[ARC5] Fwd: GRC-109 or RR-2B

[Tim]

Hi Les - Maybe I can add a little to what Ken already noted.

It's a pretty good receiver considering the technology and era.  They don't
compare to a modern, Kilobuck ricebox of course.  I use mine a lot at home
and especially on camping trips.  The RR-2 is technically part of the RS-1
set.  The receiver for the GRC-109 is the R-1004 but they are essentially
the same.

The R-1004 is very solidly built to take a beating and it is weather
proof.  I agree with Ken that the sensitivity is probably better than 5 uV
just based on comparisons to a modern ricebox but I also have not measured
it.  It is plenty good for CW and makes a nice shortwave "band cruiser"
too.  9 Kc selectivity sounds great on AM and is adequate for CW if the
band is not too crowded.  An external, narrow audio filter would help on
CW.  If you use a regulated 90 V B+ supply the stability is plenty adequate
I think.

They have a manual Gain control which works well but you may have to ride
it to get the dynamic range you want.  The TX will strongly overload it so
I just reduce the gain on transmit and use the reduced gain to hear my own
keying.  As Ken noted, they normally used different TX and RX freqs
operationally, so that was not an issue and they also used the GRA-71 burst
keyer so you did not need sidetone anyway.  It's true that the receiver is
starved for signal when using a common antenna (especially on the lower
frequencies).  I usually use a dipole for TX and a separate, maybe a 50
foot random wire on the receiver which works just fine usually.  Mostly on
80 and 40 meters, sometimes on 20 for me....

The biggest and easiest improvement you can make is to use an external
amplified speaker (Radio Shack has them over this way).  This allows you to
set the RX gain control for best performance on that particular signal,
then adjust the audio amplifier volume so you can hear it.  Makes a big
operational difference.

Interested to hear Ken's thoughts on the solid state 1L6.  I don't have a
spare 1L6 (the Transoceanic guys are apparently hoarding them all !!!
LOL).  Sounds like they pass the "Ken Test" which is good enough for me!

"Real Radio"  !!
73, Tim
N6CC

SNIP



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