Good afternoon Andy; I just received your message and had a little time on my hands so I thought I'd send some observations from my side. Of course with anything posted here or elsewhere, your mileage may vary and there are always genuinely important and differing opinions.
I have and still use both an R4B and a R4C/Sherwood receiver on CW and they are both very good rigs for that purpose. IMHO, a well tuned R4C with Sherwood CW filter modifications is an outstanding performer, but it is also much more expensive than a good working R4B, which does not require further modifications to be a capable performer. If ultimate CW performance in an older style radio is your goal, and cost is no consideration, then a "Sherwoodized" late model R4C, well aligned and in proper working condition, is going to be hard to beat. However, we are talking about a substantial investment in time and money to reach this level of performance. Any well aligned R4C with it's optional CW filters can also be an excellent CW performer, without the optional Sherwood filters. A well accepted modification that really nets good results is replacing the first IF crystal filter with a 6khz 8 pole INRAD (a $125 upgrade). This greatly improves selectivity of the receiver in both SSB and CW with only a slight sacrifice in AM performance. INRAD also provides optional second IF crystal filters that are IMHO better than the original Drake units... but only slightly. Frankly, I've found that the R4B is also an excellent CW receiver and I enjoy working CW with this rig because of it's overall audio quality and it's selectable bandwidth filters. No modifications are required, save the usual alignment and general servicing of the radio. My only negative comment on the R4B is that the two 6HS6 tubes are getting very difficult to find at any reasonable price... but they don't fail all that often and can be had on the tube aftermarket. So; Ultimate Performance, price no object = a late model R4C with lots of Sherwood goodies Very good Performance, price is important = a well tuned R4C with 6Khz option and Drake filters Price an object = a really well serviced and operating R4B Of course, there are lots of other options. Best regards; Gene W5DDW Gene McCalmont 270 Oakridge Road Argyle Texas 76226 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Submissions: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - subscribe drakelist in body Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - unsubscribe drakelist in body Hopelessly Lost: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - help in body of message Brought to you courtesy of TLCHost.net http://www.tlchost.net/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------
