Production Year 1962 at $750.00  

The Collins 32S-3 is a transmitter that covers all of the amateur bands between 3.4 mc and 30 mc with a power input of 175 watts PEP on SSB or 160 watts on CW. It has a nominal output power of 100 watts into a 50 Ohm load. The 32S-3 has a duty cycle of 100% for SSB and 50% for CW.  The transmitter uses a filter type sideband generation and heterodyne exciter principles. A crystal controlled BFO, crystal controlled high frequency oscillator, and highly stable VFO form a double conversion circuit. The low frequency IF is 455 kHz, and the high-frequency IF is 3.055 MHz with a 200 kHz wide passband, from 2.955 to 3.155 MHz.

The 32S-3 can be operated on any frequency in the range of 3.4 to 30 mc, except 5 to 6.5 mc, by installing the appropriate crystals. The 32S-3 comes equipped with crystal sockets, crystals and bandswitch positions for eleven 200 kc bands. Crystal sockets and bandswitch position also are provided for two additional 200 kc bands between 28 mc and 30 mc. A fourteenth position, corresponding to the WWV position on the receiver, can be used for an additional 200 kc band in the 9.5-15.0 mc range.

The front panel controls are as follows, a Power/MIC GAIN, CW CAL, FREQ CONTROL selector, EXCITER TUNING, BAND switching, VFO tuning, P.A. TUNING and LOADING, EMISSION mode selector, and a METER switch which selects between ALC, P.A. Grid and P.A. Plate.

The size of the 32S-3 is 14-3/4" wide by 7-3/4" high by 12-1/2" deep. This item weighs in at 16 Lbs.

The Collins power supply for this transmitter is the 516F-2.

These next two pictures are a close up of the front face plate and associated hardware.

When one talks about Collins gear a certain phrase may go some thing like this "I picked up a winged emblem Collins today".  What the speaker is referring to is the Collins logo emblem. Notice how the red emblem above the dial is not round but rather has what has been dubbed as wings coming out of both sides. For a look at a round emblem Collins logo please click HERE. At other times one may be researching Collins gear and see phrases such as WE or RE used to describe the equipment. Now you will know what the author is referring to, WE would mean Winged Emblem while RE stands for Round Emblem. Now why is all this important to you? Often there is quite a considerable price difference between the WE and RE gear. The RE gear seems to bring with it a higher price tag. The reason for this higher price from what I have researched, is that Collins made more of the WE models then RE.  

The photograph on the left is of the side of the transmitter with the hinged top cover in the closed position. The photograph on the right is a picture of inside the transmitter with the hinged top cover in the open position. Here we can see the RF cage with the red warning stating that there is a high voltage of 800 volts behind this protective cage. In the upper right of the picture we can see the plug in crystals that were talked about above and how there is easy access to them. In this photograph on the right there is one item that is not original to this transmitter. Did you spot it?

Yup, you found it. At the upper right of the photograph and covering one of the crystal sockets is a small switch. The On/Off switch in this Collins 32S-3 is bad and a previous owner made this modification so the transmitter could still be used on a daily basis.

A special thanks to Steve Fitzgerald(N4KQR) who personally hand delivered this item.