R. L. Drake Company - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The R. L. Drake Company is a manufacturer of electronic

Electronics

Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...

communication

Telecommunication

Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...

s equipment located in Franklin, Ohio

Franklin, Ohio

Not to be confused with Franklin County, Ohio.Franklin is a city in Warren County, Ohio, United States. The population was 11,771 at the 2010 census.-History:...

. It is also known for its line of equipment for amateur radio

Amateur radio

Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...

and shortwave listening

Shortwave listening

Shortwave listening is the hobby of listening to shortwave radio broadcasts located on frequencies between 1700 kHz and 30 MHz. Listeners range from casual users seeking international news and entertainment programming to hobbyists immersed in the technical aspects of radio reception and DXing...

, built in the 1950s through the 1980s.

History

The company was founded in 1943 by Robert L. Drake, a young engineer with a significant background in radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

design. The company began as a manufacturer of low pass and high pass filters for the government and amateur radio

Amateur radio

market. After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the company applied its engineering experience to the consumer market and started producing amateur radio transmitters and receivers

Communications receiver

A communications receiver is a type of radio receiver used as a component of a radio communication link.-Features:Commercial communications receivers are characterised by high stability and reliability of performance, and are generally adapted for remote control and monitoring...

.

The amateur radio station aboard the RMS Queen Mary

RMS Queen Mary

RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line...

was once a complete line of Drake equipment. Drake amateur radio equipment has been used in hot air balloon

Hot air balloon

The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...

flights trying to fly non-stop across the country or around the world. An around the world attempt on a sailing yacht used Drake gear - the details were outlined in an issue of the Smithsonian Magazine. Also, the non-stop flight of the Rutan Voyager was equipped with Drake gear.

Many of the Drake receivers, transmitters, and transceivers manufactured in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s are still in active use today. Several of the products, built in limited quantities, are considered very rare.

When founder Robert L. Drake died in 1975, the operation and management of the company was turned over to his 2nd son, Peter W. Drake.

Today, Drake produces products and solutions for cable television

Cable television

Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

systems, SD and HD video encoders, video

Video

Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...

signal distribution, and digital television

Digital television

Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...

reception under the Drake and Dracom brand.

Amateur radio products

Drake manufactured equipment for amateur radio operators and short wave listeners for more than three decades.

Long wave, medium wave, shortwave, and high frequency (HF) equipment

The Drake 1A receiver was the company’s first meant specifically for radio amateurs. Introduced in 1957, it was revolutionary in at least two ways. First, it was much smaller than most receivers of the time period. The design emphasized simplicity and ease of operation. Second, it was designed specifically for reception of the relatively new and increasingly popular single sideband (SSB) mode of voice transmission.

In 1959 they followed the 1A with the 2A, a more traditional looking receiver that was a bit larger but still much more compact than its contemporaries. The 2A had more features, increased sensitivity and selectivity, and was introduced at the same price as the 1A. It was followed two years later by the 2B, very similar in appearance but with improved performance and a new set of controls for adjusting the selectivity (bandwidth) and center frequency.

Rather than produce a transmitter to match the 2B, Drake designed a new line of equipment beginning with an SSB transceiver, the TR-3, in 1963. Again emphasizing size efficiency, the TR-3 was designed as a complete SSB station in a small package. Other design innovations included crystal bandwidth filters and a permeability tuned oscillator (PTO) capable of extremely linear, stable tuning and a dial resolution of better than 1 kHz across all amateur HF (shortwave

Shortwave

Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...

) bands. Its size was so small, in part, because the power supply was in a separate chassis, connected to the transceiver with a multi-conductor cable. The AC-3 power supply could be installed inside a matching speaker cabinet, later designated the MS-4. An optional remote VFO (PTO), the RV-3 could be added to the system to enable split frequency operation (i.e., transmitting on a frequency different from the receiving frequency). The RV-3 (and, later, the RV-4) also contained a speaker.

Beginning with the TR-3, Drake adopted a scheme for illuminating tuning dials and panel meters on its equipment using small incandescent bulbs behind greenish-blue transparent plastic filters. This lighting color became one of the most recognizable and distinguishing features of Drake radios.

The TR-3 was superseded by several versions of the TR-4, ending with the TR-4C and its variants in 1978. The TR-6, covering the 50MHz (6-meter) amateur band, was also introduced in 1968 and was produced for about six years.

Because of their small size, the Drake transceivers were widely used for mobile operation, along with the DC-3 or DC-4 power supplies.

In 1965, Drake introduced the matching T-4X transmitter and R-4 receiver. The “4-Line” twins satisfied a desire for high performance, operational flexibility and a set of features not possible to squeeze into the TR-4’s small size. The matching units used the same PTO technology as the TR-4, and were capable of transceive operation using either the receiver’s or the transmitter’s PTO to control the operating frequency.

The 4-Line continued to be improved through ‘A’ and ‘B’ versions, and underwent a significant receiver redesign when the “C-Line” came out in 1973. The T-4XC transmitter and R-4C receiver employed a few more solid state

Solid state (electronics)

Solid-state electronics are those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials and in which the electrons, or other charge carriers, are confined entirely within the solid material...

devices but were still primarily vacuum tube designs.

Along with transceivers and separates, the 4-Line included a set of matching accessories including the L-4 linear amplifier, C-4 control console, W-4 and WV-4 power meters, transmit and receive converters for the 50MHz (6 meter) and 144MHz (2 meter) bands, and antenna impedance matching networks (tuners

Antenna tuner

An antenna tuner, transmatch or antenna tuning unit is a device connected between a radio transmitter or receiver and its antenna to improve the efficiency of the power transfer between them by matching the impedance of the equipment to the antenna...

), the MN-4 and MN-2000.

Midway through the 4-Line’s run, in 1967, Drake introduced a receiver and transmitter pair meant for the Novice licensee - the 2-C receiver and 2-NT transmitter. The 2-C was an improved receiver based on the 2-B design using a few more solid state

Solid state (electronics)

Solid-state electronics are those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials and in which the electrons, or other charge carriers, are confined entirely within the solid material...

devices. Thus, it was a sophisticated design compared to most other receivers targeting Novices. The 2-NT used a crystal oscillator to control its frequency, a requirement of the Novice license at that time (the restriction was later removed by the Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

(FCC)).

For short wave listeners, Drake produced the SW-4 receiver in 1967 (and later the SW-4A), which matched the rest of the 4-Line in appearance, was based on the R-4 design, but greatly simplified to be easier for the casual listener to use. It was replaced in 1973 by the SPR-4, a receiver similar in appearance to the R-4C but, again, simplified for ease of use. Its biggest difference, however, was that it was Drake’s first all solid state

Solid state (electronics)

Solid-state electronics are those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials and in which the electrons, or other charge carriers, are confined entirely within the solid material...

design. It covered a greater portion of the high frequency

High frequency

High frequency radio frequencies are between 3 and 30 MHz. Also known as the decameter band or decameter wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decameters . Frequencies immediately below HF are denoted Medium-frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Very high frequency...

(HF) and medium wave spectrum than did the SW-4, by using a large set of selectable heterodyne

Heterodyne

Heterodyning is a radio signal processing technique invented in 1901 by Canadian inventor-engineer Reginald Fessenden where high frequency signals are converted to lower frequencies by combining two frequencies. Heterodyning is useful for frequency shifting information of interest into a useful...

oscillator crystals for selecting the tuning range, each covering a 500 kHz wide segment. The receiver came supplied with 10 crystals and a user could add up to 14 more.

In 1978 Drake abandoned vacuum tubes (except for their use in power amplifiers) in favor of solid state

Solid state (electronics)

Solid-state electronics are those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials and in which the electrons, or other charge carriers, are confined entirely within the solid material...

designs and digital frequency synthesis. The new “7-Line” included the TR-7 transceiver, the R-7 receiver, and various accessories including two linear amplifiers, the L-7 and L-75.

The TR-5, largely a solid state

Solid state (electronics)

Solid-state electronics are those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials and in which the electrons, or other charge carriers, are confined entirely within the solid material...

version of the TR-4, was built and briefly sold during the early 1980s. Because so few of them were made they have become comparatively scarce.

Drake’s final entry into the Amateur radio

Amateur radio

and Shortwave listening

Shortwave listening

markets was the R-8 receiver in 1991 – a high performance digital design with advanced features specifically meant for shortwave broadcast listening. The receiver, which primarily covered medium and short wave bands, could be expanded to cover two VHF ranges with an optional, internal adapter. Further improvements led to R-8A and R-8B models before it was discontinued in 2005 after a long production run.

Very high frequency (VHF) and ultra high frequency (UHF) equipment

In addition to the converters designed as part of Drake’s 4-Line, they began designing and selling compact VHF and UHF transceivers in the early 1970s. Powered by 12V DC, they were primarily intended for mobile use.

Drake marketed a series of VHF transceivers manufactured in Japan, under the Drake brand. The ML-2 “Marker Luxury” was a crystal controlled FM transceiver for the 2-meter (144 MHz) band.

The TR-22, TR-22C, and TR-33 were very small 2-meter FM transceivers that were entirely self-contained, including a telescoping antenna and rechargeable battery. They each came with a microphone and carrying case with shoulder strap.

Drake’s UV-3 FM transceiver, manufactured in the US, covered the 144, 220, and 440 MHz bands. A different model was available for covering one, two, or three bands. A user could start with one or two and add more later by purchasing modular add-in boards. It was their first VHF/UHF transceiver to use frequency synthesis instead of crystals for establishing the operating frequency.

The TR-72 was a crystal controlled 2-meter FM transceiver that bore a striking resemblance to transceivers from Yaesu (brand)

Yaesu (brand)

Yaesu is an international brand of commercial and amateur radio equipment.It was founded as in 1959 by a Japanese radio amateur Sako Hasegawa with callsign JA1MP in the Tokyo neighborhood of Yaesu...

, indicating its manufacturing origin.

External links

www.rldrake.com R. L. Drake Company website
www.dproducts.be/drake_museum R. L. Drake Virtual Museum
World's largest collection of Drake radio equipment
Drake rigs Complete list of Drake radios

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

History

Amateur radio products

Long wave, medium wave, shortwave, and high frequency (HF) equipment

Very high frequency (VHF) and ultra high frequency (UHF) equipment

See also

External links