eBay know what I like, and a recent suggestion led to me buying an "HF Module (non-synth) type J87-0063-01".
Mine has a channel crystal at 26.8125MHz and an IF filter at 10.725MHz and is marked "Ch.250". The big RF coils give a sharp dip at 16.5MHz so the rx channel is 16.0875MHz. It is dual-conversion and though I can't see any markings the monolithic crystal roofing filter must be at 37.5375MHz. The signal-frequency amplifier is a TO39 device marked IT1001A which must be a 2N5109-ish custom device.
The IF filter is followed by a HA12411 FM demodulator IC. This will have a roughly logarithmic RSSI detector which could be used for a very non-linear AM signal o-p but a quadrature coil is fitted so it is obviously intended for NBFM reception.
What system would have required tens or hundreds of NBFM HF rx? I can only surmise they may have been for maritime meteorological buoys or for hydrographic echo sounding. Perhaps these could be re-purposed for a favourite Broadcast channel or for Shannon Meteo
