RIP: R.L. Drake SWL Receivers
 

All this talk about such a sad day, the R-8B now discontinued. I say: good
riddance!

The death of the R-8B was a slow and painful one. The price crept up to
$1500 and it lagged behind the DSP technology of the last five to ten years.
It's platform was based on the R-8 designed around 1990. It was almost a
joke that such an expensive radio had a cheasey plastic tuning knob with no
"feel" whatsoever.
The radio was built like a Muntz TV set, lacking adequate shielding. It's
RF front-end was overloaded with a mulititude of internal birdies. My R-8B
had a hunk of printed circuit board crudely cut and mounted behind the
display board....a very cheap and ineffective effort at shielding. Drake
service and its service manager Bob Frost were in a total state of denial
when I complained about the internal birdies, some hovering at S-9 in the MW
Band.

I dumped my R-8A and 8B on ebay years ago. I would have loved to keep them,
but they just were not up to the standards of my (keeper) Japanese sets.

I am keeping a Drake R-8 (the original) as the best example of the series:
no birdies, no sync hiss, a real metal knob......

patgkz wrote:

All this talk about such a sad day, the R-8B now discontinued. I say: good
riddance!

Huh?

The death of the R-8B was a slow and painful one. The price crept up to
$1500 and it lagged behind the DSP technology of the last five to ten years.
It's platform was based on the R-8 designed around 1990. It was almost a
joke that such an expensive radio had a cheasey plastic tuning knob with no
"feel" whatsoever.

Are you looking to hear something, or feel something?


The radio was built like a Muntz TV set, lacking adequate shielding. It's
RF front-end was overloaded with a mulititude of internal birdies.

Huh?

My R-8B
had a hunk of printed circuit board crudely cut and mounted behind the
display board....a very cheap and ineffective effort at shielding.

That's not a shield... it's a heat sink!

Drake
service and its service manager Bob Frost were in a total state of denial
when I complained about the internal birdies, some hovering at S-9 in the MW
Band.

No problem like that here.


I dumped my R-8A and 8B on ebay years ago. I would have loved to keep them,
but they just were not up to the standards of my (keeper) Japanese sets.

The ones with the bad audio?

I am keeping a Drake R-8 (the original) as the best example of the series:
no birdies, no sync hiss, a real metal knob......

I'm keeping mine too!

dxAce
Michigan
USA

patgkz wrote:

All this talk about such a sad day, the R-8B now discontinued. I say: good
riddance!

The death of the R-8B was a slow and painful one. The price crept up to
$1500 and it lagged behind the DSP technology of the last five to ten years.
It's platform was based on the R-8 designed around 1990. It was almost a
joke that such an expensive radio had a cheasey plastic tuning knob with no
"feel" whatsoever.
The radio was built like a Muntz TV set, lacking adequate shielding. It's
RF front-end was overloaded with a mulititude of internal birdies. My R-8B
had a hunk of printed circuit board crudely cut and mounted behind the
display board....a very cheap and ineffective effort at shielding. Drake
service and its service manager Bob Frost were in a total state of denial
when I complained about the internal birdies, some hovering at S-9 in the MW
Band.

I dumped my R-8A and 8B on ebay years ago. I would have loved to keep them,
but they just were not up to the standards of my (keeper) Japanese sets.

I am keeping a Drake R-8 (the original) as the best example of the series:
no birdies, no sync hiss, a real metal knob......

One other point... Drake never made an R-8, an R-8A or an R-8B.

If you have ever looked at the front of any one of those sets you'd soon be able
to see that they are the R8, R8A and R8B.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

David Eduardo wrote:
"patgkz" wrote in message
...
All this talk about such a sad day, the R-8B now discontinued. I
say:
good riddance!

The death of the R-8B was a slow and painful one. The price crept
up to
$1500 and it lagged behind the DSP technology of the last five to
ten
years. It's platform was based on the R-8 designed around 1990.

Probably the best AM DX receiver even today is the R-390 made by
Collins or
Hammarlund. Hollow state, an alignment nightmare, but the best
receiver I
have ever used. DSP is just another way of doing things, and not, in
every
case, the best.

R-390's were manufactured by Collins and Motorola.............PERIOD!

R-390A's were manufactured by Collins, Motorola, Capehart Corp.,
Stewart Warner Corp., Amelco, Inc., Teledyne Systems,
Teledyne/Imperial, Fowler Industries, Dittmore-Freimuth (built by EAC),
EAC (Electronics Assistance Corp.)which was a division of Hammarlund in
it's later years. But, Hammarlund "NEVER" built R-390's.

Just wanted to set the record straight.

Les Locklear
Monitoring since ' 57
Monitoring from the Gulf of Mexico
Hammarlund R-274C/FRR (SP-600JX-14)
R-1051B/URR
Ten Tec RX-340
Alpha Delta Sloper
Quantum QX Loop
Various Longwires
CU-2279/BRC Multicoupler
http://www.hammarlund.info/homepage.html

§ Dr. Artaud § wrote:

running dogg wrote in :

Visit the Yaesu homepage and look at the current offerings. The FRG-100
is no longer listed. I do believe that I have seen articles discussing
the discontinuation of this superb receiver.

Passport says that Yaesu makes a "VR-5000" tabletop, which the review
indicates is far below the classic Frogs.

Can you say Palstar? Hopefully they will continue their fine R30 and Icom
will continue the R-75, but who knows. Too many radios are being
discontinued at nearly the same time.

Icom currently seems to have the most tabletops on the market, if
Passport is any indication.

Fortunately, HAM transceivers allow the same reception capabilities and
offers transmission for those properly licensed. I don't believe that HAM
transceivers are going anywhere soon, so there will be an abundance of
superlative tabletop models for SWLing for years to come at the same
price of Shortwave only tabletops.

I believe that in the US only licensed hams can own transceivers. The
ham community is pretty tight fisted with their existing rigs, many
making you show them your license before they let you buy their rig.
This is apparently done to combat pirates, which the hams view as
threatening their spectrum (although since hobby broadcasting is
illegal, it's hard to see how).

(snip)

""Tag Line Sent In Of The Week, Month, Whatever...
"I am confused. I thought that streaming internet audio and satellite
radio was available everywhere and at anytime. Isn't real radio simply
obsolete....like smoke signals. I am so confused." Singapo 6,000
Radio Sets Collected For Tsunami Victims." "

You know that you've been living in a civilized nation for too long when
you are capable of making an asinine statement as above. Yes Virginia,
not every nitwit in the world is carrying a laptop computer, an IPOD, or
whatever. Sheesh. These people imagine the world's poor people buying
computers, subscribing to satellite services, and maintaining ISP
connections. All the while looking for the bodies of their deceased
relatives and friends. Common folks, there are more than 6,000,000,000
people on this planet, not everyone lives like you. Most live in squalid
conditions, the possession of a radio to hear local and worldly events
and music is probably quite a pleasure.

It also follows that those people can't afford a $1500 radio, but CAN
afford a $50 Degen or Tecsun. Gee, I wonder why tabletops are being
pulled from the market while cheap China made portables are showing
strong sales? I DO wonder what the most common SW radio is in the third
world. I've seen footage of Iraqis listening to old European tube SW
radios. The movie The Killing Fields showed the camp escapees listening
to such a radio. I would figure that probably old Grundigs, Telefunkens
and Phillips's are the most common SW radios, except in the old Soviet
Bloc where the state made radios would be the most common.

And don't believe that the desire to go to the digital modes is for your
pleasure. Think about it, the satellite services will ultimately be
controlled by the Government and, sooner or later, once your hooked, by
the advertisers. Shortwave is a thorn in the side of most Governments,
since other countries, even on a modest budgets, can get the word out.

YOU try explaining this to our resident XM Satellite Radio owning
"leftist". I've tried, but I'd rather beat my head against a brick wall.
He doesn't seem to get that if the BBC ****ed off George W. Bush that it
would disappear from satellite radio.

Satellites have a footprint, you need to be within that footprint to
receive the broadcasts (more or less, I realize that part of the
footprint is the intended reception area, i.e. the supported area)

If a show displeases the government covered by the footprint, and the
government has the authority, they will simply order the show removed
from the satellite. The U.S. has cancelled an Iranian broadcast to
America, labeling it "intellectual terror". Easy enough. You no longer
get to make up your own minds, you listen to what the Government wants
you to hear.

And then the government will force through BPL not to give people better
internet connectivity (it doesn't) but to use as a blanket shortwave
jammer. And also to force the public to buy expen$ive digital TVs and
expen$ive satellite TV subscriptions to go with them. Of course, the
government will get its kickbacks from all this forced purchasing of
$3000 TVs and $600/yr satellite subscriptions. I don't think it's an
accident that the BBC canceled its NAm service around the time that W
cozied up to Tony Blair.

Perhaps more utility listening, more DXing for those elusive signals,
Pirates and Spies may be a way to bide your time while the shortwave
broadcasters come and go (mostly go right now, but who knows in the long
run).

Well, the small European stations are going away, but the big ones (BBC,
RN) mostly aren't. The BBC still broadcasts to Mexico in English,
probably their way of getting around the UK Govt order that they stop
beaming to the US. Only DW has totally canceled all broadcasts to the
Americas.


----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:54:24 -0800, running dogg wrote:


running dogg wrote in :

(snip)
I believe that in the US only licensed hams can own transceivers. The
ham community is pretty tight fisted with their existing rigs, many
making you show them your license before they let you buy their rig.
This is apparently done to combat pirates, which the hams view as
threatening their spectrum (although since hobby broadcasting is
illegal, it's hard to see how).

In the US anybody can own a ham transceiver - though only ham's are
licensed to operate (or be in direct control of) the transmitter.

"Howard" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:54:24 -0800, running dogg wrote:

In the US anybody can own a ham transceiver - though only ham's are
licensed to operate (or be in direct control of) the transmitter.

Absolutely! That's why I bought a Yaesu FT-920 some years ago for TP
mediumwave DXing and tropical bands reception, and found it very good for
receive-only. With INRAD filters installed it was even better.

My current ICOM IC-756Pro is a great alternative to a tabletop receiver and
a fine used value at their current worth of $1200-1400. The receiver is
quiet, the DSP "brickwall" filters are excellent, and the useful spectrum
scope is a helpful tool and fun to use. I don't care if I never use the
transmitter portion... the rest of the radio is a great value for the DXer.

Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA USA
mod. R-75 / mod. IC-756Pro
Kiwa MAP / ERGO
400 & 750 ft. Beverage antennas

I never realized so many companies built those Radios.Thanks for the
information.
cuhulin

I sent it to one of my other webtv addresses.I will do some research on
those companies later on.I believe you,I like to do research though.
cuhulin

In U.S.A.Anyone can Legally Own a Transceiver or many
Transceivers.However,if one is not licensed and does use that
Transceiver or other Transceivers,Hams will track that person or persons
down.I do not own a Transceiver and I am not licensed to use a
Transceiver or Transceiver and I would never use a Transceiver unless I
aquire the proper license or licenses first.I do own some CB radios and
some old Motorola ex police/ex Sheriffs vehicle two way radios which are
Legal for me to use since they do not require and licenses.
cuhulin

In my TV Predictions email newsletters I get from Philip Swann,my
newsletter I received yesterday has an article about Congress is working
on making all U.S.A.tv stations transmit only HDTV signals by the end of
next year or soon after the end of next year.Read about it at,
www.tvpredictions.com
cuhulin

running dogg wrote in :

I couldn't agree with you more.

The HAM rigs are also available used at HAM fests, just be one of the
first ones there. It's incredible the amount of items that are sold
before the HAM fest opens. Buy a table, as if you are going to sell, then
you get the early admission (setup time for the sellers, way before the
buyers are admitted). Usually it's only a couple of dollars more to sell
than to buy.

The Yaesu VR-5000 is a wideband receiver. Without trying to insult those
in the group that have them, with wideband performance comes wideband
woes. I have 2 wideband transceivers, the intermod interference is
horrific. The VX-2R is great when attenuated, the VX-5R has no
attenuator, beeper sounds galore.

My Picks, either through recommendation or just wishful thinking:

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/3689.html Recommended. $740
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/2319.html A-One Radio $575
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/1897.html HF Through UHF
$900 (I'd like to own one)

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/0703.html Looks Nice $570
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/0718.html (You R-75 Owners,
take a look, $595).

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/0868.html Looks nice $700
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/0868.html Looks nice $915

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/3595.html I'd buy one in a
heart beat, I have lusted for one of these for some time, and the odd
thing is that I don't know if it is any good, I need to look for reviews
first. $660.
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/4319.html $780

Lastly, I have the Samlex Power Supply, model 1223 13.8 Volt 20 Amps
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamps/3747.html $90, you will need
something like this for the above radios. Though if you don't intend to
transmit, the 10 AMP supply would do (it's only $10 cheaper).

P.S. I usually buy from AES in Cleveland, http://www.aesham.com/ though
there seems to be quite an assortment of retailers (such as Universal).

Dr. Artaud

I believe that in the US only licensed hams can own transceivers. The
ham community is pretty tight fisted with their existing rigs, many
making you show them your license before they let you buy their rig.
This is apparently done to combat pirates, which the hams view as
threatening their spectrum (although since hobby broadcasting is
illegal, it's hard to see how).

It also follows that those people can't afford a $1500 radio, but CAN
afford a $50 Degen or Tecsun. Gee, I wonder why tabletops are being
pulled from the market while cheap China made portables are showing
strong sales? I DO wonder what the most common SW radio is in the
third world. I've seen footage of Iraqis listening to old European
tube SW radios. The movie The Killing Fields showed the camp escapees
listening to such a radio. I would figure that probably old Grundigs,
Telefunkens and Phillips's are the most common SW radios, except in
the old Soviet Bloc where the state made radios would be the most
common.

YOU try explaining this to our resident XM Satellite Radio owning
"leftist". I've tried, but I'd rather beat my head against a brick
wall. He doesn't seem to get that if the BBC ****ed off George W. Bush
that it would disappear from satellite radio.

And then the government will force through BPL not to give people
better internet connectivity (it doesn't) but to use as a blanket
shortwave jammer. And also to force the public to buy expen$ive
digital TVs and expen$ive satellite TV subscriptions to go with them.
Of course, the government will get its kickbacks from all this forced
purchasing of $3000 TVs and $600/yr satellite subscriptions. I don't
think it's an accident that the BBC canceled its NAm service around
the time that W cozied up to Tony Blair.

Well, the small European stations are going away, but the big ones
(BBC, RN) mostly aren't. The BBC still broadcasts to Mexico in
English, probably their way of getting around the UK Govt order that
they stop beaming to the US. Only DW has totally canceled all
broadcasts to the Americas.

wrote in
:

Actually, I had been eyeballing those tiny TVs that Radio Shack sells,
the handheld type. The prices seemed reasonable. Problem is, as you
state, the transmission mode will soon be HD, and these TVs will become
technological paperweights, therefore I did not purchase. I can't
imagine carrying a cable TV converter size box to receive HD signals on
my handheld TV.

Of the handheld TVs, as far as I know, the principle of angular diameter
applies. Consider the moon and the sun. Concerning angular diameter,
they (from earth), appear the same size (plus or minus a very small
amount). Because of this, the moon is often able to fully eclipse the
sun. Quite a nice match up, size wise.

http://www.rc-astro.com/composite/sun_moon.htm

http://www.photoastronomique.net/pho...20003-16_16-25


Look here, the third photo set down, a comparison of the Sun, Jupiter,
and the Earth, with the Earth as just a speck.

http://www.hartrao.ac.za/other/howfar/howfar.html

Obviously the Sun is massive, yet it appears to us to be the same size
as the moon. Same with the Handheld TVs (no, they don't appear the same
size as the moon ;-), you can have your own personal Big Screen TV for
under $200. (actually the little TV, held close, giving the same angular
diameter as a considerably larger TV across the room).

Look at your TV across the room, hold a ruler at arms length, place one
side of the ruler on the left of the TV screen, place your thumb at the
point on the ruler where the right side of the screen is. A TV the size
that your ruler is indicating, held at arms length, is the same size
image in your mind as the TV across the room. I'm sure that some of you
have those gigantic TVs, this may be a little harder to visualize, but
the principle is valid.


http://www.celestron.com/education/binbasic.htm

From what I know of optics, a 10 power (10X) binocular increases the
angular diameter of the object viewed by 10 times, it does not make it
appear 10 times closer (it makes it appear even closer than 10 times).
The example that I read was to stand 2 feet from the wall, look at the
wall, now step forward one foot. You are now at half the distance, does
the wall appear twice as big? No.

But supposedly, to view the wall through a 2X binocular would make it
appear closer than 2 times, as the angular diameter has been doubled. A
cursory experiment with a ruler held at arms length, and the angular
diameter of the laptop screen confirms this. Half the distance does not
yield twice the size.

Anyway, don't trust searches on the internet, as they have simplified
the concept, using the 10 times the size and 10 times closer analogy.

I digress, but it was fun.

Regards

Dr. Artaud


In my TV Predictions email newsletters I get from Philip Swann,my
newsletter I received yesterday has an article about Congress is
working on making all U.S.A.tv stations transmit only HDTV signals by
the end of next year or soon after the end of next year.Read about it
at, www.tvpredictions.com
cuhulin

Fortunately, HAM transceivers allow the same reception capabilities
and
offers transmission for those properly licensed. I don't believe that
HAM
transceivers are going anywhere soon, so there will be an abundance
of
superlative tabletop models for SWLing for years to come at the same
price of Shortwave only tabletops.

For sure...Quite a selection to choose from also...

For example, the Yaesu FT-840 transceiver. This is a fine (ahem,
according to Yaesu, entry level or good as a "second" transceiver. I
find
it perfect in itself, no need for all the bells and whistles) radio,
though I had to buy the AM filter separately, without it AM reception

filtering was far too narrow.

According to all the people I've known that owned the 840, it is
pretty good...It always sort of reminded me of a yaesu version of
the old IC-730...Same basic look, layout...



Oh, and by the by, some of the HAM transceivers are portable, not
quite
tabletop, definitely not handheld.
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/1857.html
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/1897.html
and others, these are just the ones that came to mine.

Yep, and even those make pretty decent "tabletop radios".
I use my IC-706mk2g as a tabletop 90% of the time,
http://www.icomamerica.com/products/...6mk2gphoto.asp

even though I bought it as a mobile rig...I use it everywhere..
Mobile, portable, and at home...I don't leave it in the car,
cuz I'm afraid someone will steal it...I just put it in,
if I plan on using it, or going out of town, etc..

In the house, it seems about like a tabletop, cuz it's got a
folding stand in front to raise and tilt the radio. It's not
shown in the pix, but it's a chrome metal folding stand
that is under the main portion of the radio...Makes all
the difference..."I happen to like all my radios tilting
up a bit in the front..." I keep my faceplate on the radio,
so it seems like a tabletop, just pretty small.

But get a load of this new version that is "supposed" to be
coming out.
http://www.qsl.net/ab4oj/icom/ic7000.html
It's the replacement for the 706mk2g...Looks pretty
killer, and I think will definitely give the yaesu's a run
for their money in the "mini-mobile" market.
It's the mk2g rebuilt with a dose of "pro" steroids....:)
I've had great luck with the 706mk2g, and hadn't planned on
getting rid of it anytime soon...But dunno...That IC-7000
has me drooling at the mouth...Being thats a CAD drawing,
I would expect the real thing to look even better than
that pix...500+ mem channels, Dual PBT, hi-stab xtal included,
no extra filters required due to the IF-DSP, etc, ad nausium...
Pretty slick for the small 706 package...It is obviously still
a 706 in basic design...Just pumped to the gills compared to
the original model...This would be the 4th "706" model so far
if it comes out...
I guess they consider it a totally new model, calling it the
IC-7000, but it's still basically a 706 on steroids...
As far as receivers only...It's a tuff call really...I'm sure
new models will come out, but I don't really know what to
expect, except that I expect hi-tech...Small little jobs that
go DC to light in a small package, and actually do it fairly
well. Colorful "pro type" displays, DSP of course, etc...
But overall, doesn't really matter to me, as I'll always be
buying the ham transceivers...That way, I get my moneys worth..
Do it all in one box...The 706 has been great in that regard..
MK