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Old December 21st 07, 11:33 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.boatanchors
D Peter Maus D Peter Maus is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 962
Default R-278B/GR how much is it worth?

Scott Dorsey wrote:
Antonio Iovane wrote:
Thanks to all.
It would make no sense using them in a ham radio station these days.
They are heavy, space wasting, power consuming and noisy (they have a
fan and electro-mechanical channel selection) and do not offer any
advantage as compared to modern UHF stuff.


Wait, wait, stop here.

You've missed the whole point of ham radio. Ham radio is supposed to be
fun. It's an avocation.

If you want reliability and convenience, go out and buy an Icom. If
you want something fun, the R-278B is more likely to fill the bill.

Their destiny probably is dismantling, but so far I'm refrained from
doing this in front of such a sample of vintage radio and mechanical
technology. Mechanically they are pieces of art: all of the many
rotating mechanisms bear precision roller bearings (gears, shafts and
so). Indeed I dismantled completely a third one some 25 years ago, and
thas has been better than a workshop on mechanics and radio design. I
think I will save at last one as a future "historical" reference.


Again, if you put a downconverter in front, and an FM detector in back,
it could be useful for lots of things. You can modify a cable TV block
converter to do the job, or make your own with a nuvistor mixer and
a VHF oscillator. It's supposed to be fun.
--scott



You know, Scott, I've not agreed with much that's come out of your
mouth....

But this? SpotF*ckingOn.

If it ain't fun? Why the hell are you doing it? And experimentation
with low budget hardware has produced some amazing innovations and
enhancements in performance while broadening understanding in general.


Absolutely. He should go for it. With gusto.