[Milsurplus] RAK-8 Receiver

[Richard Brunner]

The only difference in the suffixes is contract number.  This was a
common Navy practice.  The RAK and RAL receivers are pretty sturdy, and
the only problem I expect to find is carbon resistors aged way high.
The oil and paper capacitors are "slightly" leaky compared to new
capacitors, and replacing those in the tuned audio filter will
marginally improve selectivity. 

In the RAK receiver if you run the heaters on ac the inductors in the
audio filters will pick up a wee bit of hum from the ac magnetic field.
The navy mentions this as a good indication that the receiver is
working.  I prefer dc on heaters.  I didn't notice this effect in the
RAL.

I use the RAK and RAL frequently.  They can hear everything audible in
modern receivers, and seem quieter than many superhetrodyne receivers.

Richard, AA1P


On Mon, 2010-06-14 at 10:55 -0700, David Hollander wrote:
> Was looking for an RAL-7 but an RAK-8 receiver followed me home 
> yesterday as I could not pass it up. It has the power supply and the 
> original manual. Turns out this was made by Magnavox, not RCA however it 
> looks identical and the circuit looks the same. What is the difference 
> between the RAK-7 and the RAK-8. I was always under the impression that 
> all of these had been made by RCA.
> 
> I started seriously listening to NDB's last winter so I'm thinking this 
> may be a fun receiver to use over my FT-1000MP.
> 
> Any comments or suggestions or things I should look out for?
> 
> Tnx and 73,
> 
> Dave N7RK
>