[R-390] R-390A On 160 Meters

[Bill Breeden]

I had an experience over the weekend that I thought I would share with the group.  I have a fine EAC R-390A from the 1967 production run that I purchased from Bill Neill a few years ago.  I have never performed an alignment on the radio, but have spot checked the sensitivity on various bands of interest with an HP 8640B and the sensitivity appears to meet or exceed the specifications everywhere I checked.  While listening to the K5D DXpedition on 160 meter CW this weekend, I found that my R-390A could hear K5D when my FT-920 transceiver and my NRD-525 receiver could not.  At the time, all three were sharing the same antenna via a Stridsberg MCA104 receiver multicoupler.  While I have made this type of comparison a number of times in the past, this is the first time in my experience that my R-390A has clearly outperformed the receiver in the FT-920.  My FT-920 has an excellent receiver and always outperformed my NRD-525.  I made the same comparison between the FT-920 and the R-390A on 12 meters yesterday afternoon, and the FT-920 may have had a slight edge there, but it wasn't as dramatic as the 160 meter comparison.  I realize that the alignment on the R-390A is a band by band issue, and looking back at my notes, I don't see that I have ever checked the sensitivity on 12 meters.

Bill Breeden - NA5DX (ex: AB0FX)
Saucier, Mississippi

1967 EAC R-390A #1828