Mail
from Lee ( WB6SSW) posted on 04/19/1998Jean-Marie:
...
Here is what I can say about the prototype. I bought it from a ham several years ago who bought it from a Drake engineer that apparently was working on
the project. From what I can piece together, there were a handful of these rigs made, probably 3 or 4 maybe as many as 10. Mine is the only one I ever
ran across.
It was assembled in the early 70's. As you can see by the pictures, it carried no labeling on the rear panel, and no serial number. The front panel
was silk screened, but obviously not for production (if you look closely at the front panel picture, you can see that the "Miamisburg, Ohio" lettering is
almost obscured by the botton cover lip). Interestingly, though, the pc boards each were labeled "TR5" even though they were not silk screened.
Though the front panel had a Noise Blanker position, the slot for the NB had a dummy card in it (ala the original TR7's and R7's). It had provision for xtal
control, with the xtal socket on the front panel. The VFO was labeled TR5, but looked as though it was lifted out of the 4 line. The concentric tuning
dials were definitely 4 line.
Power supplies, both AC and 12 volt were built in. In fact that is why I originally bought it. I wanted a small portable xcvr and this seemed ideal.
After I discovered what I bought, I was very reluctant to take it "to the field." It sat on a shelf as a conversation piece until I finally decided to
trade it off. I traded it to a ham in Michigan who, in turn, sold it to Sindre Torp in Norway. I tried it out on receive after I first got it and it
seemed to work fine, but I never had the nerve to try transmitting (or using the 12 volt supply) on such a rare pieceof gear. Paul, who bought it from me
tried it out on 75 meters and reported that it worked fine.
I've been a ham since 1964 and have owned many pieces of Drake gear. My current station is a complete 7 line.
I enjoyed seeing the pictures I took displayed in your museum. You did a great job scanning them and getting rid of the extraneous backgrounds. I
would like to see your museum also be a repository of Drake information (to the extent allowed by copyrights), manuals, modifications, advertising, etc.
If I can help, let me know Jean-Marie.
73
Lee WB6SSW Thank's Lee...
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