[Premium-Rx] Racal RA1772

[Thomas Adams]

One more endorsement in favor of the RA-1772.

I was lucky and got into them before the market 
went crazy; I currently have THREE of the
beasties here, plus an MA-168 Diversity Adaptor box.

For my money, it's the best design Racal ever came up with.


Mr. T.   W9LBB

At 01:20 07-08-10, richardreich at aol.com wrote:
>For what it is worth, I agree with Michael 100%.
>
>Richard
>Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: "Michael O'Beirne" <michaelob666 at ntlworld.com>
>Sender: premium-rx-bounces at mailman.qth.net
>Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2010 21:41:17
>To: PREMIUM-RX<premium-rx at mailman.qth.net>
>Subject: [Premium-Rx] Racal RA1772
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Michael O'Beirne" <michaelob666 at ntlworld.com>
>To: "Enrique Fernandez García" <enriqueeeeee2001 at yahoo.es>
>Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2010 9:34 PM
>Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] R&S EK 070 Availability?
>
>
> >
> > Dear Enrique
> >
> > I will give you some advice.  This is based on having owned 4 RA17s with
> > various adaptors, a RA217, RA1217, RA1772, RA1792, RA3701, PR155G, PR2250,
> > PR2280 and STC STR8212 (with complex DSP), not to mention various
> > Eddystones old and new.
> >
> > The nicest quality AM reception is still the RA1772 in my opinion.  It may
> > have a simple detector and not synchronous nor have all the modern frills
> > such as DSP, but it uses a AM precision detector with less distortion than
> > a conventional diode and sounds good, and my ears are backed up by
> > distortion measurements with professional test gear.
> >
> > In short, hang on to your RA1772.
> >
> > The 1772 also gives very low SSB distortion, of around 0.75% THD on a
> > single CW tone.  It's shortcomings are the AGC, which is semi-hang.  The
> > AGC on the RA1792 is better but I don't like that set as much.
> >
> > The other shortcoming is the PSU.  The +20V regulator is notorious for
> > failing due usually to a dry solder joint caused by the high temperature
> > inside the case.  This regulator provides the voltage reference to the
> > other voltage regulators and its failure causes the whole set to fail.
> > However it's easy to repair, though the mass of wiring gets in the way,
> > but be patient and you will succeed.
> >
> > The tuning on the 1772 is well weighted and super smooth, eons better than
> > on any Harris or Collins gear.  Almost as good is the RA3701 series, but I
> > still prefer the 1772.
> >
> > The 2280 is a good set with excellent audio but there are problems.
> >
> > 1.    Many of the Plessey ICs are no longer available.
> > 2.    The tuning seems to have a very very long time constant in the
> > synthesiser.  It sounds distinctly "rubbery" as the signal tunes in.
> > 3.    If you have the optional half octave filter module, be prepared to
> > have to change many of the small Clare DIL relays thta switch the ranges.
> > The reason is that the relays carry no DC wetting current and sometimes go
> > open circuit.  This is quite major surgery as there is not much room on
> > the PCB.
> > 4.    You will need the rare extender board to work on the module in
> > circuit.
> >
> >
> > 73s
> > Michael
> > G8MOB
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Enrique Fernandez García" <enriqueeeeee2001 at yahoo.es>
> > To: <premium-rx at mailman.qth.net>
> > Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2010 6:51 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] R&S EK 070 Availability?
> >
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > Owning just a RACAL 1772 I have always wanted to buy one too in order to
> > improve the reception with faint AM signals, but I think that the prices
> > have skyrocketed.
> > Another interesting option it is a Plessey 2280 but I do not if it could
> > surpass the Racal.
> >
> > Here you have a nice sample:
> >
> > http://www.helmut-singer.de/stock/1225203598.html
> >
> >
> >
>
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