THE R L DRAKE COMPANY A FAMILY AFFAIR

THE R. L. DRAKE COMPANY A FAMILY AFFAIR A PRESENTATION FOR SARA Jim Barnard, W 4 BRX February, 2016

John Loughmiller, KB 9 AT Publisher: Universal Radio Research ISBN 1 -882123 -26 -3 A book about the R. L. Drake Company’s history and features technical information on many of their amateur radio products Offers a glimpse into the various personalities of the Drake production team(s) Great history on the TR-7 from design concept to production

Robert Lloyd Drake, Sr. • Owner of R. L. Drake Co. 1943 -1975 Robert Lloyd Drake, Sr. • A kind, quiet, visionary W 8 CYE & accomplished engineer • Loved communications equipment • Obsessed with building quality products that worked as they should • Cared deeply for his employees

Graduated from U. of Cincinnati during of Depression First worked for Dayton Radio R. L. Drake, Sr. 1910 -1975 Then joined Bill Lear at Learavia and designed avionics gear In 1943, started his own company

Drake F 15/U WWII Filter After WWII, R. L. Drake made springs for GE, coils for Delco, even table lamps of SS Kesge. Also, made various ham radio accessories. high-patch, bandpass filters, and Q multipiers

In the 1950’s everything was built BIG “BIG & HEAVY====BETTER” Hallicrafters SX-101 MK-III 70 lbs. Great AM & CW rcvr.

Drake 1 -A Ham Receiver Looks like a mailbox 11 tubes 18 lbs. First SSB only receiver Introduced in 1957 $259 2 x 100 pre-orders In 1958, R. L. Drake moved to 540 Richard St. Miamisburg, OH.

DRAKE 2 -A AM, CW, & SSB Milt Sullivan was hired After WWII as chief design engineer. Drake 2 -A was mostly his design 1959

DRAKE 2 -B & 2 -BQ AM, CW, & SSB 1961 $279

Drake 2 -B Advertising Bandpass tuning and selectivity

COLLINS SSB TRANSCEIVERS APPEAR 1957 Collins KWM-1 14 -30 MHz Fixed or Mobile 175 W SSB Price $820 Collins KMW-2 1958 -85 3. 5 -30 MHz Fixed or Mobile 160 W SSB

Drake TR-3 Transceiver Introduced in 1963

Drake TR-3 Transceiver Introduced in 1963 $550 (With matching AC-3 Power Supply) 300 W PEP SSB 260 W CW Permeability Tuned VFO (PTO) 3 -TV sweep tube finals 20 tubes total

Drake TR-4 Transceiver Series Produced 1964 -78

Drake 2 C and 2 NT Transmitter Novice xtal controlled 2 NT transmitter gave market the impression that 2 -C was novice receiver. Introduced in 1967

The Famous Drake Twins 1963 -74

Sherwood Engineering Drake R-4 C Receiver Upgrades Two-filter switching with PC board, relays & sockets Three-filter switching with 2 PC boards, relays & sockets Four-filter switching with 2 PC boards, relays & sockets 600 Hz 6 -Pole First-IF roofing filter for Drake R-4 -C R-4 C Filter Capacitor Replacement Kit R-4 C Audio Amplifier R-4 C Solid State 3 rd Mixer R-4 C Product Detector R-4 C New Replacement Power Supply Board R-4 C Band Crystals

HEATHKIT HW-100/101 In Production 1969— 1983 Price $339 Kit 30 -40 K Sold

1976 Time for New Products The Tr-7 Design Team 100 W All Solid-State Transceiver Most attractive Drake product to date Peter Drake, Milt Sullivan, Ron Wysong, and Don Tyrell spent evenings at the Cubbyhole Lounge and the Peerless Mill Bar deciding next Drake amateur radio product. Bob Drake’s illness had slowed innovation: Something new and innovative was needed. Ron Wysong Chief Engineer, Amateur Radio Products Lead Project Manager Jim Jaeger Drake co-op Student Hired from Cincinnati Electronics Designed up-converted Military radios (Escort) Mike Elliot In 1976 hired from Heathkit where he had designed the SB-104 transceiver. (formally worked at Collins as well)

Drake TR-7(A)

Drake TR-7 Design Team Varn Frank Synthesizer and later RV-75 digital VFO Steve Whitefield PS-7 power supply and NB Jerry Denker pre-driver and power amplifier Don Gaiser mechanical, signal leakage avoidance most attractive Drake gear yet Jaeger & Elliot IF freq. BFO freq. No Birdies!!!! Elliot BFO & leakage Mel Ulrich Production Glenn Davis QC

DRAKE TR-7 STATION

1983 final year for production and sale of amateur radio equipment AES BOUGHT ALL REMAINING INVENTORY AT FIRESIDE SALE PRICES Drake transitioned to satellite receivers --a lucrative market. Drake Company still in business making cable TV equipment Bought by Blonder-Tongue in 2012 but the two remain separate operating companies

Drake Resources 1 • Ron Baker, www. wb 4 hfn. com 2 • Drake Technical Net 7. 238 Mhz. Sun. 4 PM 3 • http: //hayseedhamfest. c om/collections/drake • Capacitors for Drake

DRAKE PRODUCTION TIMELINE

A FINAL WORD Bob Drake deeply cared for his employees Living through the depression had profound impact on him. Liked to hire women—loyal, hard workers and would work for less pay than men Would secretly help employees in need. Considered Drake employees “second family” Once in the 70’s Drake employees took a union vote that failed; this greatly disturbed Bob Drake. Later, his son Peter said, “if the vote had passed, Dad would have shut down the company. ” Tried overseas contractors to build PC boards, miserable failure.

QUESTIONS ? ? ?