[Premium-Rx] Opinions of McKay ITT MSR 5050A Needed

[Pete Ferrand]

Hi Ed:

Happy to answer what I can, tho it's been about a dozen years since I sold mine to facilitate a move. I had a 5050A plus a 5050, together with the matching transmitters. It made for a very nice station and I was extremely happy with them. Got rid of a pair of 6790's and kept those.

Some of the guys I used to know in Nashua, NH who worked for Lockheed-Sanders said that the Mackay radios were the only ones that consistently survived when mounted in shelters that were air-dropped. I did not test this :)

I did not attempt to measure performance but I was entirely happy. Lots better audio than the Racals and most other rigs. The transmitters have noisy blowers but you're not asking about them.

Enough time has elapsed that I don't recall specifics but I can't think of any time I had to work on 'em other than the alignment they got when first bought through the Yellow Sheets. The manuals were excellent for that purpose. and the rigs are easy to work on with a simple extender card. Standard parts are pretty much used throughout. The overall design topology is pretty standard for the period. If you attempt to increase the internal IF gain pot beyond what the manuals says they will self oscillate, so that was an easy fix.

In total a very well behaved radio. 

The main thing to check on is how yours is optioned out. For normal ham/swl you will need the BFO option and extra crystal filters on what I vaguely recall is a separate internal board. It's not straightforward, there are some dependencies such that to get more filters you need this option and not that one, the manual explains it but I don't have mine anymore.

As with any of these sets there are many options and they make a big difference. I would not want to use a no-option radio. 

The tuning steps are not well chosen but I can't recall the details as to why; it functions correctly however.  I never located software to run the radios via computer but that wasn't a priority anyway.

BTW some of the guys responsible for the design of this series left the company to form JPS, which made the NIR-10 and -12 DSP accessories. 

You may know this, but when I called the company the phone was answered with "Mackay", which they pronounce to rhyme with "Khaki". Also note the spelling for any google searches you might do.

If you have any specific questions it might jog my memory. Or not :)

HTH,
-Pete
WB2QLL
Somers, WI














-----Original Message-----
>From: Ed <aidehua at aol.com>
>Sent: May 20, 2012 10:27 AM
>To: antonio <i8iov at yahoo.com>
>Cc: "premium-rx at mailman.qth.net" <premium-rx at mailman.qth.net>
>Subject: [Premium-Rx] Opinions of McKay ITT MSR 5050A Needed
>
>Thinking about buying this receiver.  Would like to hear the good, bad and the ugly on performance etc.  Not a lot of info published on this.
>
>Thanks
>Ed NI6S
>
>Sent from my iPhone
>
>On May 19, 2012, at 13:58, antonio <i8iov at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ________________________________
>> 
>> Hi group,Is there any similar list available somewhere for the 1792 and 1795 receivers please?
>> Thanks,
>> Antonio I8IOV
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Premium-Rx mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/premium-rx
>> Help Page: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:Premium-Rx at mailman.qth.net
>> Help Contact eMail:  paul at 8zo.com
>> Home Page:  http://www.premium-rx.org/
>______________________________________________________________
>Premium-Rx mailing list
>Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/premium-rx
>Help Page: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>Post: mailto:Premium-Rx at mailman.qth.net
>Help Contact eMail:  paul at 8zo.com
>Home Page:  http://www.premium-rx.org/