The March 1939 issue of Radio and Television magazine carried this review of the new Hallicrafters Skyrider 5-10 receiver for the “ultra highs,” which at that time meant 25-66 MHz, in two bands, 25-44 and 38-66 MHz.

This, of course, covered the prewar FM band, but the biggest market for the receiver was hams, since the set covered the 10 and 5 meter bands. The set contained nine tubes, including one RF stage and two IF stages. The IF was 1600 kHz, and the second IF tube also served as BFO.

The RF stage was a new UHF tube, the 1852. The reviewer, J. Gordon Taylor, W2JCR, noted that the new tube “really provides respectable gain.” Each stage was separately shielded. To put the new receiver through its paces, the reviewer used it at his home station and at the stations of a number of other New York hams with good 5 and 10 meter equipment. It outperformed all of the existing receivers, with one exception. That exception was the station of W2AMJ, which consisted of a Hallicrafters SX17 with a homebrew 5 meter converter. The review noted that between the receiver and converter, the W2AMJ setup had a total of 15 tubes, as compared to nine with the 5-10. The 5-10 was able to pick up all of the same stations, but the homebrew converter and receiver had greater volume.