The Racal
RA.17L is a shortwave communications receiver. The 1st
version started in 1957. Often it is called the british
pendant to the Collins R-390. There are supposed beeing
build more than 10.000 receivers of the various version
of RA.17.
An excellent overview for the different RA.17 versions
(and also RA.117 and other Racal receivers) you'll find
on Keith's webpages Keith's
RA.17 page
The
complete Operating and Maintenance Manual for RA.17L,
OM-45-5-63-1450 you can get on the Boatanchor Manual
Archive BAMA
I have also a hardcopy of OM-45-3-10-67-300.
The tube complement of
RA.17L consists of: 23 tubes:
|
CV type
|
European type
|
US
type
|
Function
|
| CV 138 |
EF91 |
6AM6 |
Crystal Oscillator |
| CV 138 |
EF91 |
6AM6 |
Harmonic Generator |
| CV 5331 |
ECC189 |
6ES8 |
R.F. Amplifier |
| CV 2209 |
6F33Spec |
(6AS6 *) |
Harmonic Mixer |
| CV 138 |
EF91 |
6AM6 |
1st V.F.O |
| CV 138 |
EF91 |
6AM6 |
37.5 Mc/s Amplifier |
| CV 3998 |
E180F |
6688 |
1st Mixer |
| CV 138 |
EF91 |
6AM6 |
37.5 Mc/s Amplifier |
| CV 3998 |
E180F |
6688 |
2nd Mixer |
| CV 138 |
EF91 |
6AM6 |
37.5 Mc/s Amplifier |
| CV 4012 |
EK90 |
6BE6 |
3rd Mixer |
| CV 138 |
EF91 |
6AM6 |
2nd V.F.O |
| CV 4012 |
EK90 |
6BE6 |
Calibrator |
| CV 454 |
EF93 |
6BA6 |
1st I.F. Amplifier |
| CV 454 |
EF93 |
6BA6 |
Calibrator |
| CV 454 |
EF93 |
6BA6 |
2nd I.F. Amplifier |
| CV 454 |
EF93 |
6BA6 |
I.F. Output |
| CV 140 |
EB91 |
6AL5 |
A.V.C. and T.C. |
| CV 138 |
EF91 |
6AM6 |
B.F.O. |
| CV 1377 |
GZ34 |
5AR4 |
Power Rectifier |
| CV 140 |
EB91 |
6AL5 |
Detector and Noise Limiter |
| CV 138 |
EF91 |
6AM6 |
Audio Output |
| CV 138 |
EF91 |
6AM6 |
A.F. Output |
* 6AS6 is not a full
substitution for 6F33: G2 (screen grid ) and G3
(suppressor grid) connect to different pins!
A highly recommended
source for those tube in Europe is RBN
Trading in Sweden.
This tube complement
is the English version; the American version has a different tube
complement and no rectifier tube but Si-rectifiers.
The RA.17 is using the famous Wadley-Loop, which
eliminates the drift in the oscillator within a range of
+/-150 Hz. A description about the Wadley-Loop is given
by Chris
Arthur VK3JEG
The receiver has continous frequency coverage from 1.000
kc to 30.000 kc, but it works also down to 500 kc. Tuning
is simple: you have to choose the required megacycle on
the tuning dial right, and then you can use the tuning
dial left to finetune over a range of 1.000 kc. There are
2 crystal filters for 100 c and 300 c, and 4 L-C filters
for 1.2 kc, 3 kc, 6.5 kc and 13 kc bandwidth.
Also the antenna coils can be tuned. Wideband and 6 range
selections are available, the ranges controlled by an
antenna tuning capacitor. An antenna attenuator prevents
from too strong signals.
My receiver has the serial
number 7987. It is the rack mount version, with a dust
cover. The mod record tags on the front close to the
escutcheon are indicating no. 19 as the last mod applied.
According to Keith's list of modifications no. 19 was the
last mod for RA.17. Keith is showing the mod list
on Mods
for the RA.17 Receiver.
| There were a lot of
additional components to be used together with the
receiver. Different versions of Sideband Adaptors exist,
one of this is RA.63, the Single Sideband Adaptor. |
Racal
RA.63B |
| Another thing I did was to
build a precise digital display to connect to the
receiver |
Digital Display |
The antenna connector is a special type, called Burndept
connector.
A source for those plugs and also some Racal spare parts
is Rolendra
Ltd. in
Farnham/Surrey.
Burndept plug for RA.17
|
|
|
RA.17L case open
|
|
|
|
A view from downunder:
|
|
|
A good source for Racal
receivers is M&B Radio UK in Leeds/UK: MB-Radio
Good RA.17 are not really hard to find in the UK but
beware of the shippings costs: app. 80 GB-P to
continental Europe. Because of the high weight this goods
have to be shipped via freight forwarders. If you are
interested contact Lee Curtis from M&B Radio.
Back to my Boatanchors page
Last Update: 04 - August
- 2007
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