The Boatanchor Legends series honors the individuals who built, preserved, and shared the technical knowledge that keeps the R-390A and its sister receivers alive. From the editors of the Y2K Manual to the archivists who saved disappearing documentation, from the modification engineers who improved Collins’ original designs to the reflector contributors who answered thousands of questions — these are the people who made the community what it is.
38 Legends & Counting
A – D
Principal editor of the 21st Century R-390A/URR Technical Reference (Y2K Manual). Led the multi-year effort to correct, annotate, and expand the R-390A’s official documentation into the community’s definitive reference. Kennesaw, Georgia.
Y2K Manual co-editor and one of the most prolific R-390 reflector contributors. Hosted the manual on hausernet.com, identified critical errors in the R-390 Cookbook, and brought wit and technical depth to the mailing list for years. New York.
Canadian R-390A community contributor. Active participant in the technical discourse surrounding vintage military receiver restoration and operation.
Over 20 years on the R-390 reflector from Gulfport, Mississippi. Championed the R-390 non-A as superior to the R-390A — a minority position defended with decades of hands-on experience. February 2026 retirement post marked the end of an era.
The foremost R-390A restoration authority. Created r390a.com, featured in Floyd Soo’s landmark 7-hour video series, and set the standard for what a properly restored R-390A should look and perform like. Virginia.
Fort Monmouth nomenclature tag replacement program researcher (~6,500 tags documented). Documented the R-725/URR Tropicon variant in Electric Radio magazine, January 2006.
International contributor to the R-390A community, bringing a European perspective to the preservation and technical understanding of Collins military receivers.
R-390A community contributor whose technical knowledge and practical restoration experience enriched the community’s collective understanding of the receiver.
Author of the landmark “R-390/R-390A AGC — Ending The Moment Of Silence” document hosted on r-390a.net, which dissects and solves a fundamental design flaw in the AGC speed switching circuit. Also designed ballast tube (3TF7) solid-state replacement prototypes, contributed PTO alignment tooling adopted by Larry Haney, and provided two decades of rigorous circuit analysis on the reflector. Y2K Manual contributor.
R-390 non-A specialist and trusted restorer from South Carolina. Recommended by Les Locklear for non-A repair work — one of a small circle with deep expertise in the mechanically complex original receiver.
Manager of the R-390 mailing list at qth.net — the primary online forum where the community’s restoration knowledge was debated, shared, and preserved. Created and maintained r-389.com for the rare Collins R-389/URR VLF receiver, hosting the original 1953 Collins Final Engineering Report. Also active on the Racal and Boatanchors mailing lists.
Author of the definitive R-390A AGC modification article and numerous technical papers on receiver performance optimization. His analytical approach to the R-390A’s IF and AGC systems set the standard for engineering-quality modification documentation.
Designed the AC current regulator circuit for the 3TF7 ballast tube replacement — a properly engineered solid-state alternative to one of the R-390A’s most persistent maintenance headaches. Y2K Manual contributor.
Stanford-trained audio DSP pioneer and Y2K Manual contributor. Brought academic-level signal processing expertise to the R-390A community’s understanding of receiver performance and modification design.
Created the Y2K Manual’s front panel technical illustration and the digital figures for David Wise’s AGC modification article in Chapter 11. Precise technical illustration that makes the manual a practical bench reference.
E – M
Steward of the Boat Anchor Manual Archive (bama.edebris.com) — the internet’s most comprehensive free archive of vintage electronics documentation. Over 20 years maintaining hundreds of manufacturer directories covering amateur radio, military, and test equipment manuals.
Publisher and editor of Electric Radio magazine — the primary print venue for serious boatanchor technical articles through the 1990s and 2000s. Provided a professionally edited, permanent publication platform for R-390A modification and restoration knowledge.
Produced the landmark R-390A restoration video series through HI-RES Communications — 4 VHS tapes, 7 hours, featuring Chuck Rippel. Pioneered video documentation of boatanchor restoration. Also Collins 75A-4, KWM-2, and S-Line video sets.
Canadian R-390A enthusiast and community contributor. Active in the preservation and technical documentation of Collins military receivers from British Columbia.
Eyewitness to the St. Juliens Creek Annex surplus pile — over 1,000 R-390A receivers stacked 50 feet square and 6 feet high. Operated The Radio Works, Portsmouth, Virginia. One of the few firsthand accounts of large-scale military R-390A disposal.
Current r-390a.net administrator who took over from Al Tirevold. Manages the Pearls of Wisdom archive, maintains the Newbie Support Info document, authored detailed PTO observation articles for both Collins and Cosmos units, and at 84 years old remains one of the most active and patient voices on the R-390 reflector.
Founding editor of the Hollow State Newsletter (~50 issues over seven years) and author of the landmark “R-390A/URR Order Number List” series published in Electric Radio and reprinted in HSN. His meticulous research with Tom Marcotte N5OFF and Wally Chambers K5OP created the definitive production history of the R-390A. Documented the St. Juliens Creek surplus sale, Fowler anomalies, and Fort Monmouth tag program. Still active on the reflector from Gulfport, Mississippi.
Creator and maintainer of navy-radio.com — one of the most comprehensive online archives of U.S. Navy radio communications equipment. Hosts the complete Hollow State Newsletter archive and undertook the massive 2024 project of converting and indexing over 1,000 R-390A Signal Corps engineering drawings from Fort Monmouth. Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
N – R
Credited contributor to the Y2K Manual Release 3 (July 2009). Provided practical R-390A restoration expertise that informed the expanded optimization and parts chapters of the community’s definitive reference document.
Author of “La Famiglia 390” — the only comprehensive treatment of the entire R-390 receiver family (R-389, R-390, R-390A, R-391, R-392). Comparative block diagrams, tube lists, and a 10-page English bibliography. Italy.
Author and editor of Y2K Manual Release 3 — the most ambitious expansion of the community’s standard reference. Assembled Chapter 11 (Upgrades, Mods, Parts Info) and coordinated contributions from across the community.
R-390A community contributor whose technical knowledge and hands-on restoration experience added to the collective expertise shared through the R-390 reflector and related forums.
Created the R-390A “Spotter’s Guide” — a systematic visual identification reference for manufacturer variants. Built on Tom Marcotte’s production data to enable reliable long-distance purchasing by manufacturer and production period.
Documented a complete step-by-step R-390A gear train disassembly and cleaning procedure, making the receiver’s most mechanically intimidating maintenance task accessible to hobbyist restorers for the first time.
Credited contributor to the Y2K Manual. Provided R-390A technical expertise that informed the community’s definitive reference document across its multiple releases.
NIST engineer who brought professional-grade discipline to the R-390 community. His restoration guidelines for the R-390 (non-A) at r-390.com remain a foundational reference — covering forced-air cooling for the 6082 section, B+ regulation warnings, and cathode resistor replacement. Collaborated with José Gavilá on PTO linearization research. Identified critical errors in the R-390 Cookbook. Over 25 years of active reflector contributions. Western Massachusetts.
S – Z
One of the few contributors credited in both Release 2 and Release 3 of the Y2K Manual (dual-listed in R3). Active R-390 reflector participant with sustained technical engagement spanning nearly a decade of the manual project.
Yale-educated engineer maintaining R390A.com with performance analysis, overhaul guides, and a 630-meter tuning reference. 20+ years developing high-power magnetic loop antennas. Licensed since 1959. Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
R-390A production historian who spent years amassing contract numbers, manufacturers, quantities, and serial ranges for the entire R-390 family. Co-researcher with Les Locklear on the Order Number List series. In 1998, obtained over 1,000 Signal Corps engineering drawings from Fort Monmouth on CD — an act of preservation that saved irreplaceable manufacturing documentation. Also obtained the MIL-R-13947B specification with Al Tirevold and produced replacement nameplates for tag-swapped receivers.
Credited contributor to Y2K Manual Release 3. Provided hands-on R-390A expertise that informed the expanded optimization and modification chapters of the community’s standard reference.
Co-researcher with Les Locklear and Tom Marcotte on the R-390A Order Number List series. Essential collaborator in documenting the production history of the R-390A across all manufacturers and contract periods.
Compiler and maintainer of the “Pearls of Wisdom” on r-390a.net — 30 categorized, searchable files distilled from years of R-390 reflector posts. The intermediate preservation step that kept community knowledge accessible and organized. Recently retired from the role; a successor is needed.