Hi, first post on this wonderful board.

During the great National Road yard sale last weekend, I happened upon a R-4, s/n about 0275, with a manual (complete with soldering iron burns) and a QSL card from 1977. Prior owner went silent key in 2009.

Complete except for cover screws and a front panel washer or two; some chassis pitting, fair amount of dust and a little mouse crud. But it set me back all of $15, so I think it's a gift from above.

The only puzzle is that I find two Sprague disc capacitors, .02, not shown on schematic or on chassis photo in manual. One is from Spkr and/or Anti-Vox RCAs, maybe paralleling a .01 in the area - but then has been clipped or broken; the other is near V10 though I don't have the set in front of me.

Question: Were there any generally recommended mods to the r-4? I've looked at the DRAKEMODS docs and don't see any, and most mods seem designed for R-4B and up.

Will get the variac out this weekend and don't think these extras will affect the usual early restoration testing steps. But would welcome any thoughts.

LT Goals: Find a T-4 or T-4X, and an MS-4 and AC-4 - oh, and get my license - and get on the air the very old-fashioned way. Thanks.

TDane, Clayton, Ind.

It's not all that odd to find the occassional 0.01 cap showing up in ham receivers, transmiters and transceivers. They can end up being added by a user who is dealing with a problem where RF from a transmitter is getting into a circuit and causing various forms of mis-behavior. Maybe constant re-triggering of a VOX circuit, having the receiver speakers talking back to them while transmitting, or some other such annoyance.

Some will experience a problem and some will not depending upon their antenna, grounding, placement of equipment, and frequencies of operation.

The weirdest place I ever had to attach a 0.01 cap was on a water sprinkler valve control line. Every time I talked on 40 meters the back yard sprinklers popped up and down in step with my voice. Would that be WSI (Water Sprinkler Interference)?

Curtis Eickerman

Later members of the R-4 series did include bypass caps across the speaker and anti-vox jacks, .02 sounds a bit on the high side. I believe most of the later gear used a .01 on the speaker and a .001 on the higher impedance anti-vox jack.

All of the Drake R-4 series are very competent receivers and the R-4B and earlier only have range crystals as available accessories.

You should definitely do a proper PTO lubrication at this point, I believe the instructions were in the Drake mods text and if not they should be easily found on the web.

Alignment is pretty simple although the first time you align the passband tuner it may take a little time to get used to since the adjustment rods are "springy" leading you to overshoot and undershoot the adjustment until you get the feel for them. When aligning the front end be aware that the S meter movement has B+ on it so use an insulated screwdriver to avoid contacting it and creating sparks

If you have the matching transmitter (any of the T-4X series will work although the original T-4X is the cosmetic match for the 4 and 4A receivers) my preferred alignment method is to cable them together so that the adjustments will be based upon the actual loads instead of using the "dummy loads' called for in the Drake instructions. This has worked well for me; I have all of the 4 line pairs from the original through the C line. Enjoy what is still a great receiver.

Rodger WQ9E

Thanks for the advice.

No WSI problems here - is there a q-code for that? - but we have a dozen horses and I wonder what happens if they all decide to stand under my longwire antenna at just the right angles....

Attention to PTO mechanics, and whether I need to replace caps, and other basics will come first. I had in mind to delay any alignment work until I find a transmitter. It is nice to have the manual in hand for when the time comes. See, I can get my license this summer while doing the other things.

More of my attention is on radios in the midst of restoration, see other posts to follow.

Now where is that little shop with a T-4 and cables and the MS-4/AC-4 for $15? Or maybe I will run into a retired ham who wants to pass things along to a newbie.

There is a world of difference between the R4 and the later letter models which is why you wont find much in the way of mods. It was superceded very soon.
Id suggest just getting it working to specs and using or selling.

Carl

You might try www.wbfhfn.com, Ron Baker. He does very good work on Drake equip and has parts, cables etc. I have had him restore 2 of my Drakes. 73, Bill

Forgot part of the web address for Ron Baker. Should read www.WB4HFN.com 73, Bill

Thanks, I like the "to specs" philosohy, and will look at Ron's work, and will advise.

Brief update: I removed the two added .02 mf caps. One bridged the ground from the SPKR, ANTI-VOX and MUTE connectors; it had been cut or possibly shorted against fuse lug. Restored that to original. The other add-on was parallel to a .001 mf from line cord to ground. So now things match the schematic.

S/n is 0253.

More chassis rust, thru copper, than I thought, so more thorough exam to do there, then the rest of the pre-variac checklist.