[R-390] Poor mans R 389 receiver

[Perry Sandeen]

Most of us that don’t would like to have a R389, but we aren’t allowed to sell the kids or
persuade our wives to get 2nd and 3rd jobs.

Sort of by dumb luck however I  found a good equivalent on epay that set me back $200 delivered
including an operators manual.  My unit was a little rough so it was a bit cheaper that some of
the others they had for sale.   I already had a HP 312B which I hadn’t got a chance to use (play
with) yet so I‘ve been lurking around epay looking for another unit.

      Technically it is the HP 3586 Selective Level Meter.  This description is as underwhelming 
as calling the Boeing 747-SP400 a "people transportation unit."

     This sucker is a real sleeper.  It has a USB/LSB receiver that covers 20Hz to 32Mhz.  A
synthesized VFO output over the same rang  plus it can be used as a frequency counter.  As a level
meter it goes down around -121dbm.  That’s just for starters.  It measures all kind of additional
telecom stuff. Mine also came with the high stability 10Mhz oven.  I checked it against WWV and it
was off by 1852 Cps after being used for 15 years.  Not to shabby!

Because of its name and  funky rf patch panel inputs almost no dealer or epay  surfers know what
they are good for.  This of course makes it a good buy for the BA crew.

     Here is the icing on the cake: free operators manual written by Bill Feldmann, N6py on the
BAMA site as well as the service manual is available from several sites.  I got mine from the
W5JGV website.  These are BIG files.  Volume 1 is 113Mbytes ZIPPED.  It took me all night do
download it on dial-up.  Bill’s operators manual is far superior to the HP one, which assumes that
you have an EE degree from MIT. (Just Kidding).  HP has kindly given permission to reprint its
material.  Also it looks the US military used a bunch of these.  

Last, but not least the unit weighs 40 something pounds and takes up almost the volume of one of
are beloved receivers.  No rice box here.  I got mine from a company on epay called atvm in MD
which usually sells Mercedes Benz parts.  [VERY well packed: UPS couldn’t screw it up, a pleasant
change.]  They still are selling some under "receivers".  Even if they sell out, this unit will
show up from time to time.  Download the operators manual from BAMA and see all the good stuff
this thing can do.   Good scrounging, Perrier



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