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Reviews For: Jeff Covelli WA8SAJ

Category: Amateur Radio Equipment Repair

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Review Summary For : Jeff Covelli WA8SAJ
Reviews: 75MSRP:
Description:
RL Drake repair
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.wb4hfn.com/Services/WA8SAJ/SAJ-Repair.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00754.7
WA6SNL Rating: 2020-11-26
Drake SPR4 Receiver Repair Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Jeff repaired to like new, a radio that obviously had someone that wasn’t qualified worked on it before. It was a real mess, but not now. It receives like new and looks like new! Jeff knows his stuff. He is expensive, but if you want your Drake radios repaired properly, Jeff is the go to guy. Thanks again Jeff for bringing this receiver back to life.
73,
Hal
WA6SNL
KG5TLK Rating: 2019-04-26
Great service and turnaround... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Had seen reviews here and sent Jeff 2 tr7's..one too refurbish and ...Two week turaround, one was parts radio and when he sent back both radios working and was more than fair for price charged.i would recomend highly and will get my repairs in future.thanks Jeff...Kg5tlk in texas...and 73 to all...
W5JCS Rating: 2018-05-23
Drake R-4B/T-4XB repair Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Jeff, WA8SAJ, is incredible! His work exceeds my highest expiations’. First discovering him on eHam reviews I remembered seeing his presentation at Dayton Hamvention Drake Forums. I had problems with my Drake R-4B receiver which I had owned for years. I sent my R-4B and T-4XB to Jeff. He repaired and corrected many problems with both rigs. They are better than new! His work was excellent and he returned detailed documentation of the work he performed and printouts of filter sweeps. The copper clad steel chassis had hopeless corrosion. I was surprised Jeff was able to clean that back to like new condition. The knobs were cleaned and the white marks repainted and appear new. His service was surprisingly rapid and through for all the hours required reasonably priced. He has helped me by phone answer my questions. Jeff Covelli, WA8SAJ, is a wonderful resource, great guy, and highly recommended!
KG4BFR Rating: 2018-03-02
Skilled Craftsman Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Jeff is the best for Drake...I sent Jeff a R4B with multiple problems from repairs done in poor quality....Jeff brought the R4B back to factory spec and it looks and sounds really good...just like it came off the Drake factory.
Jeff turn around is good and his price is excellent and competitive ...
Very good sense of humor and great knowledge that he will share with you on anything and any manufacture.
WA8SAJ made my R4B live another 50 years.

73 Tiernan KG4BFR
KT5T Rating: 2017-08-25
Collins S Line Repair Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I would like you to know that Jeff is the best Collins tech you can find. He has fixed numerous Collins S Line equipment including 75s-1 -3 32s-1-3 as well as a KWM2-A for me.
Jeff also rebuilds the Collins Power supplies.

Jeff repairs the Drake TR7s with the same great skills.

Jeff charges a very reasonable price and keeps you updated on the repairs.
I would not use anyone else.

Carl kt5t


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Earlier 5-star review posted by KT5T on 2006-04-04

Jeff did an excellent job at a fair price.
AA4TZ Rating: 2017-08-23
EXCELLENT Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Jeff is knowledgeable, reliable and reasonable.
He recently repaired a Drake TR-7 for me.
When received back from Jeff the TR-7 looked and operated like a new unit. His turnaround time was very good.
He is very available and is willing to share his vast knowledge.
Highly recommended!
KG3I Rating: 2017-05-01
Excellent Craftsman Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased a Drake TR-7 as part of an estate sale from Ebay along with some other Drake gear. When I finally got all the equipment the TR-7 received fine but did not transmit. I had heard about Jeff from some on line source and decided to give him a call. From the first time we chatted I found him to be a real gentleman and very friendly and willing to share is vast knowledge. He obviously has an incredible love for these old beauties. After trying some things it became apparent that I needed to send it to him. Surprisingly he got to working on it fairly quickly. The radio ended up having some serious issues but Jeff was able to find and correct the problems. Additionally, he went over the radio in detail and provided a detailed report of what he had found and repaired. When I opened the box when she returned it looked like a new radio!

In summary, Not only is Jeff an excellent technician but he is a great guy. 73, Doug KG3i
AI6SS Rating: 2016-10-02
Repair & Service Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I’m on the west coast and recently acquired a mid-to-late model Drake TR-7. The radio was loaded with filters and working, but it hadn’t been opened up in years (not meant to be anything other than a remark on the quality of the Drake gear). I wanted to make small incremental improvements and build a station around it starting with a swap-out of the factory 2.3 Khz filter with a 2.8 Khz filter. I purchased a 2.8 Khz 8 pole crystal filter and before attempting to install the filter I first checked the alignment beginning with the +10v supply. It was about +9v. As I tired to adjust the pot on the supply board I noticed it was frozen. I took power off the radio and using a small amount of Deoxit was able break free the pot (I tried to sight and mark the original physical position of the pot).

Unfortunately, when I reapplied power the voltage reading was over +12v. I was able to adjust the pot to reset the power to +10v and measured this voltage across the pot resistors on the power supply board. However, when I tried to zero beat, I didn’t get any digital readings. The digital reading was simply counting (VCO oscillators cycling) and I was unable to adjust for frequency on any band or setting. Apparently the over voltage knocked the oscillators and the PBT board out of alignment. Since the PBT is the center of the radio…it no longer appeared to work correctly. Not being all that familiar with the radio (and not having a replacement PBT board laying around), and certainly not wanting to make matters worse… I reached out to Jeff Covelli WA8SAJ.

I can say without reservation that Jeff is a wealth of information and a remarkable asset to our community. He freely spent time on the phone with me to discuss the issues and things to watch out for when trying to align or modify the radio. I could listen to Jeff talk about the Drake radios for hours and decided to send the radio to him in Ohio. After the radio arrived in Ohio, Jeff spent a little time troubleshooting and found several problems with components on the PBT so he replaced the board. After a few other replacement parts and a complete alignment (plus a few mods) the radio sings. Besides the 2.8 Khz filter swap Jeff updated the radio with the wide band AM modification (it already had the factory original 6 Khz am filter) and the front panel transmit power control that will help when driving my L75. I can control the transmit drive on all bands from the front panel now with no problems with distortion with the amplifier.

While waiting for the radio to reach Jeff, I downloaded all the Dayton Hamvention Forums where Jeff and others provided briefings. Wow, what a series of events! Jeff even has the original working papers/files from Milt Sullivan, Drake’s Chief Engineer.

BTW…I was surprised with Jeff’s charges for the above services…time and materials. Unbelievably reasonable, and probably why the guy is so busy. Since he knows what he is doing… it took him only a few hours to provide all the services mentioned above. I won’t hesitate to recommend Jeff and I’ve decided to attend the 2017 Dayton Hamvention.

N2KPJ Rating: 2016-09-14
TR-4c/RV-4c/MN-2000/AC-4 Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I acquired a complete Drake station for a very good deal from a local ham who indicated he thought it was working fine. Well anyway I had some issues and found Jeff's reviews here on eHam and gave him a call. He was extremely helpful since I was new to older tube gear. Anyway it was determined that I had some issues going on and he suggested I send everything to him to go through(TR-4c,AC-4, MN-2000, RV-4c) Boy was I glad I did. It works and looks like a brand new station. Turn around was extremely fast.When I put it back on the air I had some issues and a call to Jeff and he generously worked me through my problem.(Operator error, oops) Very willing to share his knowledge and his time. He doesn't make you feel like an idiot if you don't know something or if you are doing something incorrectly. You won't go wrong having Jeff work on your older Drake equipment.
WB6TTF Rating: 2016-09-02
Jeff has gifted hands and electronics understanding 2nd to none Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Not the first time Jeff has repaired "new" Drake gear for me and it wont be the last! He resurrected a 2B for me and it functions as if new. Really. This time it was the Drake Twins. Again, like new.

Whenever I've needed to talk to Jeff, he always answers the phone and is as friendly and approachable as anyone can be. He's happy to share his knowledge.



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Earlier 5-star review posted by WB6TTF on 2016-04-06

Jeff Covelli is an enormously talented electronics technician as well as being very patient and most approachable. With his knowledge and skills of over forty years, he brought back to life a TR4 I really thought was ready for the scrap bin. The receive is now amazingly sensitive and has that "Drake audio" quality and puts out close to 200 watts. He also upgraded the AC4 power supply for me. I felt his fee was extremely reasonable for the work that was done. I would definitely have Jeff work on my other electronics anytime!