The Demise of Henry Radio is Greatly Exaggerated! (Bob WB6SLC says)

THE DEMISE OF HENRY RADIO RUMORS ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED!

So said Mark Twain some years ago and today I am here to dispel the rumors of Henry Radio closing down too

By Robert L. “Bob” Burchett the new pin-compatible replacement for Ted Henry (or so I think anyway)

After 50+ years working with 40+ years of it in the family business as Henry Radio, Inc. Ted Henry has retired (over my protests I want you to know) and is now happily living in Colorado but still maintaining his eBay store distributing parts, Tohtsu relays and Bird RF products; you just can’t get it out of the DNA eh? The good news is that after years of working with him we made a deal and I have taken up the reins of the amplifier business to ensure continuity of the product line what with TPL folding up there are few left in this US industry base that all started here. It is nice to say “Made in the USA” and we intend to keep it going and improving the product line started by Ted and his dad with tube type amps, plasma & sintering RF sources and even 5K & 8K transmitters; many still in full-time service.

Early on Ted worked with my long-time friend Gene Proctor W6TFS who used to bag the “floor sweepings” as he called them out of the TRW transistor labs located nearby to make amplifiers for us hams starting in the 1980’s. Gene lived near my house and I was a frequent visitor. I even bought all of his equipment when he retired which is now in our Novexcomm machine shop making radio rack mounts and more. Gene engineered most of the current amplifier designs still in use to this day. Every ham in town seemed to have a hand in the company; Jay Procenko NY6L worked for Ted for years and helped rework the designs to improve stability resulting in a very reliable product line Ted continued to make until the end of September when he closed the doors on the building at Olympic and Bundy in Los Angeles. Jay has agreed to come over and help us from time to time, it seems once your heart is in it there is no leaving it behind.

The torch passes: Bob WB6SLC saying goodbye to Ted Henry W6YEY in the offices of Henry Radio in Los Angeles




Last month we moved the company lock, stock and barrel to our offices in Torrance, CA and with the help of 2 of the long-time Henry Radio employees who came with us to assemble, test and repair the solid-state amplifiers we were drowned in orders the day it opened up for business. Scott Burchett; KD8PIQ, my nephew brought his boys; Sam and Victor into the business while the ladies run the front office. Jeff W6JK is working on improving the incoming QC management with the help of a Tektronix 576 curve tracer on loan from Bob Shaw WB6RHF. Mike Morris WA6ILQ, Ken Mixon KC6WOK and Matt Lechliter W6XC are a part of both the amplifier and UHF network departments. Everyone is a ham here!

Speaking of the radio network; with the acquisition of Henry Radio also came a UHF trunked repeater network comprised of 9 sites and 60+ channels that all use the Henry amplifiers so I often tell people I am my own best customer and we aren’t the largest one either. There are even bigger systems out there with more than 100 sites all built of the same amplifiers in use now for 15+ years and we keep fixing them when needed so when Ted asked if I wanted to keep that part of the business going “NO” was not an option.

Sales to hams comprise about 40% of the operation so we wanted everyone to know it is alive and well so please spread the word. BTW there is a guy who used to work for Ted; Dennis Pickering that still works on the tube type amps so if you have one here is his phone number: 770.808.8236 & email of Dennkd@Outlook.com since we are focused only on the current production solid-state units. If you need an amp retuned/ repaired just go to our website and download a form at the top, print it, pack it up & ship it to us and we will get it turned around, often in the same day it arrives.

Here is the photo from the Henry Radio website that hasn’t changed much but will soon with new products:




While the old telephone number still works since we have a voicemail terminal where you can route a call to the amplifier division there plus we have a new website, email address and direct telephone number for publication. Please let everyone know the product line is available and we will be showing some off at the W6TRW Radio Swap Meet November 26 where I bought a couple of spaces to have some bargain amplifiers there for immediate sale on 6m, 2m, 220 and 440 MHz. We will be improving the product line from time to time and will be reporting here and on the website with new features and products coming along next year as we return to the roots of Henry amplifiers with some HF band products. The earlier bipolar transistors are getting harder to find good ones (just like scarce tubes are) and modern MOSFETS, gain-blocks and LDMOS are really the future of land mobile radio (LMR) and ham radio too as all are 12-volt operation. There ARE some 12-volt LDMOS transistors out there but for really high-powered HF we will have the better 50-volt variety set up for base station operation since those will ultimately replace the AC powered tube type amps.

If you are in the neighborhood please call and stop by for a visit; we are spread out over 3 properties as we haphazardly expand and with a new building under construction which will be ready next year the machine shop will be able to stretch out a little. The museum(s) are open to show off; you can see the revamped K6SLC Mobile Vintage Museum coach at this link and the larger museum in the shop/ garage here to make it worth your while to visit. Glad to be back with all of YOU!

73 from;



Robert L. “Bob” Burchett WB6SLC

Henry Radio Amplifiers

22826 Mariposa Ave. Torrance CA 90502 Direct phone: 310.534.4456

Bob@HenryRadioAmplifiers.com www.HenryRadioAmplifiers.com

 

Thanks for the update/ and best of luck sounds like you're off to a good start.

I have used a lot of Henry products over the years for both Land mobile and Amateur radio.

73 from,
The K0UO " Rhombic Antenna Farm" 2 miles of wire in the Air & On the AIR daily

 

One of the great names in ham radio synonymous with excellence for decades. Good Luck

 

I don't think valves aka tubes are likely to be retired permanently from amateur-radio any time soon. I've just last week stocked up on NOS valves for a homebrew, 10W 'Top-Band', 160m AM transmitter that is a 1964 'Shortwave Magazine' design. And I have a 2 x 813 legal-limit HF amp project on the shelf.

amateur (n.)
The origin of 'amateur' is: "one who cultivates and participates (in something) but does not pursue it professionally or with an eye to gain" (as opposed to professional), and is from 1786; - from French amateur "one who loves, lover" (16c., restored from Old French ameour), from Latin amatorem (nominative amator) "lover, friend," agent noun from amatus, past participle of amare "to love"! https://www.etymonline.com/word/amateur

I love valves/tubes. And in the audiophile or musician amplifier spheres, valves/tubes are at a peak of popularity. My musicians' amp is MOSFET solid state though.
All things in considered good measure.
Radio is winning at the moment.

 

Great! So, when are you going to start building tube amps again? Someone has to compete against Alpha and Mighty Fine Junk AKA Ameritron.

 

I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with Ted a few years ago... he took one of his 100w UHF amps and modified it for one of my customer's special needs. Great to deal with, got the amp going for us, and my customer is happy. They still use it heavily, every single day (it runs an irrigation system), no issues whatsoever. I wish Ted a long and happy retirement.

 

Hi all,

My fondest memory of my "misspent" youth is riding my bicycle to Henry Radio on Olympic Boulevard (under the freeway) to covet the ham radio gear there. Cy, the counter man, and Ted Sr. seemed to tolerate me and allowed me to listen on the demo equipment. I couldn't transmit with my Novice license. There, I fell in love with the Henry 2K amplifier. It would be over 50 years before I would actually own one. Check out my QRZ.com page!

Henry Radio is my fondest ham radio memory. I hope they continue into the future as long as I can! I've spoken to Ted Jr. a time or two on the phone and he is as helpful as I remember from the old days!!!
--
73,
Jim W7EED

 

My Grandmother lived in Butler, MO and as a kid I would stay with her a few weeks in the summer. Part of my daily rounds took me past the Henry Radio store just off the square. Sometimes I just looked in the window and sometimes I went inside. Even though they new I couldn't buy any of it they were kind enough to indulge my questions. A very fine memory for a ham of 30+ years.

 

So glad Henry Radio is keeping its name alive and well!

I particularly love the old Henry tube amps, and currently own (and use!) three of them: a 3K Classic-8877, and a 3K-A (both console models), and a 2-KD Classic desktop. One of the best designed, built-to-last amplifiers ever made!

Thanks for posting-up the information!

~Alan
W0ARM

 

I bought my first 6 meter rig at Henry in LA. A Mizuho MX-6Z complete with 7-watt amplifier
when I was WI6I. Now K5RIX and still love 6. Best forever to y'all! Ric K5RIX

 

I also have great memories of Henry Radio on Olympic Boulevard in West LA. I lived just a few blocks away. I would drop bye as often as I had a few dollars to spend and buy something I could barely afford. In addition to everything I could think of in Ham Radio, they had the top of the line in HI FI audio. They were the only location with B&W loudspeakers. I still have my Henry Radio 3KD Premier amplifier, all of my Sheffield Lab vinyl records and my B&W 801 speakers. I have not been back to LA in years so I don't know if their store on South Bundy Drive is still open.

 

I look forward to the day you roll off the first LDMOS HF amp. I run a Mercury IIIS and fell in love with the LSMOS devices. Our C4FM network here in Michigan employs 100% Henry amplifiers and have had very good luck with them generally. We are about dur to order a couple more. Are you set up to produce yet? 73, es good luck with the move/expansion.

 

I do wish that you would resume the production of the tube amplifiers that you are so renowned for. I have a vintage 4K-2 circa 1964. Still works, but meters are a problem.
Thanks
WB4AYA

 

I still have my Viking Ranger III I bought from Henry Radio many years ago when I was in high school.

 

1958. I was 12 years old and a newly minted Novice in need of something to get me on the air. My dad and I (mostly my dad but I learned a lot "helping") built a Heath AR-3 receiver and QX-1 Q multiplier. Still needed a transmitter, some crystals, a key and a Dow T/R relay. About to order the transmitter from Heath and crystals from International when a neighboring ham mentioned that Henry Radio clear across town in West Los Angeles had a used DX-20 transmitter for sale and it came with some crystals and a J-38 key. He was pretty sure Henry Radio also had Dow T/R relays in stock as well. So with money I had saved moving lawns my dad and I journeyed to Henry Radio for the first time. They set me up with what I needed as well as a "payment plan" to pay off the cost which went beyond my savings. Soon thereafter I was on the air as WV6CUP working stations on CW in places I had never heard of.

Over the years I lived in LA Henry Radio became my go to place for ham gear. I've always missed that place.