[R-390] I'd kind of like to have one of these but...

[Barry]

 On Wed 10/08/11 10:14 PM , 2002tii bmw2002tii at nerdshack.com sent:
> Les wrote (regarding the Collins 651S-1):
> 
> >Even if you had a like new, mint one you would be
> disappointed.
> Amen to that.  I had a 651S-1B very briefly, and was horrified by how 
> bad it was in a great number of areas.  Even though the designers 
> limited the VFO to 100 Hz steps to minimize synthesizer artifacts 
> (much too coarse for decent SSB reception, BTW, although if you had 
> the variable VFO as I did you could al least get things sounding 
> right), the behavior of the synthesizer was appalling as you tuned up 
> and down.  The internal frequency reference drifted like a rudderless 
> dinghy with the centerboard up, the image and IF rejection were 30 dB 
> worse than a 390, and the front end was noisy and easily 
> overloaded.  The many spurs from the synthesizer made a WJ-8711A look 
> good.  Mine had the VLF option, which was utterly useless due to 
> noise and insensitivity.  And there was only one main tuning speed -- 
> way too fast.
> 
> That's what I can think of off the top of my head.  If I looked at my 
> notes, there's probably about that much again that I found
> unacceptable.
> Best regards,
> 
> Don
> 
> 
> Copyright (c) 2011.  Not for redistribution

Well, in that case, I won't bid on it.

Barry - N4BUQ