Hi folks... Want to wake up this venerable old radio and use it for
some packet work... Was wondering if anyone out there had information
regarding this radio.

I'm interested in the power output of this radio. I'd like to compare
the design specifications with my currently observed power output.

I'm curious as to why the channel selector runs
1,2,3,4,5,6,A,B,C,D,E,F. Why numerals 1-6, and then letters A-F?

I'd like information regarding the layout of the crystal sockets.
When I install the new crystals, It'd be nice to know where to put
them...

Any information would be greatly appreciated. I suppose I could just
pay $10 or $20 for a photo copy of a manual, but I guess I'm just a
cheap S.O.B....

73!
Raymond Sirois KU2S
SysOp: The Lost Chord BBS
607-733-5745
telnet://thelostchord.dns2go.com:6000

KU2S ) writes:
Hi folks... Want to wake up this venerable old radio and use it for
some packet work... Was wondering if anyone out there had information
regarding this radio.

I'm interested in the power output of this radio. I'd like to compare
the design specifications with my currently observed power output.

I'm curious as to why the channel selector runs
1,2,3,4,5,6,A,B,C,D,E,F. Why numerals 1-6, and then letters A-F?

I'd like information regarding the layout of the crystal sockets.
When I install the new crystals, It'd be nice to know where to put
them...

According to an ad in the June 1972 issue of 73, it has "15 watts
minimum output" (at 13.6VDC).

It has sockets for 12 receive crystals, and sockets for 6 transmit
crystals.

This rig dates from fairly early in the 2M FM boom. There wasn't the
level of standardization, and there weren't so many repeaters. So at least
some rigs made it easy to use a crystal more than once. For instance, .94
was a common simplex frequency, but .34/.94 was also a common repeater pair.
You might want to use that receive crystal for both combinations,
while switching in the other transmit crystal. So you'd get
more switch positions than crystal sockets, and some means of jumpering
to put the same crystal in more than one

That's the case with this rig. If they went from 1 to 12, it's not
as clear which of them are reworking the transmit crystals. Obviously,
the letters make it clear that you are now recycling the transmit
crystals. (And thinking about it right now, it doesn't fully make
sense. It seems more likely that you'd want to reuse the receive
frequencies, so you'd want more transmit crystals, to allow for
transmitting on .34 and .94 with that .94 receive crystal.)

Internally, there must be some means of strapping the crystals
to go with the switch positions. I never had one of those, so
I wouldn't know the details.

Look inside. Maybe the sockets are marked on the circuit board.
It may at least be clear that that there is a bank of six sockets,
for transmit, and 12 sockets for receive. And if you have any crystals
inside, they likely provide some information about which are the transmit
and which are receive.

Michael VE2BVW

KU2S ) writes:
Hi folks... Want to wake up this venerable old radio and use it for
some packet work... Was wondering if anyone out there had information
regarding this radio.

I'm interested in the power output of this radio. I'd like to compare
the design specifications with my currently observed power output.

I'm curious as to why the channel selector runs
1,2,3,4,5,6,A,B,C,D,E,F. Why numerals 1-6, and then letters A-F?

I'd like information regarding the layout of the crystal sockets.
When I install the new crystals, It'd be nice to know where to put
them...

According to an ad in the June 1972 issue of 73, it has "15 watts
minimum output" (at 13.6VDC).

It has sockets for 12 receive crystals, and sockets for 6 transmit
crystals.

This rig dates from fairly early in the 2M FM boom. There wasn't the
level of standardization, and there weren't so many repeaters. So at least
some rigs made it easy to use a crystal more than once. For instance, .94
was a common simplex frequency, but .34/.94 was also a common repeater pair.
You might want to use that receive crystal for both combinations,
while switching in the other transmit crystal. So you'd get
more switch positions than crystal sockets, and some means of jumpering
to put the same crystal in more than one

That's the case with this rig. If they went from 1 to 12, it's not
as clear which of them are reworking the transmit crystals. Obviously,
the letters make it clear that you are now recycling the transmit
crystals. (And thinking about it right now, it doesn't fully make
sense. It seems more likely that you'd want to reuse the receive
frequencies, so you'd want more transmit crystals, to allow for
transmitting on .34 and .94 with that .94 receive crystal.)

Internally, there must be some means of strapping the crystals
to go with the switch positions. I never had one of those, so
I wouldn't know the details.

Look inside. Maybe the sockets are marked on the circuit board.
It may at least be clear that that there is a bank of six sockets,
for transmit, and 12 sockets for receive. And if you have any crystals
inside, they likely provide some information about which are the transmit
and which are receive.

Michael VE2BVW

I'm curious as to why the channel selector runs
1,2,3,4,5,6,A,B,C,D,E,F. Why numerals 1-6, and then letters A-F?

Raymond-

I had the HR-2A back in the 70s. It was one of the early solid-state Two Meter
rigs. I don't think I have the exact information you need, but thought I would
pass along some recollections.

1. The transmit crystals are in the 6 MHz range. The later HR-2B model had a
multiplier chain with different multiplier ratios, using 8 MHz crystals in an
attempt to increase drive. It seems that there is an instability that causes
out-of-band spurs when drive isn't high enough. Unfortunately there is also an
SWR protection circuit that reduces drive if SWR is high. Naturally the
out-of-band spurs will have higher SWR when loaded by an antenna tuned to Two
Meters, but not when loaded by a dummy load in the shop! (This isn't normally
a problem with the HR-2, but is extremely serious with the Six Meter version,
HR-6.)

2. There was a modification kit, maybe offered by another company, that added
six additional crystal sockets and trimmer capacitors for the transmitter, to
enable the full twelve channel transmit capability. The channel selector
switch already has the terminals for the additional crystals.

3. One weak component is the channel selector switch. It develops bad
contacts after much use. I recall using mine almost like a scanner, and wore
out two sets of switches. The switch wafers can be replaced without replacing
the other mechanical switch components, although disassembly is necessary.

4. The circuit boards are very similar or nearly identical to an early version
of the Regency BTH-201 commercial VHF High-Band transceiver. I believe the
commercial version may have used a higher-powered transistor. It used
push-buttons rather than a rotary switch for versions with more than one
frequency. (The HR-6 is similar to the commercial BTL-301.)

5. Receiver sensitivity is not very good by today's standards. Back then,
there were at least a couple dual-gate mosfet preamplifier kits offered by
other companies. They increased sensitivity from around 0.35 microvolts to
around 0.2. Of course the radio becomes more susceptible to intermodulation
interference when the preamp is used.

6. As far as I can tell, the company that was Regency was split, with the
scanner portion going to Uniden and the commercial two-way radio portion
becoming RELM, located in Melbourne, Florida. I doubt they can provide much
information about the HR-2A, but it might still be possible to obtain service
information about the commercial BTH (and BTL) series transceivers.

7. In recent years I have heard of several HR-2/2A/2B/2S/212 radios being used
on packet. They apparently work OK in that application. The only problem I
can think of, is knocking the audio level down far enough to keep from
over-driving the microphone circuit. The HR-2/2A/2B/2S/212/6 used a high
impedance ceramic microphone element.

I spent a LOT of hours working on the HR-2A (and HR-6). If you have any
specific questions, I might be able to recall something that would help.

73, Fred, K4DII

I'm curious as to why the channel selector runs
1,2,3,4,5,6,A,B,C,D,E,F. Why numerals 1-6, and then letters A-F?

Raymond-

I had the HR-2A back in the 70s. It was one of the early solid-state Two Meter
rigs. I don't think I have the exact information you need, but thought I would
pass along some recollections.

1. The transmit crystals are in the 6 MHz range. The later HR-2B model had a
multiplier chain with different multiplier ratios, using 8 MHz crystals in an
attempt to increase drive. It seems that there is an instability that causes
out-of-band spurs when drive isn't high enough. Unfortunately there is also an
SWR protection circuit that reduces drive if SWR is high. Naturally the
out-of-band spurs will have higher SWR when loaded by an antenna tuned to Two
Meters, but not when loaded by a dummy load in the shop! (This isn't normally
a problem with the HR-2, but is extremely serious with the Six Meter version,
HR-6.)

2. There was a modification kit, maybe offered by another company, that added
six additional crystal sockets and trimmer capacitors for the transmitter, to
enable the full twelve channel transmit capability. The channel selector
switch already has the terminals for the additional crystals.

3. One weak component is the channel selector switch. It develops bad
contacts after much use. I recall using mine almost like a scanner, and wore
out two sets of switches. The switch wafers can be replaced without replacing
the other mechanical switch components, although disassembly is necessary.

4. The circuit boards are very similar or nearly identical to an early version
of the Regency BTH-201 commercial VHF High-Band transceiver. I believe the
commercial version may have used a higher-powered transistor. It used
push-buttons rather than a rotary switch for versions with more than one
frequency. (The HR-6 is similar to the commercial BTL-301.)

5. Receiver sensitivity is not very good by today's standards. Back then,
there were at least a couple dual-gate mosfet preamplifier kits offered by
other companies. They increased sensitivity from around 0.35 microvolts to
around 0.2. Of course the radio becomes more susceptible to intermodulation
interference when the preamp is used.

6. As far as I can tell, the company that was Regency was split, with the
scanner portion going to Uniden and the commercial two-way radio portion
becoming RELM, located in Melbourne, Florida. I doubt they can provide much
information about the HR-2A, but it might still be possible to obtain service
information about the commercial BTH (and BTL) series transceivers.

7. In recent years I have heard of several HR-2/2A/2B/2S/212 radios being used
on packet. They apparently work OK in that application. The only problem I
can think of, is knocking the audio level down far enough to keep from
over-driving the microphone circuit. The HR-2/2A/2B/2S/212/6 used a high
impedance ceramic microphone element.

I spent a LOT of hours working on the HR-2A (and HR-6). If you have any
specific questions, I might be able to recall something that would help.

73, Fred, K4DII

On 21 Nov 2003 03:04:09 GMT, (Fred McKenzie) wrote:

I'm curious as to why the channel selector runs
1,2,3,4,5,6,A,B,C,D,E,F. Why numerals 1-6, and then letters A-F?

Raymond-

I had the HR-2A back in the 70s. It was one of the early solid-state Two Meter
rigs. I don't think I have the exact information you need, but thought I would
pass along some recollections.



I spent a LOT of hours working on the HR-2A (and HR-6). If you have any
specific questions, I might be able to recall something that would help.

73, Fred, K4DII

Thanks Fred! Sure appreciate the info. Tried an impromptu test here
the other night, seems that every time I the rig tried to connect to
my test rig (laptop with baycom modem), it would trigger a restart on
the TNC. Hmmm, think maybe the fact that my test antenna was a 1/4
wave vertical stuck to the back of the HR-2A with the TNC right on top
of the radio had much to do with it? Tonight I try plugging one of
the outdoor antennas into the Regency!

Raymond Sirois KU2S
SysOp: The Lost Chord BBS
607-733-5745
telnet://thelostchord.dns2go.com:6000

On 21 Nov 2003 03:04:09 GMT, (Fred McKenzie) wrote:

I'm curious as to why the channel selector runs
1,2,3,4,5,6,A,B,C,D,E,F. Why numerals 1-6, and then letters A-F?

Raymond-

I had the HR-2A back in the 70s. It was one of the early solid-state Two Meter
rigs. I don't think I have the exact information you need, but thought I would
pass along some recollections.



I spent a LOT of hours working on the HR-2A (and HR-6). If you have any
specific questions, I might be able to recall something that would help.

73, Fred, K4DII

Thanks Fred! Sure appreciate the info. Tried an impromptu test here
the other night, seems that every time I the rig tried to connect to
my test rig (laptop with baycom modem), it would trigger a restart on
the TNC. Hmmm, think maybe the fact that my test antenna was a 1/4
wave vertical stuck to the back of the HR-2A with the TNC right on top
of the radio had much to do with it? Tonight I try plugging one of
the outdoor antennas into the Regency!

Raymond Sirois KU2S
SysOp: The Lost Chord BBS
607-733-5745
telnet://thelostchord.dns2go.com:6000

Sure sounds like RF was getting in to it, to me! G.W.

"KU2S" wrote in message
...
On 21 Nov 2003 03:04:09 GMT, (Fred McKenzie) wrote:

I'm curious as to why the channel selector runs
1,2,3,4,5,6,A,B,C,D,E,F. Why numerals 1-6, and then letters A-F?

Raymond-

I had the HR-2A back in the 70s. It was one of the early solid-state Two
Meter
rigs. I don't think I have the exact information you need, but thought I
would
pass along some recollections.



I spent a LOT of hours working on the HR-2A (and HR-6). If you have any
specific questions, I might be able to recall something that would help.

73, Fred, K4DII

Thanks Fred! Sure appreciate the info. Tried an impromptu test here
the other night, seems that every time I the rig tried to connect to
my test rig (laptop with baycom modem), it would trigger a restart on
the TNC. Hmmm, think maybe the fact that my test antenna was a 1/4
wave vertical stuck to the back of the HR-2A with the TNC right on top
of the radio had much to do with it? Tonight I try plugging one of
the outdoor antennas into the Regency!

Raymond Sirois KU2S
SysOp: The Lost Chord BBS
607-733-5745
telnet://thelostchord.dns2go.com:6000

Sure sounds like RF was getting in to it, to me! G.W.

"KU2S" wrote in message
...
On 21 Nov 2003 03:04:09 GMT, (Fred McKenzie) wrote:

I'm curious as to why the channel selector runs
1,2,3,4,5,6,A,B,C,D,E,F. Why numerals 1-6, and then letters A-F?

Raymond-

I had the HR-2A back in the 70s. It was one of the early solid-state Two
Meter
rigs. I don't think I have the exact information you need, but thought I
would
pass along some recollections.



I spent a LOT of hours working on the HR-2A (and HR-6). If you have any
specific questions, I might be able to recall something that would help.

73, Fred, K4DII

Thanks Fred! Sure appreciate the info. Tried an impromptu test here
the other night, seems that every time I the rig tried to connect to
my test rig (laptop with baycom modem), it would trigger a restart on
the TNC. Hmmm, think maybe the fact that my test antenna was a 1/4
wave vertical stuck to the back of the HR-2A with the TNC right on top
of the radio had much to do with it? Tonight I try plugging one of
the outdoor antennas into the Regency!

Raymond Sirois KU2S
SysOp: The Lost Chord BBS
607-733-5745
telnet://thelostchord.dns2go.com:6000

On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 05:32:56 GMT, "Ghost writer"
wrote:

Sure sounds like RF was getting in to it, to me! G.W.

"KU2S" wrote in message
.. .
On 21 Nov 2003 03:04:09 GMT, (Fred McKenzie) wrote:

Thanks Fred! Sure appreciate the info. Tried an impromptu test here
the other night, seems that every time I the rig tried to connect to
my test rig (laptop with baycom modem), it would trigger a restart on
the TNC. Hmmm, think maybe the fact that my test antenna was a 1/4
wave vertical stuck to the back of the HR-2A with the TNC right on top
of the radio had much to do with it? Tonight I try plugging one of
the outdoor antennas into the Regency!

Raymond Sirois KU2S
SysOp: The Lost Chord BBS
607-733-5745
telnet://thelostchord.dns2go.com:6000


Sure was alright... Now all I've gotta do is find a set of crystals
for the stupid thing. Couldn't locate the Jan's Crystals website.
PLEASE don't tell me they went out of business... Any idea where I
could set a set of crystals for this thing?

Raymond Sirois KU2S
SysOp: The Lost Chord BBS
607-733-5745
telnet://thelostchord.dns2go.com:6000