N8KDV wrote:

RadioGuy wrote:

N8KDV wrote in message
...


RadioGuy wrote:

Peter wrote in message
. cable.rogers.com...
I have a question about this radio.
If I plug the AC jack in the wall and I have the 12 volt connection
hooked
up to a battery as a power failure backup will it damage the radio? Is
there
an internal switch to protect it from both sources being connected at
the
same time?

Thanks

Pierre

Shouldn't be any problem... Drake told me years back to put a big
battery on
those terminals to act as back-up power supply for my R8B. Down here in
the
lightning capital of the US we routinely pull the plugs, antennas and
grounds from our gear to keep it from getting damaged by lightning
discharges. The @#!&*# Drake R8B does not have any internal power
back-up
so to keep from having to reset the clock every time the plug is pulled
an
external power supply is needed. The current draw on battery during
standby
is about 0.64 amp so size a battery accordingly. Why Drake couldn't
have
put an internal back-up battery for the clock escapes me---then again,
the
R8B is a half-baked receiver anyway!

RG

Half-baked?

Steve
Holland, MI
Drake R7, R8 and R8B

Drake... When you care enough to listen with the best!

Hi Steve, I've been away for awhile... happy to see you are still here; lots
of folks have left it seems.

Yea... halfbaked... you know me... remember that long thread years back
where we picked at the R8B? I still haven't changed my mind about it! My
R8B gets a serious workout; it's on everyday and sometimes all day too.
Over the years since I had it little glitches keep coming up. I've reached
the point where it might be a cheaper to trade it in on a new one instead of
sending it back to Drake for repair---labor was $70.00/hour a couple of
years ago, maybe more now. Besides, every time it comes back there is a new
ding here and there.

Problems I notice now is drifting of the notch, passband control has slowly
moved off center, some crystal must have drifted off frequency as I get a
beat when it should be zero beat in LSB and USB mode during exalted carrier
reception and a quirk that comes and goes---It take a couple of three
seconds to get audio after the receiver is turned on and sometimes I have to
crank the audio gain way up to get it to go. I just don't feel exicited
about trouble shooting it myself.

BTW, I guess it's been a year since I did a clean job on the
encoder/switch. Everything is running fine. I am really beginning to think
its the grease that the encoder/switch is packed with that is the problem
with the premature failing of the control that folks are experiencing---you
might have read my analysis a year ago. I cleaned mine with DeoxIT and
lightly lubed it with CaiLube---that's after I cleaned all the grease out of
it.

Best Regards,

RG

I have yet to experience the problems you've had so far, except for the rotary
encoder problem. I had cleaned mine out and it worked ok for quite some time,
but the problem is back. It only ever manifested itself when tuning down in
frequency. It doesn't bother me too much as I enter a lot of stuff via the
keypad, and if I tune slowly down in frequency it will not jump.

One thing I did not do the last time was use the CaiLube, I suppose I should
order some up, and re-do the process.

A question: Which particular type of CaiLube did you use? The 5% solution or the
100%?



Steve
Holland, MI
Drake R7, R8 and R8B

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