4GSM

[19FD89]

It looks like it came out of a battle ship.

[JeffLeites]

I got one of those in 1960. I think it was $16.95 for the basic radio, a little more for the cabinet, and a couple bucks for the full coil kit. I still have mine in my garage. Being an AC/DC design, I got a lot of shocks from it until my neighbor marked the plug and the A/C socket plate with nail polish to indicate the "safe" way to plug it in. I noticed your band set dial is off a little. The top pointer should pointer should point to 0 at max. CCW and 100 and max CW.

[retrochad]

I wonder if maybe the power line hookup was wrong on yours that you got shocked on it...on mine the power line does not connect directly to the chassis but there is an isolation capacitor/resistor network between the circuit/power line ground and the chassis.

[JeffLeites]

I'll have to check, but that .05 cap and 270k resistor go right from one side of the ac line to the chassis. The cap should block the ac, but maybe enough voltage gets through the resistor to make it unpleasant. Back then neither the plug or socket were polarized, so there was a 50/50 chance of the chassis being a little hot.

[topwebguy]

Thanks for the memories! I constructed an Ocean Hopper kit circa 1961 when I was 12. I had a lot of fun with it during those Cold War years when international news was hard to find on television, and Radio Moscow seemed terribly ominous. Unfortunately, I think my mother binned the radio and lots of my other electronic treasures when I moved away to attend university.

[rv6amark]

Wow, really great. I have one of these in a box somewhere along with the assembly manual and schematics.  It was my first radio back in 1961 or so. I can't remember the price, but it was less than $20. That was all I could afford. I had the same problem with the coil not making contact. As a poor kid growing up in rural America, I spent a lot of time using it to explore the world. I think I will dig mine up and refurbish it. Thank you so much for posting this.

[CoolDudeClem]

What a fantastic old radio!. I guess it only can receive AM right? But it sounds great for AM, almost as good as FM!

[EdWatts]

Watch the regeneration control; when it squeals, you're transmitting a signal through the antenna which could interfere with neighbors -- some miles away -- trying to listen on the same frequency. Greatest gain occurs just before oscillation, but greatest neighborliness occurs quite a bit sooner. :-)

[Runrad70]

What a nice radio. I wish I owned a ocean Hopper.

I love regennies, and I love building them too. In fact, I have a homebrewed one my bench here right now. it has two tubes, EF183 and EF184 and running with only 24 Volts on the plates. I may upload a sound or video recording of it up on YT later. Unfornately I have no video camera yet, so we'll see.

[retrochad]

Thanks for your comments! I had been thinking too that this same regenerative circuit could run with a battery power supply too, especially if only earphones are used. I look forward to seeing your radio!

[desertbard]

Regenerative radios -ugh. I am glad it is on your bench. ( :

[retrochad]

It really has good sound quality...just a little more work in tuning in the station. Once set, it's real stable and doesn't drift or anything.

[1944johndeerel]

you do beautiful work chad! i hope im able to fix up a couple of my old radios this spring! and do you know if id be able to hook up my 1948 admiral tv set to a converter box or am i all done after febuarary?

[retrochad]

Thank you! Yes the DTV converter should work fine with your Admiral TV. Look forward to seeing your restored radios.

[1944johndeerel]

cool thanks ill upload vids as soon as i get around to fixing them all!

[Maxxarcade]

That is in interesting and very simple radio! I'd like to see how it sounds on a good enclosed speaker some time.

Are those Panasonic polypropylene caps?  They look familiar.

[retrochad]

Thanks! I think those caps are Nichicon brand that I got from Mouser. It really seems to have a good clean sound with good high frequency response. I'll see if I can get it to where I can tune in a music station and try it on a better speaker system.

[Trance88]

Is this an AM radio? Pretty neat!

[retrochad]

Yes it is...AM broadcast, longwave and shortwave. The frequency range can be changed by plugging in different tuning coils.