[Milsurplus] RAK AND RAL

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 22 Jul 2016 at 13:07, Ed Sharpe Archivist for SMECC via Milsurp wrote:

> Richard--- WOW!  you mean the  RAK  is not a direct calibration?

Ha ha! :-)

NO! It has a 0-10 dial and a 0-100 dial, and you must read the frequency from a chart and 
convert. The chart is in the manual. I can send you that page from the manual as either a 
PDF or as a JPG.

Once you get used to it, it is fairly easy to use, but in my opinion, the only real improvement 
one could ever make to either receiver is the conversion or addition of a direct-readout dial.

Richard's suggestion of coupling a probe to the detector output and connecting that to a 
frequency counter is a perfect solution, although getting that to work with the RAL is more 
difficult.

At one time, way back then, I actually bought an Eddystone 898 dial to attempt to add to my 
RAL-7, but never did.

Converting either receiver to a direct-readout dial would be a formidable task. I never 
attempted it once I found out how hard it would be to do.

BTW, the tuning mechanism, and the tuning capacitor, of the RAL/RAL is absolutely 
beautifully built.

Ken W7EKB