"...worth next to nothing, when compared to the rest of the 4 line. I have owned a B-line,a C-line in the past ,both good performers,B being my choice between the two. I find the early 4 line performance ,from my ear and operation just as good as my B-line. Of course I never had the chance to run them side by side..."
For the past month, I've been running my R-4B and Sherwood R-4C side-by-side. The R-4B has been a more enjoyable receiver to use, although the "modded" R-4C is incredibly good in tight band spaces among strong signals. High S/N R-4Cs seem to command the highest prices in the 4 line, but if one wants to later change the R-4C with all the Sherwood mods, I'm not sure why a high S/N matters. The only real consideration in my selection among S/Ns had to do with getting one with metal/Nylon mesh gears only because to me, that combination produces the most solid tuning feel among the dozen or so R-4Cs I've owned in the last twenty years. My R-4C is around S/N 26,950.
When I received my R-4B earlier this year, it was my first. I absolutely hated it. But the root cause for that hate was in the power supply filtering. Enough ripple had caused CW and SSB transmissions to sound "fuzzy," resulting in a high amount of audio IMD. The fuzz went away when the main supply cap was changed and that lead to my OCD taking over and making many other changes to the R-4B that are documented in the list archives.
The R-4B is capable of truly Hi-Fi audio. Unfortunately, the R-4C's greatest strength is also one of its greatest weaknesses. For example, low-frequency (below ~ 300 Hz) and upper SSB frequency audio response is forever compromised owing to the use of cascaded crystal filters. In recent years with DSP transmit IF schemes, enough SSB stations have now expanded the TX SSB audio passband to 100Hz - 3000 Hz where the difference in perceived audio balance can be remarkable in instances when the received signal strength is strong. This distinction can be easily heard with the B, but not the C. In a nutshell, my R-4C will be used for tough band conditions and the R-4B used for ragchews on both SSB and CW.
Paul, W9AC _______________________________________________ Drakelist mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist
