The Founding Editor
Les Locklear of Gulfport, Mississippi is one of the foundational figures of the modern R-390A community. As the original editor of the Hollow State Newsletter, he shepherded the publication through approximately 50 issues over seven years — an extraordinary run for a niche technical newsletter serving the military receiver collecting community.
After decades of service, Les turned over the editorial reins to Barry Hauser, who continued with Issues 51 through 53 and eventually digitized the entire archive. But it was Les’s years of sustained editorial work that built HSN into a publication worth preserving.
The Definitive R-390A Historian
Les authored the landmark “R-390A/URR Order Number List” series of articles, originally published in Electric Radio magazine and reprinted in the Hollow State Newsletter. This painstaking research — conducted in collaboration with Tom Marcotte N5OFF and Wally Chambers K5OP — definitively documented the production history of the R-390A: which companies built them, when they were manufactured, how many were produced under each contract, and how to identify them by order number.
His research uncovered critical details that no one else had assembled: the story of the St. Juliens Creek Annex surplus pile (over 1,000 R-390A receivers stacked outdoors in Portsmouth, Virginia), the Fowler Industries serial number anomalies, the Fort Monmouth nomenclature tag replacement program (approximately 6,500 tags manufactured), and the Desert Storm readiness order that sent 300 receivers through McClellan A.F.B.
“I just assemble the information, check it out and put it on paper. Without you it wouldn’t have been possible.” — Les Locklear, acknowledging his collaborators in the Order Number List series
Still Going Strong
What makes Les truly remarkable is his longevity in the community. He remains active on the R-390 mailing list well into 2025, still dispensing practical advice on PTO troubleshooting, receiver identification, and historical questions. When someone posts about a Fowler R-390A serial number 1 appearing at an estate sale, Les is there to identify its provenance. When someone needs help with a balky PTO, Les suggests opening it up and checking the temperature-compensating capacitor solder joints — the voice of experience from decades of hands-on work.
Key Contributions
- Founding editor of the Hollow State Newsletter (~50 issues over 7 years)
- “R-390A/URR Order Number List” series — definitive production history
- Documented St. Juliens Creek surplus sale, Fowler anomalies, Fort Monmouth tag program
- Collaborated with Tom Marcotte N5OFF and Wally Chambers K5OP on production research
- SP-600 suffix number documentation published in HSN
- Active R-390 reflector contributor from the 1990s through 2025
- Frequent contributor to Electric Radio magazine
Boatanchor Legends Tribute Series • vk6ada.com.au
Mike Peace VK6ADA / r-390a.net Administrator
Compiled March 2026 from the Hollow State Newsletter, R-390 Reflector Archives, and r-390a.net FAQ