[Boatanchors] re:question

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On 3/12/07, Grant Youngman <nq5t at tx.rr.com> wrote:

> In my experience, if you say "R-390" in a group of 10 NON-lids:
>
> 6 -- will think you're talking about the R-390A by default.  They may get it
> right later, but only after you draw at least half of them a picture.

> 1 -- assumes correctly you mean "R-390", but still listens intently to make
sure the verbal clues you give about the radio really mean "R-390" and not
"R-390A", since he knows from experience that nearly everyone really means
"R-390A" even though the "A" is silent.

> 1 -- will ask "is it better than my Icom?", or "does it cover 2 meters?"

Which appears to show that the 'NON-Lids' really are lids? Does that
meant the A's are really R-390s? Or is it that they really aren't
lids, but have been inflitrated by such and are now vastly outnumbered
 by 80%? This is more confusing than trying to tell the receivers
apart. So are you telling me that all this time I was hearing people
at hamfests say "R-390 yAy!" they weren't celebrating a R at RE find and
were instead just saying 'R-390A'?

The simple explanation given to me by guys who used and/or maintained
them is simple: The R-390 is *the*  base model, the cost-reduced A
model came later. So you're either looking at the R-390 or later A.
I've never heard one of them use 'non-A'. In fact, the nomenclature
tags, publications, etc all back them up. Weird.

We must be traveling in the wrong circles, Grant. I bet your drawing
skills are improving faster than mine, though. The drawing stick still
hasn't thawed out of the snowbank.

~ Todd, KA1KAQ