[Milsurplus] receivers

[Hue Miller]

George, while i agree with you on the employment of the R-390, i have to say
it also seems that there really was a need to move beyond the archaic 6-band
vfo design, i mean the SP-600 and such. I do not think the SP-600, SX-73, etc.
make very good TTY receivers. If you have relay racks full of receivers, you
want to minimize the tweak spent having to continually tweak them onto
frequency, and being able to avoid the hassles of crystal control is also a plus.
Where my father worked, at the Army receiver site in Lynnwood, WA, with
racks full of R-390s and roomfulls of TTY machines, crypto room and such,
i think it would be near impossible to do the job with the old drift master type
circuits.
Also, for he SIGINT use, the accurate frequency readout is a real plus. The
operator does not have to be thoroughly trained in radio setup, and you
don't need a transfer oscillator to set the receiver up. The operator can say,
i heard something on xyz frequency, not, i heard something around xyz
frequency.
I think the R-390 answered a massive, general need.
Hue Miller