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Author Topic: Drake SW1  (Read 4789 times)

Offline jezz

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Drake SW1
« on: September 16, 2017, 1921 UTC »
Hi,
I was wondering if anybody has done an alignment or adjustments on Drake's SW1 receiver? Or any other improvements for reception.
The only thing I can find on it is the manual. I am running about 90 ft random wire that works fine with my National 109 and several other radios I have but the Drake sucks. I use to own /bought  a new Drake R8 back in the day and it sucked so bad I got rid of it, Now many,many years later I saw this SW1 for almost nothing and picked it up only to realize and affirm my dislike for Drake radios.
Any info on checking the alignment or other possible problems would be appreciated.

Offline moof

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Re: Drake SW1
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2017, 2048 UTC »
Wow.  I had an R8 first version around 1990 and it was awesome until I moved into a house with massive noise so I sold it 5 years later.  I mean all it needed was a 20 foot chunk of wire looped around the top of the room and you could hear all the pirates and weak halfway across the world stations.  Who knows, maybe in need of some new caps after a few decades?

Offline moof

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Re: Drake SW1
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2017, 2051 UTC »
Oh I just looked it up.  $299 late 90s Drake.  Drake last gasp?  Drake never made cheap shit.  Maybe this one is just shitty.

Offline Looking-Glass

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Re: Drake SW1
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2017, 2252 UTC »
Had a Drake SSR-1 way back in the late 70's early 80's era and it was a top radio... ::)
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Offline Pigmeat

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Re: Drake SW1
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2017, 1324 UTC »
The SW-1 was built to be a small, low cost AM only tabletop to compete w/ the Asian portables in the 200 buck range. It was worse than and a bigger flop that Rat Shacks similar sized DX-394, which at least demodulated sideband. SW-1 got some scathing reviews in the radio press who expected much more from Drake on this one.

I've never had a bad Drake and they're built like proverbial tanks. I use my RX-4 more the R-8 A I've had for twenty years as the RX-4's tube/transistor circuitry seems to handle modern sources of RFI better than the R-8, especially in the static season. From mid October to late April they're about the same, but I prefer the R-8's AM bandwidths for casual listening and extended frequency coverage below mid-section of the MW band. The RX-4 is part of the "Twin Line" of transmitters and receivers and was built for ham work. A little bit of medium wave coverage for local weather was all a "real ham" needed in those days.

BTW, does anyone here know of anyone reliable who repairs the Drake twins? The TX side of this set needs some work on both the power supply and the tuning mechanism which got cranked beyond the repair skills of the previous owner.

Offline jezz

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Re: Drake SW1
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2017, 1502 UTC »
Yes, I'm convinced the SW1 is garbage. I have an old  National NC109 tube receiver that put my R8 to shame, It will pick up stations the R8 could only have dreamed of doing, probably because as you say it seems to handle rfi better, it's much quieter than the R8 was.
Oh well, I'll put the SW1 up for sale.
Thanx for the input.

Offline Traveling Wave

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Re: Drake SW1
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2017, 1521 UTC »
Pigmeat, found this Drake repair site on the web ...http://www.wb4hfn.com/DRAKE/DrakePageHome.htm, he also has good reviews on eHam.com.
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Online myteaquinn

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Re: Drake SW1
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2017, 0032 UTC »
I had WB4HFN restore a R-4B a couple of years ago and I was and still am very happy with the results.
Northeast Ohio
Now using Shazam for song identification
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Offline Pigmeat

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Re: Drake SW1
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2017, 1210 UTC »
TW, Myteaquinn, thanks for the feedback. The transmitter functions on xtal control as the guy I bought it from showed me, but I trust the power supply about as much as I do my ability to pilot a steamboat, it looks rough after nearly sixty years. I'll shoot that ham an email.

Offline BoomboxDX

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Re: Drake SW1
« Reply #9 on: September 19, 2017, 1431 UTC »
Hi,
I was wondering if anybody has done an alignment or adjustments on Drake's SW1 receiver? Or any other improvements for reception.
The only thing I can find on it is the manual. I am running about 90 ft random wire that works fine with my National 109 and several other radios I have but the Drake sucks. I use to own /bought  a new Drake R8 back in the day and it sucked so bad I got rid of it, Now many,many years later I saw this SW1 for almost nothing and picked it up only to realize and affirm my dislike for Drake radios.
Any info on checking the alignment or other possible problems would be appreciated.

How does the Drake SW-1 "suck"? I'm just curious.



An AM radio Boombox DXer.
+ GE SRIII, PR-D5 & TRF on MW.
The usual Realistic culprits on SW (and a Panasonic).

Offline CoolAM Radio

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Re: Drake SW1
« Reply #10 on: September 19, 2017, 1733 UTC »
Guess the following website will be interesting

http://www.wb4hfn.com/DRAKE/DrakePageHome.htm

André
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