This is a guest post by Hue Miller, K7HUE. Hue posted a version of this to the Glowbugs mailing list. Having grown up when Drake was a big name in ham radio, I enjoyed the review, and I thought that you all might be interested in it as well.
As a kid, I never had a lot of money, but I did purchase a Drake DL-300 dummy load for $30 in the early 1980s. I often joke that it’s the only piece of Drake gear that I could afford. I still have it and it still works as well as when I purchased it……Dan
A Family Affair – The R. L. Drake Story by John Loughmiller, KB9AT, 2001. Published by Universal Radio Research, Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
I bought this book because I wanted to learn about the rise and demise of this manufacturer so important for some decades. I also learned some more about all the complications in how raw metal and components enter one door of the factory and exit another door as a fine looking, high-tech product. The book also describes some the unique characters who powered the company. Much of the book is about development of the TR-7, Drake’s final big product.
The chapters are one to four pages each, so you can easily jump in and out whenever you feel like. The book compares the various Drake receivers and revisions and has a lot of info on repairs and some modification discussion. There’s a catalog section in back. The book is quite thick and profusely illustrated. I recommend it to all Drake enthusiasts.
As for my own personal experience with Drake gear, I resisted buying an SPR-4 when they first came out. I probably was just too cheap to buy one, and later, there were more appealing options for my money.
Good SPR-4s still cost a fair amount, and with the difficulty now of getting new crystals to add bands now, I am now over wanting to get an SPR-4. Drake didn’t make it easy to install crystals either, as the SPR-4 band crystals all end in 9, not 0. This makes it harder to find the frequencies in surplus crystals.
There was also a time when I was interested in getting an R-7A, the receive only version of the TR-7, but after reading about the complexity of the mother board and the need to find board extenders, I have decided against buying one. I don’t need more complication in my life, and I have other equipment that does the job for me. It may not do it as well, but good enough for me.
I do have one “token Drake”. This is the shortwave listener market, SSR-1 receiver – but this late exception to the rule was made in Japan, and sold here under the Drake name!
The book is direct and honest about the cause of Drake’s demise and that of the other old – name U.S. radio manufacturers, demolishing our colloquial explanations:
….it is interesting to see how much the amateur community blamed the Japanese and their cheaper radios for what happened to companies like Collins and Drake. It would have been far more accurate and honest to concede that the market shrank. The declining customer base killed amateur radio for U.S. manufacturers. The Japanese simply picked up a larger and larger share of a smaller and smaller market, because they offered radios that were perfectly adequate for most buyers.
….amateur radio wasn’t cool or hip…The kids could read the future. Not so Drake management. The executives were preoccupied with the Japanese invasion of ‘their’ turf.
The decision [ to leave radio ] probably saved R. L. Drake from bankruptcy…The entire production run of the TR-7 was about 10,300. For the TR-7A, the total was around 2,500. Peak production of the satellite receivers reached about 15,000. Not total. Per month.”
The back of the book also has pages of photos of ham shacks with Drake gear. Now I have to admit that I have always doubted the interest value of shack photos without any human being in them, at least for ham shacks with common equipment. If you have a photo showing a shack with an uncommon radio, say a rare HRO variant, an RCA AR-1496, maybe a Lakeshore SSB transmitter paired with a Drake 1A, or maybe a shot of a Navy radio room circa 1911, fine. Otherwise, why be shy; show yourself with the gear you’re proud of owning; this also sets your photo in a definite time and place.
Also I have to admit, I wonder about the continuing monetary value of all those fine Drake radios. Well, not only Drake radios, but nearly all collectibles. Hobby preferences may change over time; economics also enters into it: will more people be living smaller, in apartments or condos? Will the future of employment be less stable, requiring more frequent relocation? “How to keep the hobby healthy and growing” is something I have seen discussed with unease and perplexity in different hobby groups.
If you are interested in the history of the American radio industry, or if you are interested in the high – standard products of this company, or if you have Drake equipment you cherish, you will find this book well worth the $30.
Chuck K4RGN says
I’m the original owner of an SW-4A. Countless hours of SWL, MW and LW DX, WWV (and CHU while it was 7.335), the AM hams on 7.290, etc.
Dave New, N8SBE says
I cut my teeth on the Drake “B” twins – R-4B, T-4xB and the matching MS-4/AC-4 speaker/power supply when I was in high school. Two of the club members had ham dads, who had bought the 4-lines for a cool $1000 (in 1970 dollars) each, and then essentially turned them over to us kids to use. One station was set up in a ham shack built in the back of an unattached garage, with a 50 ft. Rohn tower and Mosely TA-33 beam. Wow. Like I said, a tremendous opportunity for some high school kids to operate some serious hardware.
Many years later in the 80s, I bought a used 4-B line at Dayton, and set it up in the basement for a while. I wanted to go HF mobile, though, and ended up selling it to fund an IC-735, which I used for about 25 years, before finally graduating to my current Elecraft equipment.
I’ve looked at Drake equipment in the flea markets off and on, but I’ve not had any tube gear in the shack now for over 35 years, and have no hi-voltage test equipment nor tube stock, so I’ve declined to get back into that stuff any more.
Jim N1ADJ says
When I got my license in the later 70’s, my college ham radio club had a TR-4C. Being inexperienced, I didn’t appreciate how good it was until I bought a used Swan 500C for my own shack. Like Dan, I have a DL-300 dummy load that I picked up at a hamfest many years ago.