[R-390] Please spare us

[Jim Miller]

It is my understanding that the "A" model resulted from a cost reduction 
study conducted by the Signal Corps, documented in a report which you can 
read at Al Tirevold's site:   http://209.35.120.129/faq-collins-cost.pdf

If the above link doesn't work, go to http://www.r-390a.net and browse the 
References for the Cost Reduction Report.  It's all there.  It was the 
result of a cost reduction effort instigated by the Government, and Collins 
apparently responded quite nicely.

To quote from the report:

This report covers all the work done on the Signal Corps Cost Reduction

Contract DA36-039-sc-52584 which resulted in the redesign of the Radio

Receivers R-390( )/URR and R_391( )/URR. Except for the automatic tuning

facility of the R-391, the two receivers are similar. These receivers,

particularly the R-390, are fulfilling many needs of the Armed Forces, and 
are

being produced in quite large quantities. Since the unit cost of these

receivers is high, this program of cost reduction should result in a

considerable saving to the Government.

In addition to the primary purpose of reducing cost, every effort was made 
to

improve the reliability, accessibility and performance of these receivers

wherever it was possible to do so.

Two finished model R-390 and one R-391 receivers were built and delivered to

the Signal Corps as called for in the contract. These are designated "A"

models. One "B" model R-391 was also built and delivered to test all the new

ideas and bring them together in one receiver.

The main task of the contract, then, was to reduce cost of the equipments 
and

improve the reliability, accessibility and performance. The work done may be

broken down into the following phases:

Phase A: Study of the Main Areas for Investigation.

Phase B: Cost Analysis of the R-390 and R-391 Receivers.

Phase C: Design and Experimentation.

Phase D: Construction of "B" Model Receiver.

Phase E: Construction of "A" Model Receiver.

Phase F: Delivery of Models.

Phase G: Preparation of Drawings and Final Cost Analysis.





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "K3PID" <k3pid at sbcglobal.net>
To: <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2005 7:56 PM
Subject: Re: [R-390] Please spare us


>I didn't intend to start a thread to once again "beat the dead horse"! In
> fact I made no assertion as to one radio being better than the other. My
> ONLY point was that they are indeed very different radios and to treat 
> them
> as interchangeable is just plain wrong. In my opinion, it was unfortunate
> that the folks in charge at the time elected to simply append the A 
> instead
> of specifying a whole new radio. Both are remarkable examples of 
> electronic
> history.
>
> K3PID
> Ron H.
>
>
>
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