[Drake] drake guy in the Rockville MD area

[Mike Hyder -N4NT-]

Bill, I am not a Drake guy but have operated the equipment. In east Africa 
we had a T4X/R4A station. I ran only CW and that was a pretty good station 
but did not have QSK capability. Later another fellow showed up with a 
T4XB/R4B station and it was about the same. I was in east Africa from 
January 1968 - June 1970, so you can tell that those Drake radios are dated.

I went to a friend's house in Knoxville to work a CW contest with his 
T4XB/R4B station and was driven even crazier by its filtering system. There 
is a multi-position switch that sets the bandwidth and I'm pretty sure it 
uses an RC filter and do not think it had crystal filtering. I tell you this 
because when I tuned across a CW signal, I could hear the carrier on both 
sides of zero beat which made a crowded band seem twice as crowded. I ran 
home and got my Heath HW-101 and found it far superior to that 'B-Line.' The 
R4A had the same filtering system.

Unless you have a burning desire to have a Drake station, I respectfully 
suggest you consider a Ten-Tec radio. You can find those on the used market 
at very reasonable prices. They are excellent rigs, especially for CW.

73, Mike N4NT

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stevens, Bill (ES)" <william.stevens at ngc.com>
To: <Drake at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 12:56 PM
Subject: [Drake] drake guy in the Rockville MD area


> Gents:
> Good day!!
> I live in the wash dc suburbs and wonder if there is someone in the local 
> area that specializes in drake gear.  I am looking for a TR-4B CW or some 
> twins.  Any help would be appreciated  .
>
> Bill WB2UFC