RA17 page 13

In conclusion, this has been a very worthwhile exercise during which time I have learned a lot about the RA17. The receiver itself is a joy to operate. It does require about 30 minutes to warm up and stabilise. If you attempt to use it before it is stabilised, due to the drift canceling nature of the Wadley Loop you end up chasing stations up and down the band as you make minor corrections. Better to leave it 30 minutes, after which time the drift is negligible. For a 50 year old receiver it is really quite astonishing how accurate and stable it is, considering that everything is achieved with just 22 valves (not counting the rectifier). You would be pushed to accomplish such performance with just 22 transistors! Even this MK1 version will give many a modern receiver a good run for it’s money

Links:
Various Racal or RA17-related sites.
Keith’s Vintage Racal Enthusiasts Site . . . This site does not look like it has been updated for several years BUT contains a vast amount of information relating to many pieces of vintage Racal kit.
N3FRQ’s RA17 page . . . Provides some background to the RA17 as well as an easy to read description of how it works.
The Blog which inspired this project . . . Peter Holtham’s RA117 restoration.
G3NYH’s RA17 related page.
The Racal Shack of Henk PA8PDP.

Sources of Manuals etc.
www.royalsignals.org.uk . . . A superb source of vintage manuals.
The VMARS Archive . . . The Vintage and Military Amateur Radio Society.

The RA17 sits below the bench since there isn’t actually any room on top. The MA197C is employed in the function for which it was designed and serves to protect the RA17, RA1772, RA1792 and RA3701 from possible RF damage from the shack (off picture to left).

I had to laugh the other day. I was almost finished refurbishing the RA17 when I commented to the XYL that I wouldn’t mind taking up restoring old Racal kit as a profession. I was joking. However a couple of days later, a friend who I had not spoken to for some time ‘phoned me about repairing a PC (that’s what I do). We got chatting and I commented that I was just about finished restoring the RA17 . . . And he said, ‘How would you like to repair mine for a suitable sum?’