Paul Christensen wrote:
"We have no problem discussing the modifications, certainly they
are HIS [Jim] radios to destroy as he sees fit, and I can keep mine as pristine as I
choose."
Ouch, that one hurt, Garey. I would hope that not everyone agrees a modified Drake can no longer
be "pristine." Apart from my near-complete wrecking-out of an R-4B, it's about as cosmetically
restored to pristine as they come. I do think if anyone on the group actually experienced my R-4B
with its almost zero cabinet heat, 0.05 % THD/1kHz at 4-watts, flattened audio passband (+/- 1.0dB
50 Hz to 3.5 kHz), no hiss, no hum, no buzz, improved Fast AGC -- and inspected it for cosmetics,
then maybe, just maybe they would change their mind! Or not...
I'm almost feeling a need to replace the aluminum front panel and remove any reference to
"Drake." Kinda' like when a retail store closes and its corporate leadership obliterates any
prior association to protect its brand!
Paul, W9AC
Paul -
Well, Jim's tough, so I know he can take it! :-)
I have to admit that your project certainly sounds good. I enjoyed your posts describing what you
found and what you did to 'fix' it. In spite of what you did to it, it still is pretty much an
R-4B. I suspect Bob Drake would be proud of it as well. I suppose it's ok for you to leave Drake
on the front panel....... :-) But what you now have is NOT an R-4B, at least to me! What you
have is an excellent radio, implemented with modern devices, built around the R-4B topology. Next
could be a DDS to replace the BAND oscillator to give you continuous coverage, or eliminating the
PTO, BAND and PreMixer stages entirely.
There have been those that essentially stripped the chassis, keeping the PTO and little else. They
need a plastic banner to paste over the Drake name! This is merely a matter of the difficulty of
building a good PTO. There is less of that these days with the availability of DDS variable
oscillators.
BUT, in spite of all that, I have great respect for what you have accomplished, and there is no
question you have a receiver that is better than an R-4B. It's just NOT an R-4B! :-)
73, Garey - K4OAH
Glen Allen, VA
Drake 2-B, 2-C/2-NT, 4-A, 4-B, C-Line
and TR-4/C Service Supplement CDs
<www.k4oah.com>
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