Just a followup, I decided to forego radiomarts offer to "fix" my
"Immaculate Collectors Condition" Drake R4-C I got from him and sent it
to Jeff Covelli, (WA8SAJ) . He replaced Q-5 used for the bfo and some
shorted tuning caps, reworked the PTO and realigned to spec's and now
the receiver works great. Jeff even replaced the bluing in the meter
and dial, the white lens and put in a new dial window and rewhited the
lines on all the knobs. Three things learned from this experience:
1.)Beware who you buy from on ebay. 2.) Great help on
rec.radio.amateur.boatanchors and 3.) Jeff Covelli is the man!!!
definately recommend his services. Quick turnaround, great
communication and nice work!! Thanks again for everyones help and
recommendations---Ted---KQ4MZ
w9gb wrote:
"tjbitt" wrote in message
ps.com...
Hi all, got another Drake question. I got my R4C on Wed and it appears
to be in working condition but needs some work. It appears the freq
dial readout is off by about 65 khz. CAn anybody tell me how to align
the plastic freq dials so they correspond to the received freq? Is
there a way to crank the tuning dial all the way clockwise to the
bottom end of the band and realign the the 10 khz and 100 khz dialfaces
to 0 and 0? I took the tuning knob and skirt off but didn't have a pair
of split ring pliers to remove the split ring cliparound the tuning
dial shaft?. Am I completely off or is this an alignment problem. I was
told the alignment was well within specs.
Another problem appears to be the the R4C is only operating in AM mode
when I switch over to SSB the receiver mutes with no signal heard over
the speaker its like it is completely dead. Not sure what this could be
but makes the rig useless for SSB or CW monitoring. Again any thoughts
would be most appreciated I have no friends or elmers to help locally.
Thanks again. Ted---KQ4mz
Ted -
The Drake 4-line is now over 30 years old -- and requires proper maintenance
for reliable operation. Unfortunately many Drake items being sold on eBay
these days are either from estates or former CBers operators -- with had no
technical knowledge, BUT used golden screwdrivers on the equipment -- when
problems occurred.
I picked up a Drake R-4C from an estate earlier this year -- and I have
spent considerable time (2 months) cleaning and deodorizing this receiver
(former owner was a heavy smoker).
This R-4C now looks and smells like it should -- and will complete my work
this winter (minor issues - since this receiver was obviously used daily) --
before I send it to Jeff later this winter for a full alignment.
I would recommend sending your Drake R-4C to Jeff Covelli (WA8SAJ).
http://www.wb4hfn.com/DRAKE/DrakePartsService.htm
Pack the receiver well and enclose a list of all issues that you have
noticed so far.
After he address the repair issues -- ask him to perform a full alignment on
the receiver.
w9gb