Topband: Improving Drake R4C performance

[Steve Ireland]

G'day 

Greetings from Western Australia.

I have just recently acquired a Drake R4C, which I intend to modify for use
for 160m CW DXing.  It is the later version with the 6BE6 2nd mixer, which
I understand is the one usually favoured for this purpose.

The R4C is pretty much 'stock', except it has the Drake 500Hz 2nd IF filter
fitted.  My intention is to purchase a Sherwood 600Hz first IF roofing
filter for it, and work from there.  I have copies of the Rob Sherwood
articles that were in Ham Radio, as a basis for further modification.

There is one area where I am lacking information.  I know some people have
improved the R4C by putting in new mixer, IF, and AGC circuits in them, as
well as changing some voltages and injection levels, to improve receive
performance. However, finding any actual details I can use is proving
difficult.

Any help or advice on the latter would be very much appreciated.

Vy 73,

Steve, VK6VZ

P.S.  Is there anyone out there who has a a Sherwood 600Hz 1st IF roofing 
filter for an R4C sitting on their shelves doing nothing?  Maybe you are 
an SSB operator who decided not to carry out the CW operation!

If you have one of these filters and are interested in selling/trading for
it, please drop me a line.  With the current Aussie dollar to US dollar
exchange rate, buying a new one is an expensive option.