The Hallicrafters S-20R Sky Champion

On the subject of being reunited with a special radio, I found this story in the Illinois newspaper, the Quincy-Herald Whig:

For David Nagel of Quincy, it was Father’s Day in August.

The 81-year-old Nagel received an unexpected gift Wednesday night from his son, John, who lives in Texas.

David Nagel had just finished hearing — and taking part in — a discussion about a Hallicrafters S-20R receiver at a meeting of the Western Illinois Amateur Radio Club, a model that had first piqued his interest more than 60 years ago. At the end of the meeting, Nagel was presented with the genuine article — a Hallicrafters S-20R that his son had restored and shipped to Quincy to surprise his dad.

[…]David Nagel said he never thought he would ever own one of the Hallicrafters S-20R receivers again after letting his original model go in the mid-1960s.

[…]Over the past five years or so, John Nagel said, he had heard his father talk about his old radio, the Hallicrafters S-20R receiver and how he wished that he had not traded it in those many years ago.

“I had a great time with that receiver when I was young,” David Nagel said. “It kept me off the streets at night.”

Last year was when John Nagel got serious about trying and find his dad a replacement.

“After beginning to buy and build my own radio setup, last May I found an S20-R receiver listed on eBay,” he said. “I decided to buy the radio and make it a gift to my father. I purchased the radio, had it shipped to a guy in Michigan who restores them. The restoration included the cabinet as well as the inside electronics.”

Read the full article at the Quincy Herald Whig.