Fw: [Premium-Rx] USSR R155P receiver

Thu Jun 2 17:41:15 EDT 2005

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael O'Beirne" <michaelob at tiscali.co.uk>
To: <hbreuer at debitel.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2005 10:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] USSR R155P receiver


> Hi gents
>
> Referring to Heinz's posting, the Helmut Singer webpage gives the weight
as
> 100kg, which struck me yesterday as being far too low given the
substantial
> bulk evident in the photo.  You will also see the side entry about the
next
> destination of this radio - the scrap dump!!!  I think his price is far
too
> fanciful.  500Euros is more like it.
>
> 73s
> Michael
> G8MOB
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Heinz und Hannelore Breuer" <hbreuer at debitel.net>
> To: "Michael O'Beirne" <michaelob at tiscali.co.uk>
> Cc: "Premium-Radio" <premium-rx at ml.skirrow.org>
> Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2005 6:26 PM
> Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] USSR R155P receiver
>
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > I have a R-155P and it is 210kg not 100kg. There is also a R-155U which
> > has an additional converter to cover 30-60MHz as well and this one is
> > about 250kg.
> > There are at least 6 tubes in the receiver module which is located under
> > the synthesizer module. It is a long time since I had the modules out
> > and I don't remember how many tubes there are in total.
> > The R-155P usually goes for about EUR 500 and up. There was one on
> > German eBay new-in-crate a couple month ago for EUR 1,500 but it didn't
> sell.
> >
> > 73
> > Heinz DH2FA, KM5VT
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > Michael O'Beirne wrote:
> > >
> > > Good evening all,
> > >
> > > I have had a look at this receiver on the Helmut Singer website.  Here
> > > are a few thoughts:-
> > >
> > > 1.       This receiver reminds me of a transistorised version of the
> > > old valved monster TMC naval receivers such as the AN/FRR-74
> > > (DDR-5K).  It even has the same Nixie tube display.
> > >
> > > 2.    There is a big centrally placed drawer with 6 Nixie tubes and a
> > > number of what must be decade switches below them.  This is clearly
> > > the synthesiser module.  This set is therefore click-click-click tuned
> > > by the decade switches to 100Hz increments plus almost certainly a
> > > fine tune over the 100Hz increments to "fill in the gap" between
> > > tuning steps.  This is OK for tuning to predesignated channels but is
> > > completely useless for monitoring and general tuning up and down.  The
> > > description of it as a "surveillance receiver" in the Helmut Singer
> > > catalogue is nonsense.  Thise type of receiver was generally used for
> > > point-to-point links either on land or at sea.  Monitoring receivers
> > > have a free tune control such as you find with the RA1772 and RA6790.
> > >
> > > 3.    I expect the front end has a valve or two, loads of
> > > old-fashioned tuned circuits and is probably pretty bomb proof.
> > > Russians retained valves in their front ends for far longer than we
> > > did because of the vastly superior survivability of valves to the
> > > dreaded EMP.  My guess is that the front end drawer is directly below
> > > the synthesiser drawer which has the Nixie display, and the PSU drawer
> > > will be on the very top.  You can see a monitoring meter top left with
> > > what looks like "go" and "no go" meter markings and what appear to be
> > > 16 fuse holders and a big heatsink.  The Russians very sensibly put
> > > the PSU at the top (rather than the bottom as we do) because the PSU
> > > is usually the hottest part and needs to be on top to avoid heating up
> > > all the other modules.
> > >
> > > 4.    Each of the three lower drawers (each with a meter on the LHS)
> > > is probably devoted to a specific mode such as RTTY, NBFM and ISB.
> > > You find this on many Western point-to-point receivers by TMC, R&S,
> > > Marconi, Plessey and Racal.
> > >
> > > 5.    I bet it is extremely solid and well made.  The weight at 100kg
> > > is not all that much for a radio well over 40 inches high.  If Marconi
> > > had made it you could easily add 50kg to the overall weight!!
> > > I once had in the shack a lovely Russian maritime receiver, the Volna
> > > K.  ("Volna" means a wave). It was from about 1965 - 1970, valved but
> > > very solid and nice to use and with parts of excellent quality, built
> > > regardless of cost.  The tuning system was a direct copy from a German
> > > WW2 design of |Telefunken, the Koln E52, using some precision optics
> > > to magnify a superbly engraved very fine glass scale by projecting a
> > > light beam through the glass scale to the rear of the chassis where it
> > > hit a mirror and was reflected back to a ground glass screen on the
> > > front panel.  It was possible to tune directly to 5kHz or better at
> > > 22MHz. The very heavy tuning knob was a straight copy of that on the
> > > Marconi Atalanta marine receiver.  In fact most Russian radios are
> > > derivatives of Western kit, but adapted intelligently for their own
> > > manufacturing processes.  In general Russian electronice are well
> > > built and robust (excluding some of their crummy domestic stuff) and
> > > relatively easy to use.
> > >
> > > 6.    The price with German VAT is 2146 Euro which is rather steep for
> > > an unknown radio and in unknown condition, albeit with a mass of
> > > manuals but all in Russian.  I'd love to have it but I am fast running
> > > out of room here and it's too expensive (particularly as we in UK have
> > > to pay import duty on top of our VAT and transport costs).
> > >
> > > 7.    If any PR member does buy it, could he please contact me
> > > directly because I'd love to write an article on it for the UK's Radio
> > > Bygones or Short Wave Magazine, and full acknowledgements of course
> > > for the help.  I'll also prepare a precis for the PR data base.  This
> > > stuff in reasonable condition is so scarce that readers would be
> > > delighted for a few pics and a general description.  There is some
> > > chance that one of their older readers may have encountered the set on
> > > his travels in East Germany.  RB have just published my article on the
> > > very rare and beautifully made NEMA encyphering machine designed by
> > > the Swiss in WW2 to replace their old Enigma-type machines.  A real
> > > "Rolex" job.
> > >
> > > 73s to all
> > > Michael O'Beirne
> > > G8MOB
> > >
> > >
> > >     ---------------------------------------------------------------
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