[R-390] Racal RA17 - off topic question

[G4GJL]

Hello. Randy and the group....

You are right that they are kissing cousins. Our military and covert
services used them for similar purposes as the US Govt used 390s. They were
ubiquetous in their day. The RA117 (similar line up to the RA17, but with
and extra IF stage at 1.7Mcs) may still be in use in the Royal Navy.

I have an RA17 Mk2, and RA17L, and RA117E and an RA117, plus some of the add
on units...SSB convertors, LF adaptors etc. They are great receivers to use,
as band cruising is easy and the resetting accuracy is about +/- 500c/s.
There is a synthesiser for the RA117/- series, but it almost as big as the
RX!

Disadvantages include the physical depth (front to back dimension), they are
relatively noisy, especially compared to the 390, and the fact that they run
quite hot, which tends to age the wire and components, especially those in
the sealed compartments beneath the chassis.


Do you have the manual for your set, Randy? I can point you at some of the
most likely candidate components for changeout, if you want to bring the RX
up to its spec. performance.

Enjoy listening to the rig....they, like the 390 hark back to an age of
tremendous innovation and progress in design. Not much to touch either of
them in my opinion!

73

Pete
G4GJL


From: <R390rcvr@aol.com>
To: <r-390@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2003 8:45 PM
Subject: [R-390] Racal RA17 - off topic question


> Good day all:
>
> Would like to hear from anyone in the group who has experience with the
RA17
> line of receivers. My 1st impressions are that it is a mix of interesting
> engineering and frustrating execution at times. Does not lend itself to
easy
> service like the R-390X series. Sorry for the off topic post, but this
radio
> def. is a kissing cousin to the R-390 radios, at least as far as its
mission
> in life!
>
> Randy
>
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