[Premium-Rx] Mason Enginering Model A-2CS ???

[w3jn]

Hank, the A-2 is a TSCM receiver.  Kinda cool but crummy and crappy performance.  The LO would drift just looking at it sideways, and most were stored in foam-lined briefcases so the foam disintegrated over the years and covered them with gooey residue.

All of the Masons were just barely usable as receivers.  Fred Mason apparently had a really hard time designing a stable LO as well as keeping birdies under control.  The panadapter is almost useless; IIRC there was one version that could raster video to some extent on its panadaptor screen.  The MPR-5, although smaller and has a freq counter, is of the same ilk - drifty and full of birdies.  Still, they cover DC-daylight in a relatively small package.  $1k for an A-2 is, IMHO, about $995 more than it's worth.  If you want a shelf curiosity the dollar store is full of crappy figurines and stuffed toys - and they're ALMOST as usable as receivers as these clinkers.

If you want a cool yet very usable TSCM receiver, look for a MicroTel PR-700.  Now THAT'S a receiver!

73 John
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Mark S. Holden 
  To: Henry Kolesnik 
  Cc: premium-rx at ml.skirrow.org 
  Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2005 2:54 PM
  Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] Mason Enginering Model A-2CS ???


  Henry Kolesnik wrote:


    Hey guys

    I can't find anything in Osterman or Googling...
    Anyone have more info on it?  Doesn't  look that sensitive and I wonder why info is so scarce?

    It's at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5743380351&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT
    over in the boot country.
    tnx

    73
    Hank WD5JFR
  F.G. Mason radios were popular for spook work.  

  Most are very modular, and go together sort of like Lego's presumably to make it easier to sneak them in.  Otherwise, they're small, and almost always include rechargeable batteries and a signal display unit.  

  I imagine today, they'd just use a wideband scanner.  

  The address on manuals is local for me.  It's a second story in a retail strip shopping center in Fairfield CT - most of the other offices there are for doctors and the like.  When I tried calling the phone number a woman with a "Natasha Fatale" (as in Boris and Natasha) style voice answered the phone by saying "You have a wrong number." and hung up before I could say "hello" or ask her to say "Get Moose and Squirrel!".





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