[Boatanchors] Boatanchor receiver

[Todd Bigelow - PS]

Ross Hochstrasser wrote:

>If you want one that won't drift.... Racal RA17(17L,117 etc)  Ross
>

Absolutely! Also the SX-115, perhaps the best commercially made BA for 
SSB work. Triple conversion and stable, with wonderful audio. I say 
'perhaps' because it's mainly my opinion based on other equipment I have 
or have used. Tough to beat the Racal or the R-390 and later, 
cost-reduced 'A' model too. SP-600 has gotten a bumb rap over the years 
for being drifty, but selecting the correct tap on the transformer 
usually takes care of that. Even on their best day though, they aren't 
*quite* as stable as the above-mentioned - but who cares? I'm thinking 
that the SP-600 would fit in a class with the RCA AR-88 types, maybe a 
rung down from the RA-17/R-390s types. SP-600 has a lot more 
functionality, though - and it has wonderful flywheel tuning.

The 51S-1 is also rock-stable, but not as hot as decent R-390 or the 'A' 
version. When you get into the Drakes and Collins S-Line stuff, it's 
difficult to actually view it as a boatanchor though, compared to an 
R-390, SP-600, or RA-17. My RA-17UC went to a new home with Roy Morgan 
last fall, so...time to start looking for a replacement. I can just see 
it now....Roy working away under a light and magnifier, replacing 
anything that remotely resembles a cap and trying hard to coin a 'new 
and different' term for it.... RA-17 Non-L, Non-117, Non-Non.....Non-Non-A!

Ah, those Racals.....nice radios.

de Todd/'Boomer'  KA1KAQ