[Heathkit] WTB: Stand alone HF Receiver

[Rodger Singley]

Ronnie,

I agree you need to shop carefully for the R-4C since the ebay ones are usually stripped of their accessories.  It also depends upon your operating habits (modes/dxing/contesting/etc.) but the crystal filters and electronic passband tuning of the R-4C give it a big advantage over the B line receiver for operating in CW or SSB contests, weak signal dxing, etc.  For general AM/CW/SSB operation the R-4B (or earlier R-4 and R-4A) are great receivers.  For most people the standard SSB filter plus the 500 hz CW filter will cover their C line filter needs.  Both of mine have the accessory 1.5 Khz, 500 hz, and 250 hz filters but 90% of my CW operating is done with the 500 hz filter.  I only have the noise blanker in one of mine but I never use it.  I haven’t added the AM filter to either of mine and rarely use the C line for AM but the “roofing” filter in the first IF provides decent AM selectivity and a resistor placed across the open accessory terminals allows AM operation without the accessory filter.

I also have the later R-7A receiver but I slightly prefer the operation of the R-4C and of course the R-7A is a later 70s/early 80s era receiver.  The Kenwood R-820 receiver of that era is also another nice receiver but tends to be expensive when found.

I bought my first C line in 1983.  I had gone to the local radio store in Biloxi, MS to place an order for a Yaesu FT-980 which was the first new ham radio I purchased.  When I went in to place the order Dave had just taken a pristine loaded C line in on trade and I bought it (R-4C with all filters/NB/extra crystals, T-4XC, MS-4/AC4, and mic) for $350.  I should have just stopped with that instead of ordering the Yaesu because the FT-980 looked good and had a lot of features but it had a very noisy receiver and a poorly designed internal power supply.   The FT-980 shared the same heat sink assembly with the FT-One but instead of the “new fangled” switching supply of the FT-One the FT-980 had a traditional analog supply and the heat sink and fan were far too small.  Even in receive only mode the noisy supply fan would cut on after about 5 to 10 minutes and run continuously.  I later rewired it to use an external Astron supply to supply the 12 volt (and through it 5 volt) power needs so all the internal supply had to cope with was the 24 volt finals and it did OK with that.  Fast forward 10 years and I had ordered a new FT-1000MP with a full set of Inrad filters and my first major use of it was a friend and I operated in a 160 meter CW contest.  I had built a homebrew triple 4CX800 amp to conservatively run the legal limit in any mode and was using a Hy Gain Hy tower modified as a full power inverted L on 160.  We worked quite a few South American and Caribbean stations but several hours in nothing from Europe.  I then checked my email and found several EU amateurs questioning/complaining about me not answering their calls.  I went back into the shack and added the R-4C with Autek QF1A as an external receiver to the FT-1000MP and started hearing EU CW signals that were inaudible on the Yaesu.  That solidified my respect for the performance of the R-4C.

Rodger WQ9E

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From: w5sum at comcast.net<mailto:w5sum at comcast.net>
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2017 5:43 PM
To: Howie WA3MCK<mailto:wa3mck at gmail.com>; Heathkit<mailto:heathkit at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [Heathkit] WTB: Stand alone HF Receiver

Unless you have unlimited funds I personally would steer away from the R4C.
They are GREAT rx's, BUT.. you have to buy filters, you have to buy the NB,
and have to buy this and you have to buy that.  Buy yourself a Drake R4B and
be done with it. It comes with all the stuff that drake did NOT put in the
R4C, so they could sell accessories and boost their sales.  Even a 2B would
be a better choice in my opinion.

NOW..  IF you can find a R4C that someone will sell REASONABLE that has all
the accessories in it, and you can afford it, buy it.. as I said, they are
great rx's. Most people nowadays that sell them, take all the accessories
out to sell seperateley so THEY can boost their sales profits LOL

Ronnie W5SUM