Drake R7 Radio Receiver Amateur Ham Shortwave LOADED With 5 FILTERS / NB7 / LEDS

$1699.95 Buy It Now or Best Offer
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(19456) 100.0%,

Location: Mill Hall, Pennsylvania
Ships to: US,
Item: 405312158279

All returns accepted:ReturnsNotAccepted
Drake:Drake
Type:Base Station
Supported Modes:AM,CW,SSB
R7:R7
Band:AM,HF
Features:Digital
MPN:R7,R-7
Country/Region of Manufacture:United States

NOTE: We have used asterisks * to prevent unintentional keyword spamming in our Ebay description so that we could mention other makes and models of receivers and be in compliance with Ebay rules and regulations. During the history of manufacture of hobbyist radios and receivers, some of the units have defined the niche and cut a piece of the pie of notable and outstanding equipment pieces within that history. The C*ollins R*390A did this with the military receiver with its mechanical filters coupled with great sensitivity and other performance features. The S*ony ICF*2010 did this with a high performance portable at an affordable price and an outstanding synchronous detector. This Drake R7 belongs in this list as one of the first high performance general coverage receivers built with the hobbyist in mind and offering an array of receiving features that delivered a receiver that was, and still is, considered to be one of the best receivers made. We will endeavor to review what makes the R7 an outstanding unit below in the blue text, but first will give some specifics regarding this particular unit found in the red text. Cosmetically, this receiver is in above average cosmetic condition displaying only very minor signs of age and previous ownership. Upon close inspection of our HD pictures, you will see a couple of small marks that can be easy overlooked. This nice unit should appeal to someone wanting a classic Drake R7 in great overall condition. We have sold about 72 of the Drake R7/R7A receivers here on Ebay over the years. The R7 is not a receiver that we offer for sale frequently as it seems that owners do not regularly sell this receiver and choose to retain ownership so very few of them change hands each year. Please look closely at the variety of pictures to confirm cosmetic condition and reach out to us if you have any questions. Electronically, this R7 performs just wonderfully with excellent sensitivity. The unit was fully tested and we verified that this unit operates beautifully with no known issues or shortcomings. Please note that we have had our service tech install blue LED lamps in this receiver. The LED lamps require less servicing, they run cooler, and they are more energy thrifty. Cost to acquire the lamps and have them installed was about $90, but we believe that this is a nice upgrade. Should the buyer desire, we can provide original lamps and sockets to restore the original appearance and lamp configuration. This receiver is optimally equipped and loaded with the selection of 5 bandwidth filters and should appeal to a wide variety of listening situations for both shortwave and amateur radio DXers. In addition, this unit has the coveted optional NB7 noise blanker installed. This R7 comes with a collection of materials and documents for the enthusiast to enjoy and they are not sold separately, but offered for free with the purchase of this receiver. Included with the receiver are: copy of the R7 user manual copy of the service manual (156 pages) RL Drake R7 brochure copy (2 page blue) RL Drake R7 brochure copy (2 page orange) RL Drake R7 brochure copy (4 page blue) RL Drake price list – Feb 1980 Phil’s Tuning Tricks Challenge (ECSS tuning) Drake R7 revisited – Proceedings shortwave newsletter – Jerry Strawman QST review – Jan 1980 (amateur radio magazine) WRTH review of R7 – 1980 (World Radio & Television Handbook) WRTH review of R7A – 1982 WRTH review of R7A – 1984 Drake R7 & R7A Receiver Features, Mods, & Accessories – Proceedings newsletter In addition, this sale includes a CD that has many files containing manuals, promotional literature, mods & service notes. This CD has about 321 MB of files on it. Please Note…this is a highly desirable and collectable R7 and the selling price reflects this. The stock R7 came with the 2.3 KHz SSB filter. However this unit has an additional 4 filters installed giving it a full bank of IF filters. It also has the optional NB7 installed giving it the ability to deal with certain types of RF noise. The R7 was produced by Drake from 1978 to 1981 at a cost of about $1,500 without options installed and is still considered to be an outstanding receiver even as it dates to about 45 years old. This particular R7 receiver has a bank of 5 filters with the stock filter being 2.3 KHz. The addition of extra optional filters (4.0 KHz, 1.8 KHz, 500 Hz and 300 Hz) would have added another $60 each so $240 total additional to the original price. If purchased separately today, these filters would add another $400 to the selling price. Then NB7 was sold in 1981 for a price of $90 and this option regularly sells for $150 today when available. Thus, as now equipped, this R7 would have sold for approximately $1830 in 1980. These R7’s were not high production with about 3600 of them manufactured by Drake in the R7 and R7A incarnations. This also makes them desired by collectors. When factoring in inflation over the past 45 years, the selling price in Sept 2024 would be about $6,632: http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm (copy and paste this link into your internet browser) The stock filter supplied for the R7 would be the 2.3 KHz filter. And while this can be used for sideband, it is a bit narrow for AM listening (required to use passband tuning or ECSS with this filter). Purchase of additional filters is a prerequisite for optimum performance for AM tuning. In this R7, the additional 4 KHz bandwidth was installed for AM reception and this is an excellent choice for listening to those nice shortwave programs and a good choice for the syncho-phase operation (early version of a sync detector). If the user is listening to a shortwave broadcast and desires to get a bit higher fidelity than what the 4 KHz filter offers, they can use the passband tuning to “brighten” the audio or use the RIT (rate incremental tuning) to tune slightly off frequency. This is particularly nice for listening to mediumwave or one of the stronger shortwave broadcast stations. It should be noted that while the shortwave listener has the 4 KHz filter to use for AM listening, the listener also has another option in their arsenal to hear international broadcasts. By selecting either the 2.3 KHz filter and using the passband or RIT functions, it is easy to tune to the edge of the filter and actually be able to use this narrower filter effectively in a crowded band environment on shortwave. In fact, this feature is so effective that we will frequently use our personal R7 for challenging signals when our fancy military and government receivers cannot help us. By combining one of the narrow filters, passband and notch, we can slice and dice the signal and make it copyable and intelligible. Or using another option, a personal friend shared with us that he overcomes the choice of narrow filter by listening to his shortwave broadcasts in SSB where the narrower filter is perfectly acceptable as this receiver will tune precisely using the RIT tuning so you can hear signals using precise ECSS (exalted carrier selectable sideband) tuning and have none of the common and familiar “growl”. Further, you can use the narrower 2.3 and 1.8 KHz filters to avoid side-channel interference, when desired. The receiver is slightly more sensitive on SSB and so is particularly good at digging out those very weak signals. Finally, ECSS tuning also improves the signal quality which is often degraded from distortion when AM signals are received. It is likely that the owner would alternate between the 4 KHz and the 2.3 KHz filters for AM reception depending upon band conditions. We have included a printed sheet that we include with our documents describing ECSS tuning and how to use it. In addition, the 2.3 KHz filter is a beautiful SSB filter when you want great audio using this receiving mode. This receiver also has the 1.8 KHz (narrow) filter for sideband offering the perfect combination of wide or narrow SSB options. You may view the installed filters in one of the pictures at the top of this listing. The 2.3 KHz filter is located on a separate board and so is not shown in the picture. For tuning to CW signals, this receiver offers a 500 Hz filter to allow you to chose the narrower CW filter (instead of the 1.8 SSB filter) when required to avoid interference from adjoining signals. But if you found that you wanted even more selectivity, this receiver also has the 300 Hz filter installed to enable sifting and sorting those CW signals better when you have a lot of Morse communication on the band. With the addition of the extra filters, the R7 now becomes a receiver that is balanced for amateur radio, for medium wave, and for shortwave listening and DXing. The user has the best of all worlds with this selection of filters and can, at the flip of a switch, choose between wider or narrower filters for the given listening requirements. With the bank of filters in the bandwidths provided, and in conjunction with the passband and notch options, the user is given a great arsenal to slice and dice the signal. As mentioned previously in this listing, this R7 receiver comes with the NB-7 noise blanker board installed. Drake designed a wonderful noise blanker for this receiver. While many noise blankers commonly found in receivers are ineffective, the NB-7 is actually quite good on certain types of pulse noise. We are not aware of any noise blanker (other than DSP) that works for atmospheric noise, and so it is the same with this Drake noise blanker. That said, the noise blanker is very effective for pulse noise from lighting, dimmer switches, motors, computers, etc. It will not eliminate all the noise, but often will reduce it enough to be able to copy the signal. You can see a close-up of this NB-7 in our picture section. You can now understand that to acquire and fully load this receiver with all the options, the owner would have invested quite a bit of money 45 years ago when this receiver was manufactured. BACKGROUND INFO: It is our delight to be offering this nice Drake R7 to the Ebay community. The RL Drake Company has a nice heritage of producing quality receivers for the ham and SWL’ing market and this R7 is built like a tank using quality components. We especially like the array of knobs and buttons that cater to the gadet person’s delight. This receiver covers from 10 KHz on up to 30 MHz without any gaps in coverage. It has a very strong following among longwave, broadcast band, and tropical band DXer’s that have discovered this receivers low noise floor and great sensitivity in these frequencies. Yes, it works well along through the full spectrum of frequencies, but it is especially strong on the lower ones and has earned a reputation that is seconded by Fred Osterman in his book Shortwave Receivers Past and Present as “an excellent receiver for tropical band DXing and also superb on longwave”. One of the outstanding characteristics of this R7 is its appearance. As is the design of Drake’s “7” line, the receiver offers a classic appearance that does not show that it is about 30 years old. It was forward looking in it’s design and the wonderful modern appearance given the receiver does not look out of step with many contemporary receivers. Not only does the R7 look nice, but the user is confronted with an array of operating features including: Passband tuning RIT tuning (fine tuning) IF Notch filter Choice of 5 filter bandwidths 4.0 / 2.3 / 1.8 / .5 / and .3 KHz Preamp 10 dB Calibrator every 25 KHz to precisely determine frequency Digital readout down to 100 Hz RF gain AGC of fast / med / slow / manual Multiple antenna inputs (6 position) Record and speaker output jacks Analog tuning dial Operates on AC voltage of 100 / 120 / 200 / 240 or 11- 16 VDC The receiver is a triple superhet with outstanding sensitivity on SSB of .2 uV from 1.8 to 30 MHz. Let us mention a couple of other unique features found on the R7. First of all, you can connect up to 3 antennas and a second receiver to the back panel. This is helpful as the R7 has a control that acts like an antenna switch and allows the user to choose between antennas, but also to share the antenna inputs with a second receiver. This also offers another neat feature for the BCB DXer. By connecting one antenna to the “main” antenna input and a second antenna to the one marked “ext rcvr” and by setting the selector switch to the Main/Main position, the antenna splitter works as a combiner. Thus, the user can utilize two phased longwires or combine a longwire with a loop antenna for some interesting results. Secondly, there is a rear panel connector on the R7 for an input that allows the digital readout to act as an outboard 150 MHz frequency counter. Those with some electronic expertise can take an insulated wire and wrap it around the oscillator coils of the tube receiver so that it acts as an inductive pickup loop. Then the pickup is fed by coaxial cable to the rear RCA input jack and by activating with the front panel switch, the digital display will show the operating frequency of the tube receiver incremented by it’s IF. The R7 is a modular receiver which owes to the excellent Drake design and circuitry layout. This helps to streamline diagnostics and repair and gives the circuitry a clean layout. We love looking at vintage receivers and placing them within historical perspective. In this case, we were able to locate an extensive review of the R7 in a 1980 copy of the WRTH (World Radio and Television Handbook). This review was for the R7 based on its competition and what was formerly available to the hobbyist at that time. Here are some excerpts from this review. Please note that the WRTH catered to the shortwave and medium wave hobbyist so the comments reflect that perspective more than those for amateur radio use: HIGHLIGHTS: Excellent dynamic range Unsurpassed shortwave and medium wave performance Very selective (using combination of filters, passband tuning, and RIT tuning) Variable notch filter Excellent ECSS reception (exalted carrier selectable sideband for AM signal listening to prevent distortion and eliminate side channel interference) Excellent SSB reception Exceptionally accurate digital frequency readout Capable of producing unusually good audio Very stable (80 Hz of drift after 30 minutes of warm-up) Flexible antenna inputs / controls Built in preamplifier for shortwave reception OVERALL Unsurpassed receiver for serious SW / MW DXing, SW / MW broadcast monitoring, and technically-oriented SW / MW superior fidelity listening. The Drake R7, like a worthy sports car, is a joy and a challenge to operate —- provided one knows how. Its front panel is festooned with no less than twenty-five knobs and buttons, each of which gives the operator an additional measure of control over the receiver’s functioning. When properly used, the R7 is capable of equaling, and sometimes bettering, any receiver we have tested to date for use in receiving medium wave and shortwave signals. The R7’s extreme flexibility, combined with outstanding performance characteristics in each function, combine to make possible reception of signals heretofore inaudible, and to make more usable signals formerly audible. For detection of AM signals, a synchro-phase detector is used not only to reduce distortion over what would be encountered with a standard diode detector, but also to allow the use of limited selectable sideband detection without having to resort to local carrier injection. Additionally, a continuously variable passband control is incorporated to allow reception not merely of one sideband over another, but also of any of the chosen portion of that sideband.” (conclusion of WRTH info) The R7 was truly an outstanding receiver in its day with performance features that were standard equipment that even some more recently manufactured receivers do not have….like dual antenna inputs, passband, RIT tuning, notch, pre-amp, etc. When compared to some of the higher end receivers manufactured in the last 20 years, it may seem less remarkable, but this was the Cadillac in its day and performance about 40 years later is still phenomenal. The R7 has an arsenal of weaponry to help capture that signal, and as mentioned in the WRTH info above, can be used in combination to grab and “hear” that signal. Truly, this receiver is one of RL Drake’s finest offerings to the listening hobbyist. we could literally write volumes more about this receiver based on our own experiences and what could be gleaned from the WRTH review, but you at least have a good idea about the performance and features that this unit offers. If you would like to do some further study and reading, here are some sites for you to look at. If you would like to read some of the nice comments of this receiver, you can visit eHam here where there are 11 reviews giving the receiver a 4.9 point rating! https://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/862 (copy and paste link into your internet browser window) Finally, we would like to add that the R7 is a delight to operate. If you like receivers that do everything for you and offer easy tuning, you should look elsewhere. However, if you like the “feel” of an analog tuner and the idea that you can control precisely a number of operational features (there are over 30 buttons and controls), you will love this receiver. As a hands-on receiver, it offers hours of tuning fun with the various knobs and buttons. Please use the Ebay shipping calculator to determine your shipping cost. This cost includes proper packing materials for safe delivery and insurance cost against damage or loss. Those buyers living outside the USA are also welcome to purchase from us. We have shipped to 112 countries during the past 25 years on Ebay and we are happy to ship virtually anywhere in the world. You may use the shipping calculator to determine your shipping cost. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to look at our Ebay items!

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