Collins 75A-4 KWS-1 Receiver Transmitter Gold Dust Twins

Those sold for the equivalent of 30 grand when they came out.
I am amazed they sold enough of them for there to be survivors today.

Nice set up

New hams, find one of these receivers and use it for a couple hours and find out what a smooth operating, beautifully sounding ham rig is like.
The CW note on my 75A4 to a Collins speaker was the cleanest, most elegant music you could hear. You do not have to own a Chinese toy to be a ham-- there was an Art Collins era, now sadly passed on.

As a young amateur my dad bought me a Collins 75S-3C receiver. Nicest piece of equipment i ever owned. Amazing ergonomics, and unlike every other company, Collins used variable inductors for tuning, not a variable capacitor. So well made; best electronics USA ever made.

Every knob is spaced nicely, with a shape that make it non-slip in the hand (faceted), and the little depression in the main tuning knob so you can spin it with your index finger.

And the zero-backlash gearing system which uses two gears sandwiched with a spring between them so as to keep it from having any slack. When do you see this kind of mechanical perfection?

Arthur Collins was a genius, and he built a message switching system in 1959 that bankrupted the firm because the Air Force couldn't understand it. This is more than a decade before the internet.

Enjoyed your video.
Best regards
Marcel PD1MM

Ran this rig as KR6MB Okinawa in '64 then packed it up shipped south to Chu Lai RVN in '65...ran as N0EFD Navy MARS..first in RVN...beautiful gear....k4cwn....now W3PDR.

Very good memories here.

QSL, UA3KBD, 1964 - 2019.. 🙉

Sounds amazing through utube even

A Collins....You lucky son of a gun. :)

I have 2 of these sets not sure if they a functional they came from a estate clean out any idea on value and a place to sell other than eBay ?

A very boring video! Why don´t you explain a little bit to the viewers or run a qso with a station? You don´t need to fiddle around with the knobs all the time...

nice set up. Would like to chat at length about the setup

Beautiful

I get more action on my Browning Golden Eagle Mark 3 cb radio. All i have to do is key the mike and everyone shouts back and wants to talk. Ham just seems so lame to me.

Beautiful station. I have a Drake 4 line. Love those old radios

nice trx 73 dr om from france

Thanks for the video. Took me back to my USAF days when I operated this Collins line on military frequencies. Bounced all over the far-east.

It must be the Collins 180S-1 antenna tuner sorry on the late reply

Looking Good.

I'm new to this. I see you tune receiver, then switch to dummy load, test transmitter to the dummy load.... How do you actually run a QSO using separate receiver and transmitter? You show what you receive, yo show your transmit, but there is no connectionn... nobody answered your call. Where did I get lost?

Muy-muy-muy, bueno.¡¡¡¡¡ Enorabuena por conservar una parte de la gran historia de la radioafición. 73. TONI. EA5HYW.

@ndchevy4fun Well, I now own a set of the Gold Dust Twins!! They are just about "installed" in my shack, just need to round up a cable or two. KWS-1 is tested and ready to go, all necessary caps replaced and all reccomended mods done. They are quite beautiful to behold. Also have the 312A-1 and the 302C-1. Maybe we can have a sked sometime!

@ndchevy4fun Well, I now own a set of the Gold Dust Twins!! They are just about "installed" in my shack, just need to round up a cable or two. KWS-1 is tested and ready to go, all necessary caps replaced and all reccomended mods done. They are quite beautiful to behold. Also have the 312A-1 and the 302C-1. Maybe we can have a sked sometime!

Nice video! I have the gold dust twins also. I am not familiar with the equipment on top of the transmitter control head, I've seen it on other GDT setups. Can you tell me what that is? W4TWA

love the 638, thinking about getting one, sometime. nice audio. nice setup too.

@zappatx KB5ZAU de KF0HR AM and tube rigs are lots of fun, also lots of fun work to keep them going. My video on the GDT is kind of long just to show spotting of TX onto the receive . Just close isn't good enough these days of digital read out rigs. You will need to get used to stations telling you that you are a little off freq from them. That is why I show zero beating so the tweety bird just quits HI HI. Unlike newer twins you have to always spot your self. Just part of the classic op

Love your equipment! I'm getting set back up after many years off air here in Sioux Falls. I'd like to to AM. I have a LOT of vintage AM audio equipment for our old AM Broadcast station. One question regarding the Collins rigs, can the transmitter be controlled via the Receivers VFO? I believe my old Drake set-up was that way but I can't recall. - KB5ZAU

@james1787 The Collins 75A-4 and KWS-1 was my first Collins! I had my 32V2 and 75A-1 on AM 75 meters a week ago. Also have 75A-3 paired to Johnson Valiant, 75A2 with Ranger. My fav Collins is the A line with crinkle paint. Get the Collns on the air and enjoy.... Terry KF0HR in North Dakotal

@ndchevy4fun Funny how that happens and things follow you home. I know that all too well. I've only seen them and pictures and thanks to your contribution, now video and they look and sound great. I have a little work to do on my Collins setup to put it in-line but seeing yours gave me a bit of inspiration to get mine up and running (75A-1/32V2). 73, James

@james1787 I really enjoy the Gold Dust Twins. Wanted a set so bad. When a friend 35 miles down the road had a pair I was in heaven playing with them! We did some horse trading one night and they came to my QTH.

73 de KB2FCV

Beautiful station!! Someday I hope to hunt the Gold Dust Twins down to add to my collection..

good job for you. nice collins radio rig!