[Milsurplus] Fw: Harris RF-550

Sun, 29 Sep 2002 11:16:35 -0400

Tim--

I have a Harris RF-550 and I love it. It's one of my favorite 
boatanchors. I think it's one of the great, underappreciated receivers 
of the modern era. A Harris engineer described it as being so good that 
it was "the receiver Harris couldn't afford to make" even though they 
sold for $13K. I particularly like the phase-lock ability in SSB. This 
lets you synch the rcvr with an AM signal while the BFO, normally used 
to demod an SSB signal, stabilizes the AM carrier and improves 
reception of weak AM sigs, sometimes dramatically. (But you probably 
know about synchronous AM already.) Why this capability is not part of 
every modern high-end rcvr, I have no idea. As far as I can tell, its 
performance is comparable to that of my Harris RF-590 or Racal GM/6790 
on the HF bands (I don't do VLF). It is indeed a general-coverage unit, 
30MHz down to, I forget, 100 kHz, or perhaps 10, AM/USB/LSB/ISB/CW, the 
usual.

Are you speaking of the unit currently up for bids on ePay, where the 
seller doesn't mention the freq coverage? Looks fairly nice, and it has 
the highly desirable paddle-tuning option rather than the standard 
thumbwheels. The current bid of $401 seems attractive, but then I paid 
$600 for mine at Fair Radio about 3 years ago... At anything around or 
under that price, highly recommended. Much past that price, you start 
encroaching on GM/6790 territory (not that that's a better rcvr, but 
it's lighter! And prettier?)

--howard n7exn

On Sunday, September 29, 2002, at 10:16 AM, tgrieco wrote:

> ALSO-PLEASE a fair price to pay in todays market for a working unit!!!
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "tgrieco" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Sunday, September 29, 2002 10:11 AM
> Subject: Harris RF-550
>
>
>> I have the opportunity to purchase this radio in working condition, 
>> but
> have
>> not seen it in person.I need to know the freq. coverage. Is it a 
>> general
>> coverage unit ie. R-390A type? Are special plugs / cables need to run
> audio
>> out? 600 ohm or 8 ohm speakers required? Just want to know what I 
>> need to
>> know as the owner is not an amateur and can not answer the 
>> questions.Gotta
>> ask first. Please send me to a site with info if anyone knows of it 
>> and I
>> can do the rest. Thanking you all first for your help as usual.
>> Tim
>> k1syn