[Boatanchors] Comarison?

[Singley, Rodger]

As an addendum to my previous post, I would put my S line in third place but in this particular race third isn't too shabby.  

I may be a bit biased against the Collins because I haven't had them as long as my Heath and Drake gear.  I really don't care for the 200 khz tuning segments on the S line.

My rig as a general class was a Heathkit SB-102/220 and I operated a lot of Drake gear at other stations while contesting in those years (mid to late 1970's).  I bought my first C-line in 1983 (used) when I went in to order my first new ham transceiver which was a Yaesu FT-980.  It was a loaded C line that looked very nice priced at $200.  I did order the FT-980 which I think was around $1,200 with a couple of extra filters.  I should have just skipped the FT-980 because the only thing it does better than the C line is look pretty.

In the mid 1990's I got involved with vintage gear in a big way and acquired some Heathkit SB twins and various Drake 4 line twins during this time period.  I picked up the main part of my Collins station a couple of years ago and have a KWM-2 and 30L-1 connected with a 51S-1 as an external receiver and a 32S-3/75S-3 with a 30S-1.  The Collins gear looks very nice and apparently has very nice transmit audio but the Drake receiver is much better under any type of tough receiving condition.

As a side note, I bought a Yaesu FT-1000MP shortly after they came out and loaded it with Inrad filters.  The first time I used it on 160 during a contest I found that my Drake R-4C with the external Autek QF-1A filter was much better at following weak CW signals down into the noise.  Pretty sad that a pretty expensive transceiver with around $1,000 worth of additional filters and DSP is bested by a much older receiver.

Another good performing set of twins are the Kenwood R-599/T-599 series.  The A variant is much improved over the original version and the D version is the same as the A except for cosmetics.  Nice tuning, stable, and the receiver is very quiet and stable.  The receiver covers 160 but the transmitter does not.  Just another possible set of twins to consider.  Of course then there are what I call the cousins instead of the twins such as the Drake TR-7 transceiver with the external R-7 receiver or the Kenwood TS-820S with the R-820 receiver.  Both sets of Yaesu twins (the earlier FRDX/FLDX-400 and FR-101/FL-101) are also decent but definitely not in the Drake or Heath peformance class.

Lots of choices for your Christmas wish list Bob, good luck choosing!

Rodger WQ9E


-----Original Message-----
From: boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net on behalf of Bob Macklin
Sent: Fri 12/18/2009 12:39 PM
To: Boatanchors list
Subject: [Boatanchors] Comarison?
 
I would like to know how the Drake R4/T4 twins compare to the Heath SB twins.

I have had a Heath SB-301/SB-401 pair for many years. The SB-301 has all three filters so it's as good as it gets.

My question is how do the Drake twins compare to the Heath twins. I have had friends that preferred the Drake twins over the Heath twins.

The Collins S-Line is outside my budget and I don't see a major improvement for the money required. I think the Collins thing is mostly SNOB APPEAL!

Bob Macklin
K5MYJ
Seattle, Wa.
"Real Radios Glow In The Dark"
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