[Drakelist] My Drake/Sherwood R-4C Rules my shack!
Like some of you here, I have been working very hard to get into the log of the DX-pedition to the South Orkney Islands. My favorite band/mode has always been 40M CW. Last night I finally got my contact with them. Considering I am only running 600W to a 20M double zepp from W. WA it has been a bit of a chore. My fully loaded Sherwood R-4C smoked my Ten Tec OMNI 6+ (which has a full load to TT filters and the INRAD CW roofing filter mod) last night. On the Drake VP8ORK was only a 529 using GUF 600Hz roofing filter and the DRAKE OEM 250Hz cw filter with no ringing filters or white noise. One the OMNI VI+ VP8ORK was only 229 due to the receiver white noise and the howling DSP noise. It is absolutely amazing to hear the difference of the two receivers. I do prefer the digital control that the 6 offers, but if you can't hear 'em you ain't going to work 'em. A trip down to Fry's electronics for a 4PDT 12V relay, a 3 pos double pole rotary wafer switch, a bud box and 6 RCA jack and 3 1/8 headphone jacks is on the agenda next so I have TR switching for the R-4C, then it is good to go for the TJ8 DX-pedition coming up next. God I Love that Sherwood R-4C. Don Jones KO7i Arlington, WA ___ Drakelist mailing list Drakelist@zerobeat.net http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist
Re: [Drakelist] My Drake/Sherwood R-4C Rules my shack! (Don Jones)
IMHO, the only thing that is better than what Don describes is the R-4C as he describes BUT...use a Timewave 599ZX with a pair of noise canceling earphones (the Bose are expensive, but quite comfortable). The Timewave has a superior audio amp and I set up the filter as a bandpass with the low end at ~300 Hz and the high end at 1,500 Hz. This helps with the low end rumble and the high end atmosphere noise and makes the radio even more enjoyable. I rarely use the other features of the DSP filter, but on occasion, the Random function does help. Only on few occasions do I use the CW function of the DSP. It does help also, but for the most part, the R-4C audio into the DSP filter is clean. I have recently aligned my R-4C and used the headphone jack with out the Timewave and again realized what a huge difference it makes. The DSP filter is not low cost, but I got it 10 years ago and it is still a viable solution. I am sure that there are lower cost filters out there, but can not attest to the audio amps on them. One of the cost drivers of the 599ZX is the ability to go to 5 kHz as the upper cut off frequency. This compares to others that have a cut off at 3 kHz or so. For amateur radio, the 3 kHz is fine, but I also use the 599ZX with my Drake R-8B for BCBDX and Beacons. Jim WA9ZBV Orange, CA -- Message: 5 Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2011 08:51:43 -0800 From: Don Jones k...@comcast.net To: drakelist@zerobeat.net Subject: [Drakelist] My Drake/Sherwood R-4C Rules my shack! Message-ID: 000c01cbc554$f890e040$e9b2a0c0$@net Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Like some of you here, I have been working very hard to get into the log of the DX-pedition to the South Orkney Islands. My favorite band/mode has always been 40M CW. Last night I finally got my contact with them. Considering I am only running 600W to a 20M double zepp from W. WA it has been a bit of a chore. My fully loaded Sherwood R-4C smoked my Ten Tec OMNI 6+ (which has a full load to TT filters and the INRAD CW roofing filter mod) last night. On the Drake VP8ORK was only a 529 using GUF 600Hz roofing filter and the DRAKE OEM 250Hz cw filter with no ringing filters or white noise. One the OMNI VI+ VP8ORK was only 229 due to the receiver white noise and the howling DSP noise. It is absolutely amazing to hear the difference of the two receivers. I do prefer the digital control that the 6 offers, but if you can't hear 'em you ain't going to work 'em. A trip down to Fry's electronics for a 4PDT 12V relay, a 3 pos double pole rotary wafer switch, a bud box and 6 RCA jack and 3 1/8 headphone jacks is on the agenda next so I have TR switching for the R-4C, then it is good to go for the TJ8 DX-pedition coming up next. God I Love that Sherwood R-4C. Don Jones KO7i Arlington, WA ___ Drakelist mailing list Drakelist@zerobeat.net http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist
Re: [Drakelist] My Drake/Sherwood R-4C Rules my shack! (Don Jones)
On Sat, 05 Feb 2011 10:20:27 -0800, Jim Bo wrote: use a Timewave 599ZX with a pair of noise canceling earphones (the Bose are expensive, but quite comfortable). I found a ClearSpeeck Base a couple of years ago at a hamfest for the insanely low price of 10 bucks. While I am not a big fan of DSP as the magic box that cures all ills, I figured that I couldn't go wrong at that price. While I haven't tried it out on the R-4C yet, I have used it extensively with my TR-7. For a no-adjustments black box, I was suprised, if not astonished, at how good it really was. I have literally been on 75 phone with it and been totally unaware of static crashes from approaching thunderstorms that were making copy very difficlut for others. Paired it with an Autek QF-1A, which provides some interesting combinations for noise filtering. It blows away my previous experiences with the RadShack DSP-40, which acutally does a fair job for what it is (i.e., it works like a $70 DSP should be expected to). The Timewave offerings have intruiged me, and I'll probably end up with one at some point if I can find a good deal. 73 -Jim -- Ham Radio NU0C Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.S.A. TR7/RV7/R7A/L7, TR6/RV6, T4XC/R4C/L4B, NCL2000, SB104A, R390A, GT550A/RV550A, HyGain 3750, IBM PS/2 - all vintage, all the time! Give a man a URL, and he will learn for an hour; teach him to Google, and he will learn for a lifetime. HyGain 3750 User's Group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HyGain_3750/ http://incolor.inetnebr.com/jshorney http://www.nebraskaghosts.org ___ Drakelist mailing list Drakelist@zerobeat.net http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist
