In article ,
"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

I wonder if they would sell the design to a small company to update
and sell under a different name? I was involved in a number of receiver
redesigns due to obsolete parts when while I worked at Microdyne.

This is a nice dream but design by committee would be tough. Plenty of
people like myself would not want a laptop connected to the radio. I
would want a stand alone operational radio. Connecting the laptop for
additional displays like spectral would be OK as long as the radio
operates by itself.

Starting out with the abilities of an all round capable R8B would be a
good start for a feature set.

How would such a project be managed?

--
Telamon
Ventura, California


My thoughts would be to see about designing new boards to fit the
existing chassis, and then see about new features like reduced power
consumption and computer interface for remote control, up or downloading
memories or logging frequencies you listened to without adding them to
the preset memories. The VLF could be replaced with a DDS that could
tune in the current 10 Hz as well as 1 Hz to tweak SSb signals. Maybe
add an input for a frequency standard for serious users so it's within 1
Hz at 30 MHz and a buffered IF out to drive an optional spectrum
display. I worked on $10,000 to $80,000 radios and some of the older
designs had been in production for over 10 years. Circuit boards went
from through hole to surface mount, the Op amps were replaced with newer
parts and overall tolerance of some parts went from 10% and 5% to 1% and
.1% to make the boards interchangeable without a lot of extra work.
Hard to find polypropylene caps were replaced with SMD ceramics and the
overall power consumption went down.

Surface mount is the way to go and 1% tolerance parts are inexpensive
and good enough for a radio. Todays ceramic capacitors are a good value,
very stable and long lived. The problem is the analog IC's for
amplifiers, limiters, led drivers and other functions that go out of
style in a few years time.

The important question would be, are there many customers left to buy
a brand new top notch receiver?

The $64,000 question.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California