The R-390 radio receiver is a highly respected military communications receiver developed in the early 1950s for the U.S. armed forces. Built primarily by Collins Radio Company and several other contractors, it became famous for its exceptional sensitivity, stability, and rugged construction. Designed during the early Cold War, the R-390 was widely used for intelligence, intercept, and long-range communications monitoring.
Station HYPO 
21 March 2026 at 09:35
I’ve got many miles spinnin and grinnin on R-390’s.
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21 March 2026 at 10:05
Spent many hours in ‘the jungle’ spinning those dials.
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21 March 2026 at 10:08
Repaired and PM’d many R-390’s as a CTM, boy were they heavy! Sent a working one to the Cryptologic Museum at NSA from Sugar Grove ~ five years ago. Chuck K
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21 March 2026 at 11:00
O still have one sitting on the bench in my shack! One of these days, maybe, I’ll get around to fixing it.
KZ5BCN
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21 March 2026 at 12:33
Excellent receiver, used it 3 year’s in Homestead Fla. Site Seminole back in the 70’s. Very dependable, never broke down. Now the TT637 Teletyype? Whole different story. Those didn’t work well when fast code was coming in. Glad we had the reel to reel to record and then we would have to go back and copy over where we left off when the teletype jammed up.
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21 March 2026 at 23:21
Memories aren’t crystal, but pretty certain it was an R-390 we had in the EW shack, right off CIC, on the USS Hancock CVA-19. On a good night in the Gulf of Tonkin you could pick up stations from all over, including the States. As I recall it had multiple (9) bands and it was always fun to spin the dial and try to tune in on the outside world. There were only a handful of us EWs on board the ship standing 8 on and 8 off duty the entire time we were at sea.
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22 March 2026 at 10:30
Great receiver. As a CTR from 1967 to 1970 I logged many hours on it..
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22 March 2026 at 18:39
My friend for a year …
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30 March 2026 at 14:34
Do you have any details on the PRC-1 as far as who designed it, where it was made, how many were made, and how many are known to exist today?
Brian Roberts
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30 March 2026 at 15:08
When I was in the ADAK Mat Shop, i aligned some many I couldn’t keep count. In a wearhouse on base were racks of SP-600 (Super Pro) by Hammerland . One Chief RM told me they were better than the R-390’s, later came the R-390A’s with mechanical filters….and the beat goes on……..
Anonymous CTM
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