My corner " Antiquities" which I wish besides to develop, if you have ( at low prices, I am not  not rich) a Collins old man, Heathkit, Drake, Swan etc, made me sign, I am taking.
This enthralling activity is  expensive, the happy owners of machines such as those which I seek keep them preciously. Lastly, one knows never, taken pity, you perhaps will sell your old cuckoo to me with tubes which has not turned for 10 years (or +!).
If you wish to see a true collection (this guy must be crazy)visit this site


I am a   

Drake R4C / T4XC

am a happy owner of a 4C line. The receiver serial number is 28735 and the transmistter number is 21178.I think these units were one of the latest producted bt R.L Drake.
Really it works great and now, for me, the dream is reality. When i was young, very young, being owner of a Drake unit was the most important thing but unfortunately, prices in France were high, so high it was impossible to get one Hi!
I found this line at a really good price (450$), in good state, all on the units works well (NB, calibrator, filters, PBT, PTO, PA, Notch, Vox etc.). I use a Electro-Voice cardiod microphone model 729 SR, the receiver is equiped with 1500 and 500 Hz CW filter. What a great line ! I play on HF bands with it and enjoy listening this warm sound coming from the MS4 speaker. As many 4C owners, i heard some strange noise sometimes in the loudspeaker, and on mine, all original 6EJ7 were substituted by EF184 valves. Why, i don't know, may be done at the factory or by the ultimate owner... Anyway, i love my  Drake 4C line !
Now i own a second 4C line, with 1500 and 500 Hz CW filters. Great !!!! 

Drake MN2000

Oh beautiful matching network! Mine was a bit destroyed by a big flash inside when i bought it but now it's repaired, i changed the antenna switch who was "flashed".

Drake TR7 - MN7 - RV7 - MS7

Another dream, the famous Drake TR7. When you love Drake, you need the latest product. The receiver is very pleasant even if i prefer the R4C, cleaner and louder but the TR7 is mythic! I remember when i was a bit youger, a friend of mine was a happy owner of this TRX. One year later, i sold it and this is always a question for me : Why ?
Mine is serial number 7600 and i own also the MS7, MS7 and RV7. The PS7 was destroyed (!) and i rebuilt it. The transceiver is equiped with 4 - 2.3 - 1 - and 0.5 kHz filter. Both TR7 and PS7 support the fans. What a great surprise to discover the synthetizer i made with a 4046 !!!.

Now (november 2002), i own a second TR7, former owner was ON6VG, Gilbert. This unit works great with a HC4 heil cell. Serial number is 8540.

Drake TR4

And this is my new TR4, the former owner was ON4QH. Serial number is 27173, it had not the NB switch as shows on the picture. I am very happy to play with this toy. I imagine this unit was built between 1967 and  1970, now i realize how Drake transceivers were in advance  and useful. Great rigs ! All controls work well, the full power is OK, the receiver seems good as a 1990 japanese product. 

Atlas 210X

I am a recent owner of the famous ATLAS 210X just bought the 2000/08/05. It was also a dream when i was younger, no it's realized.
I found really the receiver great ! it was not  a surprise to heard clear sound with this old machine, the reputation in Europe was great. I found a advertising on REF (The french ham radio review) 1974.
 

Sommerkamp FT277 (Yaesu)

For christmas 1978, i opened a beautiful package. Inside there was a FT277E known in US as FT101. Before i was using my  father transceiver, the TRIO (now Kenwood) TS510. I found the receiver very hot but also i found it frequently overloaded and the use of the 10dB pad on lower band is necessary. Anyway, i did i don't know how many DX with this unit coupled to the familial TH5DX, mainly in CW.
23 years later, it works fine and seems as new. I never changed the valves (12BY7 driver and 2x6JS6 PA). When tuned for a max, this transceiver provides a good 170 W on 40m, of course i do that only for test, this lines TV tubes don't appreciate to dissipe this power!

My second Heathkit, HW-101. It arrived at the station on the 28/12/2000 and actually not really in good condition. Once put under stress, the machine liked stopping when check seemed to him , it took out nothing or almost, the VFO seemed not to act. After quite a lot of working hours it works except on the first segment of the 28 MHz band, the oscillateur does not absolutely want to start. This type of transceiver was produced between 1972 and 1982 and allowed to quite a lot of hams to form by building their kit. The machine warms to delight (please , think, 20 tubes) and the performances are not so bad as it. Which pleasure that to use this respectable transmitter in traffic, it is as an old car which one redoes to runl with precaution, delicacy.

Heathkit MOHICAN GC1

My first Heathkit.
A friend of mine, Jean-Claude F5OWX, gave me this receiver. It is in perfect state, as new.
If course, it's not a communication receiver as you could think and it's very very difficult to use it in real conditions.
But i love it and i am always impressed by Heathkit engineers technics.

LAS Provence

This transceiver is a french product of the 1970. It's name is "Provence" and it was built by LAS own by F5LS.
In 1970, it was the first french commercial product able to transmit in SSB/FM/AM/CW with 8/10 W ouput and full transistorized on 2m band.This one is mine, built in 1973. It was a great and wonderful present from my parents. I have done 5000 QSO on 144 MHz with it in tropo, aurora.It works fine still now !

Siemens D2006

 This receiver is a test receiver covering 100 kHz to 17 MHz.

Pour les francophones qui seraient arrivés sur cette page, cliquez ici pour la visite du site car j'ai une quantité impressionnante de choses à vous montrer.