[Milsurplus] Spilsbury SBX-11 - A True Classic

[Mike Morrow]

Bruce wrote:

>I agree that it is not a rugged military style rig. It was never meant 
>to compete with die cast housings. The housing is aluminum to reduce 
>weight and with the lid down is waterproof.
>It's temp spec is -30C to +50C with stability +- 50 Hz. I don't recall 
>what the actual cost was for this rig but it was kept low to help 
>marketing. The radios were manufactured locally here in Vancouver, not 
>off shore.

The 1984 and 1997 manuals rate stability as +/-100 Hz in that temperature
range, but that's still pretty good.  Frequency range is 1.6 to 10 MHz.
Max transmitter power is 10 watts PEP, USB.  Receiver drain is 30 mA,
Transmitter drain is 600 mA.  Six-dB receiver bandwidth is 2.1 kHz.  All
in all, this is not too shabby for a small eight-pound (with batteries
and accessories) unit that was designed more than 40 years ago, and
that had a reputation for outstanding reliability all through its
production history.

I didn't mean to sound too critical of the SBX-11/-11A.  It was made
from 1969 to 1999, and apparently it was/is THE main radio providing a
great deal of essential communications capability in the Canadian North
and other localities as well.  One can't argue with success like that.
I'm glad to have a veteran of such service in my collection.  It deserves
status as a "classic" radio set.

The main thing that put me off was the need for three special plug-in
coil assemblies for *each* of the four channels, in addition to two
crystals.

There's a fair amount of info at:

http://www.matthewkendall.com/electronics/sbx-11a

Mike / KK5F