[Milsurplus] SRR-13 basic questions

Thu Jul 18 18:49:01 EDT 2024

HueMy impression is that it is heavy because it was sold to the Navy!
1) The SRR modules are heavily shielded.  Every connection on the back of the case is decoupled to keep noise out of the receiver.  Even the chassis is broken up into partitions.  Each module base is cast aluminum with lots of metal shielding to enclose everything inside the module.  Finger stock is used everywhere to ensure the integrity of the shielding.  The slides that connect the chassis to the case and the box containing the big variable capacitor both appears to be steel.  I would not be surprised if there is brass, mu-metal and stainless steel somewhere else in the mix.
2) The "arms" you refer to are they the steel slides or the handles on either side of the front panel?  The handles appear to be cast aluminum.  I have scrapped a few SRR and FRR radios that survived a garage fire of the late Dr. James Black.  I got more then a dozen of these radios at his estate auction.  So I have many spare parts, including the handles.
3) I have been servicing equipment that uses subminiature tubes for quite a while now.  I have only found one bad tube out of a dozen or so that I replaced.  The bad subminiature tube had an open heater, all the rest were good in that their replacement did not cure the problem I was trying to fix.  
The SSR and the later FRR radios are not the same but some modules appear to be interchangeable.  The frond end modules are different regarding the antenna and RF modules, not sure about the mixer and oscillator modules.  The first detector and everything later appear to be identical but I have never tried to swap them out to see if this is fact.
I would suggest that you set up the power supply for operation on 400 cycle power.  This adds a primary winding which will lower all secondary voltages a bit.  This way you won't have to worry to much about subminiature tube life.  If one band appears to be deaf, check the associated antenna coil.  I have found several that were burned open.  Not much room aboard ship to separate TX and RX antennas!
They are nice radios and the projection dial has a coolness factor about it.Regards,Jim
Logic: Method used to arrive at the wrong conclusion, with confidence.  Murphy 

    On Thursday, July 18, 2024 at 04:09:35 PM CDT, Hubert Miller <kargo_cult at msn.com> wrote:   

So i bought yesterday an SRR-13, a receiver whose format and look i have long considered really cool.

I had one briefly around 1990, but i didn’t want to get involved with it and i just shipped it to another fellow.

One thing i like is that the high band is 24 – 32 MHz, compared to 16 – 32 MHz for the R-808 and 14 – 29 MHz

for the R-274. ( I took a look yesterday at a Lafayette HA-800, a basic solid state ham band receiver of the

“Lafayette class”, which means not in the Drake, Kenwood, Yaesu class ham equipment; i noted that on

15 meters, the dial markings are actually better on this $100 ( ca. 1990, new )  radio than on the $975 ( ca. 1956,new ) R-274. )

Anyway…

   - Why is the SRR-13 so darn heavy? I was very surprised, lifting and moving it.
   - Those fragile “arms”, are those the ‘extensions’  for sliding it forward from the cabinet? If broken, is that some kind of deal

breaker, or can you still live with it, and use it?

   - Is this hard to service, i mean with the module construction? ( I have never even opened one up. )

I have recently overbought an R-808, SX-73, ARR-41, and the SRR-13.  The R-808 will have to go, as i’m turned off by the alignment

requirement to remove the RF and IF sections and cable them back to the mother chassis – requires finding connectors – i’m told

these are same as in old Tek tube scopes – and making up jumper cables for them – a hassle that turns me off.

The SX-73 i can admire but, no dust covers on this one, plus the 20 and 15 meter band dial resolution is not good.

ARR-41, i haven’t looked at the manual but  i really don’t like mechanically complicated machines. I think about how simple the

Lafayette HA-800 is inside and the thought relaxes me instead of  burdens me. I don’t care at all about contests, competitions etc.,

it’s just the fun experience that i’m after. OH….i also bought the CONAR Novice Twins. All this stuff is gear i would never be motivated

enough to buy where it had to be shipped, but it was local and right in front of me. The CONAR Twins had enough technical limitations,

but i don’t care; they’re quite compact and i can either keep them or not, no big deal.  ( I also have the ‘ARRL Novice Twins’ with the

2x 6AQ5 regen receiver, and the Weskit one-tube Novice transceiver. Very relaxing to just think about those. )

Your  input is welcomed.

-Hue Miller
 ______________________________________________________________
Milsurplus mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/milsurplus
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/milsurplus/attachments/20240718/8a491507/attachment.html>