[Hallicrafters] compare to Drake twins

[howarddavy at q-bec.com]

Tim,

My vote for the Hallicrafters comparison to the Drake line is the HT44 & SX117 combo.

I have used both the HT44 & SX117 combo and the Drake "B" twins and I like the Halli combo, after making the stability mod for the SX117 trimmer cap mentioned in the HT44 manual and after adding an external switch on the SX117 to switch the notch in and out and after extending the range of the notch by putting in a shorter set screw on the shaft of the permeability tuned coil of the notch shaft.

The Halli combo works well in CW transceive if the SX117 control is set slightly to the right of center for an offset - something that is not explained in the manuals.

The HT44 provides front panel selection of phone PTT operation whereas the Drake T4X series did not do so.  The HT44 offers full regular AM operation whereas the Drake offers only carrier controlled AM.

The SX117 provides a more useful noise limiting circuit than the Drake noise blanker.  I like the tone of the SX117 more than the R4-series tone.  The notch filter on the SX117 is easier to use than the R4-notch due to its better adjustment rate.  

The Halli twins have a main dial tuning rate that is about twice as slow as the Drake which is an advantage in ease of using their VFOs.

The Halli twins are all point-to-point wired so they are rather simple to service compared to the Drake "B" line which uses some circuit boards.

All in all, both these Halli twins and the Drake twins are both excellent paired xmtr/rcvr combos.  Comparing one Drake set to another, the Drake "B" line is better than the "C" line.

73, Howard VE3AXD