{"id":63931,"date":"2025-09-14T07:10:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T11:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=63931"},"modified":"2025-09-14T07:10:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T11:10:38","slug":"bobs-radio-corner-uncle-clayton-and-his-national-nc-188","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/bobs-radio-corner-uncle-clayton-and-his-national-nc-188\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob’s Radio Corner: Uncle Clayton and His National NC-188"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

National NC-188<\/p><\/div>\n

As recalled by Bob Colegrove<\/strong><\/p>\n

Uncle Clayton was my very first SWLing buddy.\u00a0 In the late \u201850s there was no Internet \u2013 very few ways for SWLs to interact with one another.\u00a0 There were clubs that published mimeograph bulletins every month or so.\u00a0 These were mailed to SWLs across the country and around the world.\u00a0 To come across a fellow SWL in your own town was rare.\u00a0 As chance would have it, Uncle Clayton and I quite independently discovered our interest in SWLing about the same time, and then only after knowing one another for several years.<\/p>\n

Uncle Clayton was not my real uncle.\u00a0 He and his wife, Evelyn, were dear friends of my mother and father.\u00a0 You see, there was a social decorum at that time which frowned upon members of the younger generation from referring to members of an older generation by their first name.\u00a0 At the same time, \u201cMr. Smith\u201d and \u201cMrs. Smith\u201d (not their real surname) were regarded as unnecessarily formal; so, for this situation \u201cUncle Clayton\u201d and \u201cAunt Evelyn\u201d became the accepted form of address.<\/p>\n

My story begins with television, not radio.\u00a0 By mid-1950 both the Smiths and the Colegroves had acquired their first black and white TV \u201csets,\u201d theirs a 12-inch RCA and ours a 12-inch Arvin.\u00a0 Each of these occupied 8 to 12 cubic feet of space and required two well-fit individuals to move them.\u00a0 Ironically, they were termed \u201cportable\u201d in that they required a low table or stand for proper positioning.\u00a0 This contrasted with \u201cconsole\u201d models which incorporated the stand and the TV in a single cabinet.<\/p>\n

One must understand that television at that time was what computers would become a generation later.\u00a0 The nation was on the cusp of a TV frenzy.\u00a0 My dad and Uncle Clayton jumped into it with both feet.\u00a0 They couldn\u2019t let the darn things alone.\u00a0 Antennas were the most obvious source of tinkering.\u00a0 \u201cRabbit ears\u201d were the customary solution but adjusting them was a skill rivaling that of playing a cello.\u00a0 Later, attic designs were fabricated for the new channel in Bloomington, Indiana.<\/p>\n

Vaccum tubes, both necessarily and unnecessarily, became questionable components, and Uncle Clayton and my dad developed well-stocked arsenals of spares.\u00a0 In retrospect the pair were, well\u2026a couple of hacks, and I say that lovingly.\u00a0 Picture two large, middle-aged men behind the RCA with the back cover off alternately trying to get a 9-pin peanut tube aligned and reinserted into its socket in the very front of the chassis \u2013 all this while trying to avoid the high-voltage discharge from the picture tube.\u00a0 I still recall the looks of frustration and muffled puffs of blue air.\u00a0 After some time, Aunt Evelyn appeared, looked over the dilemma, grabbed the tube, and jabbed it into the socket on the first try.<\/p>\n

SWLing came along several years later.\u00a0 I discovered it in the fall of 1958 while idly tinkering with the Howard Radio Co. Model 308 radio-phonograph console, which by that time had been relegated to the basement.\u00a0 After moving it to my room and stringing up a long wire I was forever captivated.\u00a0 The single SW band covered 5.5 MHz through 18 MHz across a dial a mere four inches long.\u00a0 I milked that old radio relentlessly finally coming up with about 20 or 30 SW broadcast stations, all in English.<\/p>\n

I have no recollection of how Uncle Clayton and I discovered we were going down the same path.\u00a0 He had already purchased his National NC-188 with a matching speaker and set up his shack in an unused upstairs bedroom.\u00a0 How I envied him.\u00a0 His NC-188 was everything I envisioned in a SW radio. I was still earning my way towards purchasing a Hallicrafters S-38E.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

National NTS-1 Speaker for the NC-188 and NC-109.
Better radios had separate external speakers, the claim being that there was insufficient space in such feature-packed units<\/p><\/div>\n

Uncle Clayton\u2019s NC-188 was my first encounter with a bandspread<\/i> \u2013 a term which has virtually gone out of existence.\u00a0 I immediately knew what it did, but it would take me a while to understand just how it worked.\u00a0 On my old Howard console, the dial pointer travelling less than a 16th inch could cover 100 kHz or more, conceivably containing 10 or 20 stations.\u00a0 Furthermore, this range was traversed by a nearly imperceptible rotation of a small knob.\u00a0 Conversely, the NC-188 might cover the same tuning range over a space two inches long and require four full rotations of a 2-in diameter knob.\u00a0 That was an incredible mechanical advantage.<\/p>\n

For SWLs, there was a restriction on the use of the bandspread.\u00a0 Most receivers had scales neatly calibrated for the 10-, 15-,20-, 40-, and 80-meter ham bands.\u00a0 This provided reasonable frequency readout \u2013 not the precision we have with today\u2019s digital radios, but close enough.\u00a0 For international broadcast bands, the listener had to rely on a 0 to 100 linear logging scale which bore no relation to frequency.\u00a0 This required the listener to generate several lists or graphs translating log readings to frequency.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The NC-188 and -109 had 4.5\u201d bandspreads, not as long as some, but the 2\u201d knob required 9 full rotations to traverse end-to-end.<\/p><\/div>\n

Everything I have described so far depended on the position of the main tuning dial.\u00a0 The bandspread operated electronically in parallel with the main tuning.\u00a0 In short, the main tuning dial had to be positioned precisely at the high end of the tuned band for the bandspread to produce the same results.\u00a0 Within these restrictions, a bandspread was still a marvelous device.<\/p>\n

Uncle Clayton and I were still in our formative SWLing period when our family would visit him and Aunt Evelyn.\u00a0 I remember him patiently tuning across portions of the SW spectrum oblivious of the international band boundaries slowly rotating the main tuning dial and stopping at points that interested him.\u00a0 When my turn at the helm came, I would often seek out the General Overseas Service of the BBC and listen to the football scores or Victor Sylvester and his Ballroom Orchestra.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Victor Silvester conducting his Ballroom Orchestra in 1938. His orchestra was still a fixture on the BBC in the \u201850s and \u201860s. Source:\u00a0 Victor Silvester and His Orchestra \u2013 You’re Dancing on My Heart<\/p><\/div>\n

Neither Uncle Clayton nor I set the bar very high in terms of DXing prowess.\u00a0 We had fun and made a lot of interesting discoveries.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that what it\u2019s all about?<\/p>\n

Some years ago, I had the opportunity to buy a fairly clean National NC-109.\u00a0 The -109 is an upscale version of the -188.\u00a0 It has a crystal filter, an early SSB product detector and a voltage regulator.\u00a0 Otherwise, the two radios are virtually identical.\u00a0 I did all the usual things, cleaned it up, performed an alignment, and restrung the main tuning and bandspread dial cords.\u00a0 Later I found a matching speaker.\u00a0 When I was finished, I had what I regard as a museum-quality radio.\u00a0 It occupies a prominent corner of the shack, but I don\u2019t operate it that much.\u00a0 Sometimes I just sit in front of it, spin the dials and remember Uncle Clayton and how it all started.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

National NC-109<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As recalled by Bob Colegrove Uncle Clayton was my very first SWLing buddy.\u00a0 In the late \u201850s there was no Internet \u2013 very few ways for SWLs to interact with one another.\u00a0 There were clubs that published mimeograph bulletins every month or so.\u00a0 These were mailed to SWLs across the country and around the world.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,305,7566,4796],"tags":[7988,10732,10907,1302],"class_list":["post-63931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-nostalgia","category-radio-memories","category-vintage-radio","tag-bob-colegrove","tag-bobs-radio-corner","tag-national-nc-188","tag-radio-nostalgia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-gD9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61740,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/the-curious-case-of-the-nibi-nibi-islands\/","url_meta":{"origin":63931,"position":0},"title":"Bob’s Radio Corner: The Curious Case of the Nibi-Nibi Islands","author":"Thomas","date":"January 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Bob Colegrove, who writes: Hi Thomas, No mention of UTC or frequency in the attached. Made my day, but some folks apparently were not amused. Source was \"Short-Wave Report\" by Hank Bennett, Popular Electronics, Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., New York, p. 86, March 1959. Regards,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Funny"","block_context":{"text":"Funny","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/funny\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Globe-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Globe-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Globe-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Globe-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Globe-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49864,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/bob-colegrove-on-the-joys-and-challenges-of-tuning-analog-radios\/","url_meta":{"origin":63931,"position":1},"title":"Bob Colegrove on “The Joys and Challenges of Tuning Analog Radios”","author":"Thomas","date":"August 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who recently shared this excellent article and has kindly allowed me to share it here in the the Post. Bob prefaced it by saying, \"Being a retired technical writer, I started the attached article some time ago for my own amusement, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Bob-Colegrove-Book-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Bob-Colegrove-Book-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Bob-Colegrove-Book-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Bob-Colegrove-Book-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":64316,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/bobs-radio-corner-shortwave-multiplex\/","url_meta":{"origin":63931,"position":2},"title":"Bob’s Radio Corner: Shortwave Multiplex?","author":"Thomas","date":"October 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Reported by Bob Colegrove Incurable DXers are always looking for new challenges.\u00a0 So it was, I recently did some scanning between 42 and 45 meters (~6600 to 7000 kHz).\u00a0 Trenton Military on 6754 kHz and the MARS net on 6913 kHz are regulars here, as are a selection of pirates\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61368,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/bobs-1968-radio-tirana-qsl-card\/","url_meta":{"origin":63931,"position":3},"title":"Bob’s 1968 Radio Tirana QSL Card","author":"Thomas","date":"December 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Bob Colegrove, who writes: Kudos to Don Moore for his excellently crafted article on Albanian radio. [...]Perhaps some might be interested to see a 1968 QSL from R. Tirana. Regards, Bob Colegrove Thank you for sharing this excellent Radio Tirana QSL card, Bob!","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/R-Tirana-Inside.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/R-Tirana-Inside.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/R-Tirana-Inside.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/R-Tirana-Inside.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/R-Tirana-Inside.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39419,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/guest-post-the-national-association-of-armchair-adventurers-naaa\/","url_meta":{"origin":63931,"position":4},"title":"Guest Post: The National Association of Armchair Adventurers (NAAA)","author":"Thomas","date":"September 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who shares the following guest post: National Association of Armchair Adventurers (NAAA) as recalled by Bob Colegrove Those of you who were into SWLing in the late \u201850s or early \u201860s may remember the NAAA.\u00a0 It was an engaging promotional effort by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Radio-Dial-1024x679.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Radio-Dial-1024x679.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Radio-Dial-1024x679.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":64459,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/bobs-radio-corner-its-dx-season\/","url_meta":{"origin":63931,"position":5},"title":"Bob’s Radio Corner: It\u2019s DX Season","author":"Thomas","date":"November 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Noted by Bob Colegrove In the Northern Hemisphere the nights continue to get longer as we approach the winter solstice; we gain an hour of early evening darkness on Sunday, November 2nd; the summer atmospheric disturbances are nearly gone; propagation is better.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to set aside the activities of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DX"","block_context":{"text":"DX","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/dx\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Fig-2.-Oswald.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63931"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63938,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63931\/revisions\/63938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}