RACAL RA6790A - R-2174 - HF Receiver + Some strange signals on 8.864MHz

An overview of the RACAL RA 6790 HF receiver showing it operation and a bit about its history. Some strange signal at the end of the video whilst monitoring 8.864MHz. "Stretching out for about 12 miles.........Its a big one" / Oil slick?

[@wes11bravo]

In a way, it's good to hear that this HF receiver that I've lusted after for 20+ years and was never able to afford doesn't even have the kind of performance one would expect. The buyer's remorse would have been painful!

[@ScottGamble1]

Great review Peter! Thank you for the band scan!

[@vk4gxc]

Thanks Scott

[@vacuumfireradio253]

Superb audio quality Peter. Very very nice receiver.

[@vk4gxc]

Thanks for the kind words

[@stevejones8665]

Hi Peter I don't know what KZbin are playing at lately I didn't get any notifications for your recent video,s even though I hit the bell icon to be notified of all new videos. Seems like they are more interested in ramming Funeral advertisements at us. Well at least here on UK. Thanks for taking the time to share much appreciated. Take care

[@afnDavid]

This receiver deserves the best antenna you can get.. and not to be used on the broadcast or ham bands. :-) I have two of them. Along with two Watkins-Johnson WJ-8716/PRE, and a Collins HF-2050 99.999% used for utility monitoring.

[@netautorisationnetautorisa545]

*HE HAS "A TON" OF STUFF .. ( GOOD ONES ) .. I HAVE ONLY ABOUT .."1.2 TONS"* *HF RADIO "STUFF" .... 500 KG .. ARE (NEVER USED PARTS) TO MY "RADIOs"* *( X-TAL "FILTERS" .. SPECIAL "BOARDS" .. EXTRA "MODULES" )* *SAILOR RADIO DENMARK "AALBORG"* *SYSTEM 1000 /1000 B* ( ONLY ) NNNN have a good day mister

[@WernerGabrielKameramann]

Thanks for that presentation. I had one in the 90th ... and I sold it. I listened a lot as a SWL. After I sold it I weeped for have given it away. But now, after nearly thirty years without it, and having seen your video I am no longer longing for it. Now I remember that the phasenoise drove me nuts. It was so demanding and stressful to listen an evening with this receiver. In parallel I also had a Collings R390a, which was in comparison relaxing to listen to Hams and radioprogram. But, the 6790 is a real beauty on the shelf 😀👍🏻

[@onthebench3606]

Great video thanks. Do you rate the icom IC-R9000??

[@vk4gxc]

Hi unfortunately i have not had the pleasure of using the R-9000 but i was considering buying one recently they do look the part and I understand they have very good specifications, The large screen has always been a concern , but i understand you can still get them. I do have a R-7000 which used too be my main V/UHF set. I did spend a lot of time getting the tracking pre-selector assembly to track correctly. Its an excellent receiver and i would expect the R-9000 to be even better. In an artical on Mr Icom i read that he wanted to emulate the 'Art Collins' model (Collins Radio) and always pushed for excellent performance and quality....

[@onthebench3606]

@@vk4gxc great stuff, thank you

[@wes11bravo]

​@@vk4gxc- there are still NOS Icom CRTs available that come up on ebay occasionally for the R-9000 and the IC-781. I can't believe that someone hasn't devised a way to convert to a solid state display for those radios.

[@claudio6493]

Great Review, I own 2 Racal 3701 hf receiver 1 Racal 1792 and 1 Racal 3791 DSP, regarding the Racal 3701 modular hf receiver, when I run the Bite diagnostic, the receiver said that I've got 2 issues : module If /af ( AM detector) and second error BITE is module IF/AF ( product dedector) do you know what can be the issue here? The receiver works fine and when I press the key "fault" the receiver confirm that there is no faults so it means that these are Low faults issues but is annoying see that something is not working properly........ Any advice? Please continue to review nice professional hf receivers.. Please... Thanks again claudio Glasgow UK

[@vk4gxc]

Hi Claudio thanks for the nice comment. With regards to the 3701 I have not worked on then but have used them in the past so I don’t know much about them internal. If there is no info on the web and looking at the fault ident I would think it may be low IF gain. However it could be that it’s dropped off from the original measured value in the BITE when new and it could be just a tune up required or a device with time has gone low. As the RX behaves ok in all other respect it’s probably not drifted much. As mentioned Best way would be to try and track down a service manual which may explain the fault ID is. There may even be a way to reset the BITE test. All the best Peter

[@claudio6493]

Thanks a lot, I have all service manuals and you are right it seems a voltage that need to be checked, the receiver works fine but would be nice to remove these 2 faults from Bite running diagnostic. So if I need a hand I will ask you for more advice 😁👍😊 thanks again and I hope to see soon great videos about great hf receivers.....

[@KarlKrogmann]

Yeah, that's an American accent for sure. The louder of the two voices sounded southern too.

[@KarlKrogmann]

Two videos in two days? What the hell is going on here? An embarrassment of riches! Great video as always. // KD9LTQ

[@vk4gxc]

Yeah I know, I just cant help myself sometimes, Its been a while since I made any Videos, Camera was set up so thought I might knock out a few vids, especially as house bound at the moment. Still have a couple of more radios here to cover, I'll see if I can get unto date!!.