[Lowfer] Rycom

[lowfer@mailman.qth.net]

At 08:25 PM 04/22/2003 -0500, John T. Mudd wrote:
>I found a Rycom Selective voltmeter and VLF rcvr for sale.
>Is this a decent unit for lowfer and NDB use?

Depends a little bit on the model... they have been made from tube days
into today's PLL solid state models.
The old tube models looked grand, but were fairly drifty.
Rycom has been the "Chevrolet" of the SVM market.
Wandel U Golterman (West German) was one of the Cadillac types.
And there are many in between the two mentioned above.

Front end selectivity is missing in SVM's, so you may need an input
bandpass filter.

Sensitivity is not the greatest due to their design... typically -80 dBm at
impedances of 600, 135 and 75 ohms.

Selectivity is usually very good.....  2 kHz (wide) down to as low as 50 Hz
depending on the model.


>If so, what would be a fair price?

Again, depends on what Rycom model and how old.
I found a nice solid state Rycom at a hamfest for $30, (a bargain) but normally
you can expect the cost to start at twice that amount and go up....

FWIW......

Perry    w8au