[Collins] R388 51j-3

Tue, 27 Jan 2004 13:57:03 -0800

It has been maybe 30 years since I had an R388...  But I remember it well.

It DID sound great, looked great/impressive and was a joy to tune.  I
converted it to an R388A/51J-4.  And it didn't sound as good but it sure did
a better job of making a signal readable if you were listening to the ham
bands with it even using the BFO to inject the carrier.

Since the two receivers are, if I remember correctly, IDENTICAL except for
the circuitry associated with the filters I think the comments about how
they sound is related to the steeper skirts when having the mechanical
filters.  I haven't looked for a long while at the schematics of each but
aren't they otherwise the same?

I would suspect if you have an R388A/51J-4 and don't like the way it sounds,
there might be somebody who'd gladly swap you their IF can and some $$$ for
the parts that make yours a mechanical filter based receiver and you can
buck the trend and convert it back to a non-mechanical filter IF.

I think in my box of R388/51J parts I still have the R388/51J IF can that I
removed when the filter circuitry goes in.  And it looks like new.

I think it's a case of not being able to have everything in one receiver
that you can afford to buy.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] 
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of DAN COTSIRILOS
> Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 12:20 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [Collins] R388 51j-3
> 
> I haven't had a 388 51j3 in a long time! The audio is 
> fantastic. I know the J4's are the coveted ones but they 
> don't hold a candle to the crystal filter audio. Its like hi-fi!!  Dan
> 
>