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| Reviews Summary for Drake R-4B |
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Reviews: 21
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Average rating: 4.9/5
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MSRP: $475.00
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Description: Amateur hybrid reciever. Also covers ten, 500 Khz portions of the HF spectrum
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WA9CWX
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 7, 2006 10:59
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Best audio, easiest listening !
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I owned and used as my primary station, the B twins in the early 70s and into the early 80s. I later regretted selling them, but then bought the C line, then the R7 / TR7. Went to the Yaesu FT-ONE, then FT-1000D. For SWL-ing went through the 515, 525, 535, and finally 545. Used each for several years. Recently however, I decided to re-aquire a Drake B and compare it with my other radios.
1: The audio capture on the Drake OUTPERFORMED the 545, even with DSP and ECCS.
It WAY outperformed the FT 1000D.
2: The sensetivity was almost identical in the Drake to the other two, except SLIGHTLY lower on ten meters. (no lab testing, but copy ability on very weak beacons was used for comparison).
3: The BIGGEST difference was in the fatigue factor, the listening on the Drake is pure magic, the sound is as natural and full as ANY I have EVER heard, and outperforms ANY receiver I have ever had. And that is quite a few over my 44 years as a Ham.
For CW ragchewing, I would say this is by FAR my favorite receiver, it sounded great on SSB, but I do not normally work that mode, so have not commented on it.
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HB9FBJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 24, 2004 17:55
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Outstanding
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The R4B has about the best received audio I have ever heard on a rig. Love the preselector, the selectivity is awesome. The receiver is very quiet, pleasing to the ear and handles strong signals very well.
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DK3QN
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 30, 2004 17:40
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still going strong
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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R4B & T4XB line
Guys:
As some others already mentioned:
this is still a nice piece of equipment.
Especially when considering the age of the radios and the cost envolved if you are bound
to get one of these, preferably the RX plus TX.
I also do own a 4C line. However I must confess that I am using the 4B line much more often than the 4C line.
The R4B does provide beautiful audio, whereas the R4C needs quite a lot of touch-up and add-ons before it becomes a high grade receiver.
We are talking about serious $$ until a 4C gets to the point where it outperforms a 4B by some distance.
Sure, 4B's cannot rely on crystal filters for the passband selectivity and their filter shape factors are not on par with a crystal filter SF.
However, I've been struck many times on rag-chew QSOs by the performance of these twins and they have become one of my 'beauties', not only because of their copper-plated chassis...
Have fun.
Klaus, DK3QN
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KC8JX
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 1, 2004 19:35
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Continues a great receiver legacy
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I echo what another reviewer said, "I just love my R4B". This receiver and it's matching transmitter (T4XB) were sold in the mid to late 60's. The R4B continues the legacy of very fine receivers starting with the Drake 1A. Right out of the box it's complete...all filters (none to buy), noise blanker, calibrator...it's all there...no accessories needed unless one considers the 6 meter and 2 meter converters or a speaker or headphones (the MS-4 speaker and cabinet can contain the AC-4, power supply for the T4XB).
One only has to listen to the R4B to appreciate what great audio it possesses….signals pop out of the ether very clear…a testament to the fine quality of construction and design of a true Drake receiver. Passband tuning makes it easy to tune in SSB, CW or AM signals with great little effort; it can certainly extract weak signals with ease and has little adjacent signal interaction. Sensitivity is noted as .25 mv and selectivity has four passbands: .4 kc, 1.2 kc, 2.4 kc and 4.8 kc. Even in today’s technological revolution these performance figures are very good. Not only does this receiver audio sound good receiving CW and SSB signals; its AM quality is quite good. The ease of operation is also ‘right out of the box’; does not need menus or an advanced degree to learn to use….did I say the audio is superb! I can also listen to this receiver for hours and never tire of it’s fine workmanship, performance and aesthetics… and extremely stable too.
There was a time the R4B/T4XB combination was state of the art…these radios were used for contests and many operators were at the ‘top of the heap’, so to say. Today this combination continues to delight and please those of us lucky enough to own one….I am certainly extremely pleased I have this receiver/transmitter pair.
More information about this receiver can be found at:
http://www.dproducts.be/DRAKE_MUSEUM/r-4b.htm
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WR4Q
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 1, 2003 17:48
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Mellow
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Old Gold. This radio would cost $3000.00 2003
dollars. Very quiet pleasant sound. I have several and although the r4-c with Sherwood mods
are better on skirt selectivity and contest CW,
the r4-b is very pleasant for ordinary hamming.
This is as far as I know the only line that will
transceive 160 thru 10 and WARC that a mere mortal
can maintain. I just luv em
73
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K6ZL
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 21, 2003 02:46
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Super cool receiver
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I just love my R4B. You don't see these modified much, they got it all right out of the box (my opinion). Because they use 50kc I.F.'s instead of xtal filter's like a heavily modified R4C (figure $800.00 bucks or more) they don't quite have the "skirts", but for my buck, this is probably the best tube receiver you can buy, period!
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AA8VE
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 23, 2003 11:47
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Sounds like there's no radio!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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My R-4B needed a bit of work when I first got it, raspy audio with lots of internal noise and pops. It looked as if someone had been working on it, the boards had been resoldered several times and looked old and burnt. I bought it from an estate sale of a SK, it was laying on a bench upside down with the covers off and about an inch of dust in it.
I began by putting in new tubes, not much better, check alignment still bad, had it gone through by a repair service ham who improved it quite a bit but there still was a bit of distortion from a harmonic causing raspy sound to voice and some tones on CW, just enough to be annoying. Then I bought a few new circuit boards NOS from Drake, I replaced the BFO board, AVC board, Audio board, and the noise blanker board with brand new completely assembled PC boards, the cost of all the boards was about $36.00. Wow, the raspy problem is now completely gone and the quality of performance is outstanding. I'm still not sure where the raspy problem was coming from but who cares, it's gone now!
If anyone has listened to a R-4B and was not totally amazed with the quality of the sound, there's something wrong with the rig. I'm always impressed at how signals in high QRN seem to be suspended in front of the static noise, crystal clear and easy to copy. This receiver takes some time to master the passband controls and the notch for optimum performance but once they are understood they all work very well. Sure it may not be able to slice through a pileup like an advanced modern rig but the quality of audio sound more than makes up for it in my opinion, it will give any modern rig a real run and I would find it very hard to beat. This is one receiver I can listen to for hours and never be fatigued by the static and hiss many new rigs have, even in the worst conditions weak signals are still easy to copy.
With Hi-Fi headphones there is a very slight soft hum as with most tube rigs but it's not enough to cause distortion and is completely gone with the 4 ohm speaker. With headphones the signals sound like they are right in the same room and there's no radio between. No hiss, phase noise, whine, nothing like I've heard in any modern solid state receivers. The AGC is second to none, proves that it can be done right but too bad it seldom is. I find the filtering for CW to be plenty adequate as long as the passband and notch are used correctly to move the signal to the proper skirt level, it takes some practice but I can work CW with lots of QRM and single out just about whatever I want to. The more I use this with a T-4XB the more I like it, not a matter of learning multi function features or setting up DSP, it's a matter of learning how to adjust the controls by hand for the best result, it becomes more a skill than anything else. It takes time to use correctly, this isn't the best rig if you need to QSY quickly with a keypad or computer, I'm always getting better with it but lets face it there are some things it just can't do. For regular everyday ham radio use within it's limitations it seems to be a perfect design. I give it a solid 5 for design and performance in a receiver of this vintage and also think it will hold it's own against any stock receiver built since.
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WA9BXE
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Rating: 4/5
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May 28, 2003 19:31
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Great Buy
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Doesn't drift, wonderful audio with the MS-4 speaker, easy to operate. And, you don't need to invest in filters.
Should have bought this radio 30 years ago.
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N8FVJ
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 3, 2002 18:51
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Good Receiver
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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This is a good receiver. The filter skirts are not near as good as Collins radios and others equipped with mechanical filters. However, Sherwood Engineering manufactured some aftermarket filters for the famous Drake R-4C. Filters should retro-fit this radio as well. Just because the stock filtering is not sharp skirted as mechanical filters, do not let this stop your proposed purchase. The receiver is sensitive and non-drifty as well.
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WB6MYL
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 27, 2002 18:35
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A well-kept secret!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Hey, no more reviews on the R4B; the more people that disclose what a great piece of art (not as in Collins) this receiver is, the more in demand they will be and the prices will go even higher; actually the prices have not been that bad as a result of a lot of units still out there and available; that is a tribute to the durability of the design and structure of these fine receivers.
The passband tuning is definitely better than Collins and the fidelity is very tooooobey; it just sounds warmer and allows for hours of listening w/o fatigue; As far as fidelity, though, I still give the edge to the wide-open audio of an A-4; love the Drake preselector and do not know why modern manufacturers do not take a hint and bring them back; highly recommended.
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