Valve & Vintage
A short tale of the rise and fall and rise of Drake Radio.
A short tale of the rise and fall and rise of Drake Radio.
The drama at R L Drake radio was real. A tale of tragedy, engineering excellence and obsession. An American company that would go on to manufacture some of the most famous and beautifully-crafted amateur radio HF rigs ever produced, yet 50 years or so after they were manufactured, still eagerly sought after by radio amateurs worldwide. Many buyers still happy to pay more than they had originally cost when brand new in order to own one. So, the stage was set. The ‘actors’ were ready to perform their future semi-miraculous transformations of the radio art. But, the embryonic Drake ‘magic’ first began while America was immersed in the great economic depression of the 1930s, when R L Drake left the University of Cincinnati with an engineering degree gleefully tucked under his arm.
For men like Robert Lloyd Drake, and others like him, many of whom would one day be drawn to work for Bob Drake like eager wasps to a jam jar, it was a time of limitless opportunity. A time to help shape the times they lived in. A time to hatch a plan that would, like Collins Radio, bestow on R L Drake the ultimate accolade, that thousands of radio amateurs worldwide still consider its HF transceivers to be some of the best engineered amateur radio products ever manufactured. And some of the most cherished rigs too!
When Bob Drake left university, armed with his electrical engineering knowledge and a smattering of communications technology prowess, it wouldn’t take him too long to find employment. Bob Drake’s first employer was Dayton Radio, known colloquially as Dayrad. Drake though, was eager to enter the then cutting edge of electronics, which at that time meant aviation electronics − avionics. He soon found himself working for Bill Lear at Learavia (he of LearJet fame). And like Lear, Drake too, would be an innovator. However, money would never be the prime motivation. Bob Drake was consumed by his passion to think out of the box to bring forth far different engineering outcomes, even if it meant taking financial risks to gain eventual commercial success. But these were to be future times when the likes of Hammarlund, for example, would build huge HF rigs that could probably defy a nuclear explosion. Bob Drake had slightly smaller ideas. He left Learavia in1943 and founded R L Drake Co.
Early Days
Those smaller ideas had taken place before WWII. Bob Drake had been busily designing and building hand-built bandpass filters. He was selling these to his fellow radio amateurs who were happy to buy them. Back then, nearly all things radio were knocked up in the shack or the kitchen table. Drake saw an opening in the market for equipment that would transform receiver performance. Installing one of his filters into the signal path prior to the highgain stage in a receiver transformed its signal performance. Hence, the bandpass filters. They were flying out the door like ice-cream on a hot summer’s day.
As is a truism of modern warfare, technology and electronics is usually a grand recipient. So, 1943 was, for Bob Drake, a goose that laid a small golden egg moment. The cash began to roll in as R L Drake Co produced and supplied filters designed for the American military equipment market. Drake had also designed and built a jamming device that prevented German Panzer divisions from contacting their command and control chains. Apparently, a filter was demanded (subsequently rejected because of a design anomaly) by the American top brass to remove the jamming characteristics of the filter!
Drake’s first entry into the radio receiver business happened as the war ended. The BC-1255-A, a three-valve receiver covering 70-150MHz, was built under licence. The last time I looked for one, the R. L. Drake Virtual Museum had an example on show. A strange looking receiver but, in a spooky way, its shape was a prophesy of what the first amateur receiver, the 1-A, from R L Drake would eventually look like.
Post-War
The trouble was, after the war ended, it wasn’t all roses around the door for Mr Drake. Finances were tight. And the US economy was in a mild meltdown. Consequently, Drake took in work for other companies in the electronics field, if only to keep his head above water and to ensure a continuation of work for his employees. Although the near future looked ominously precarious, amateur radio was about to rescue Drake from the doldrums. Amateurs began to slide away from Morse code as the only means to communicate. AM (amplitude modulation) was now being embraced enthusiastically.
During the early 1950s, all the major radio manufacturers at the time − HRO, Hallicrafters and so on − were busily churning out receivers and AM transmitters
to satisfy a demand for factory-built rigs. Bandpass filters (such as the circa 1940s F15/U) were yesterday’s products. In came the Drake Q- multipliers and product detectors, which Drake designed for Collins radios, primarily a device to enhance SSB (Single Side Band) reception. Then, during the 1950s, up popped a Drake device (High-Patch), which enabled an amateur transmitter and receiver to be ‘patched’ to a telephone line. This proved to be popular. People with access to amateur radio equipment could now talk to whoever for free!
( Ed’s note: this is a whole other story. Phone patch, illegal in the UK because it would contravene the Post Office’s monopoly, was allowed in the US and embraced by radio amateurs who would perform a public service by allowing relatives, friends and neighbours to make long-distance and international phone calls, in the days such calls over the Bell network were expensive and often difficult to set up)
Success meant a move. In 1953, Bob Drake W8CYE upped sticks and moved into a building in Miamisburg, Ohio. Here, Milt Sullivan, a talented electrical design engineer, would join the ‘family firm’ of R L Drake Co. Milt stayed with Bob’s company until Bob Drake sadly passed away in 1975. With a talented collaborator on board, it was time to take more risks. To shake up the status quo that then existed on the amateur radio air-waves, where AM reigned supreme. Where the majority of radio amateurs hated change. But, more importantly, hated the new kid-on-the-block with a vengeance. Namely, SSB.
Embracing SSB
However, the visionary Bob Drake, embraced SSB. He saw all the positives rather than its negatives. Of course, he would be proven right (as did his contemporary, Art Collins W0CXX). Milt and Bob were on course to bring about a sea-change in current attitudes that predominated amateur radio thinking. That SSB was too difficult to understand and to implement, and suchlike. So, confined at home for a while, he busied himself with the design of an SSB-only receiver. It would be called the Drake 1-A. It hit the amateur radio stores during 1957, priced at $259.00.
Unfortunately, its shape did not inspire love at first sight. But its performance did. Much lighter than its competitors’ receivers at about 18 pounds, with 11 valves (6BY6s, etc) and Drake’s innovative product detector, amazing sensitivity and a few less knobs to twiddle, amateurs wanted one. This product would set
R L Drake on the road to being a main manufacturer of amateur radio gear. However, to meet demand another move was imminent.
During 1958, the company again moved to bigger premises. This time, Richard Street, Miamisburg, Ohio. Here, there was plenty of space for a larger production line. This would soon sorely be needed, because Milt Sullivan and Bob Drake would soon amaze the amateur radio world with what is arguably, one of Drake’s best-known designs for a valve type SSB/ AM receiver, the legendary 2-A. With triple conversion and crystal controlled heterodyne oscillators, it worked a treat. Amateurs and shortwave listeners adored it. This time, though, it didn’t buck the then prevailing rig shape. And it cost about the same as a 1-A. The Drake 2-B appeared in 1961. But not without problems. Bob Drake had tried to subcontract out production but with no takers.
Like Hot Cakes
Like the upcoming Drake TR-3 and TR-4 transceivers that would cause a storm of appreciation and wonder, the 2-B sold like hot-cakes. Not surprising really. It was a far better beast of a radio. It had more glamorous gizmos to twiddle with. SSB by then had taken off big time. And most, if not all of Drake’s happy customers were looking to Drake to pull yet another rabbit from the hat. But to ensure that R L Drake kept afloat, it meant that Bob Drake was forced to take a back seat in respect of design and engineering. Reluctantly, the role of chief engineer was passed to his bosom buddy and partner in all things
engineering-wise to Milt Sullivan. Bob Drake kept his hand in, though.
Another new receiver made its entrance in 1967. The 2-C, designed this time by an engineer called Ray Midkiff. Again, its shape and look would be echoed in the next exciting product from the Drake stable. It wasn’t popular, due no doubt to the fact that Drake put a transmitter for the Novice licensee on sale at the same time, the 2-NT. It seems that maybe bit of amateur radio snobbery killed it?
But what all avid Drake fans were really waiting for appeared in 1963. Drake’s first amateur HF transceiver, the TR-3 (a PSU, the aptly named AC-3 was available). Milt Sullivan had wholeheartedly met Bob Drake’s vision for an amateur product that would ensure his company’s future. Beautifully engineered and built to withstand the sometimes cruel treatment that some over-zealous owners would throw at it, it was almost bomb-proof. Costing $550, running 300W PEP SSB and about 250W on CW and AM, it used TV sweep valves and covered the HF bands in 600kHz segments. In passing, there is a rumour that Drake manufactured a few TR-3s with a chrome-plated chassis. Not the common bog-standard copper chassis. If you find one, you’ve happened upon a rare Drake rig that someone might give you a bundle of cash to own.
Come the late 1960s, it dawned on Bob Drake and Milt Sullivan that transistors were the new cutting edge. Valve rigs were heading for their last hurrah. So, again, enter the talented Mr Midkiff, who (Midkiff was instrumental in instigating a new printed circuit board technology, which ultimately would transform its rig production methodology), was charged with replacing the valve VFO with a transistor variant. This he did, overcoming many design and engineering difficulties. He designed an all transistor PTO (Permeably Tuned Oscillator). This unit would be used in all Drake rigs up until the ubiquitous Japanese ‘black boxes’ took over the US amateur radio market many years later.
Management Style
Perhaps at this juncture I should note that Bob Drake embraced a paternal approach to his workforce, especially, his female employees (several YL operators were used in R L Drake advertising). Not, of course, that his male employees were sidelined. On the contrary, some were given free reign (within limits) to follow their hearts’ desire, engineering-wise. At Drake, it was one big family, with Bob, as the surrogate dad.
The TR-4 and Successors
The TR-4 took over where the TR-3 left off but with a few more bells and whistles. The Drake rig(s) that really caught the imagination, though, and are still famously and fondly remembered today, are the so called original ‘Drake Twins’, the T-4X and R-4A. And like the TR-4, which became a TR-4C, TR-4CW and so on, the ‘Drake Twins’ became the R-4C/T-4XC. They remained outwardly the same looking rigs, instantly recognisable as Drake rigs at a glance and all still beautifully built with loving care. A linear amplifier, the L-4, running 2000 watts PEP, was available for those amateurs who preferred to make themselves heard come what may. An L-4B PA was introduced during the 1970s.
Numerous receivers popped up too. The R4, R4-A, R-4B/C etc. Again, all matching a similar build shape as the transmitters and transceivers. And as I mentioned, amazingly, many of these rigs are still working decades later, still giving on-air joy to many Drake owners worldwide. Built to last but, no doubt, not Bob Drake’s original design intention?
Disaster Strikes
Then, in 1975, a thunderbolt struck. Robert Lloyd ‘Bob’ Drake Sr died. He left behind a wife, three sons and one daughter. All his employees were devastated. Their boss, mentor and friend had gone. However, a brand-new operational epoch was to begin. Risk, hated by Bob Drake Sr, would now be fully embraced by his son, Peter W
Drake, appointed the new Drake CEO (Chief Executive Officer). Expansion was the goal.
To that end, Peter and Ron Wysong, the amateur product chief engineer, began a recruitment drive for electronic engineering talent. Subsequently, Jim Jaeger and Mike Elliot, who’d worked at Heathkit and Collins Radio, were given the task of plucking yet another rabbit from the proverbial hat. This was to be an all solid-state synthesised HF amateur transceiver, a rig that would knock the socks off the competition. Yes, you’ve guessed it, the futuristic looking TR7. Radio amateurs drooled over it. They had to own one, now!
However, blood sweat and tears wouldn’t be enough to bring this rig to reality. The big problem for Drake was the total transition from valves to all solidstate. The seemingly eccentric engineer extraordinaire Jim Jaeger and Mike Elliott would eventually crack the problem. They both knew that up-conversion frequencies, sky high IFs, spurious emissions and phase noise were a minefield, but part and parcel of designing a stable synthesiser. Then a transistorised PA had to be tamed and shamed.
Months passed by, the seeming insurmountable engineering problems solved, the TR-7 hit retail amateur radio shops during 1978. Rolling off the production lines at 540 Richard Street and eagerly bought by Drake aficionados worldwide, it was generally perceived as a triumph. But the TR-7’s reign didn’t last long. The TR-7A and R7A stole its thunder.
Although the TR-7 was an awesome rig, it hit a brick wall price-wise. Japanese transceivers were cheaper and almost as good. So why should anyone (other than Drake fans) buy one? Hence, in 1982, out came an improved TR-7 with all the extra bells and whistles, costing a bit more cash. The ploy didn’t work. Besides, the amateur radio market had downsized. Unsold TR-s and TR-7A’s began to form a mountain of unsold rigs! An amateur radio dealer subsequently bought a big pile of them for a large discount. It was sad times for the RL Drake amateur rig business.
The TR-5
By way of a last goodbye, Drake advertised a TR-5 HF transceiver during 1983. Basically, a cheaper cut-down version of the TR-7. Unfortunately, although a joy to operate, when it worked, it was beset with internal problems and it didn’t sell well. Unlike the TR-7/A’s superior internal architecture, the TR-5’s similar circuit module connectors, by comparison, were strewn with a myriad of cabling issues, sometimes, even out of the box brand new! These issues were eventually solved but the damage had been done. The TR-5 was tainted. But it was a great radio, if flawed.
Come 1984 (Drake re-entered in 1997, with an esoteric 2m rig, the TR270), Drake pulled out of the amateur radio market. It was a good decision. Anyway, trying to compete with Japanese built rigs would have spelled doom for the whole company. Drake had sensibly entered the booming home style satellite receiver marketplace in the 1970s but, again, that market changed dramatically too.
Drake branched out into the audiovisual sector (then introduced its 1997 AudioAccent RF technology and Drake Digital Transcoder packages in 2002) and cable TV equipment. Nowadays, Drake is owned by Blonder Tongue, a major manufacturer (Franklin, Ohio) of equipment for TV broadcast stations. But the Drake name still shines on brightly.
But Drake Rigs Live On
Bob Drake’s company manufactured thousands of amateur rigs, but the astonishing thing is, lots of them are still working and providing communications for those who covet them. One day, even though built like a battleship, these rigs will die and be just a fond memory.
Fortunately, that eventual demise will probably be a long time coming. Mainly because far too many love and own Drake equipment to let it be forgotten! So, until the last Drake rig has finally given up its last part to keep another up and going and on the airwaves, the amateur bands will sing with the sound of a Drake rig some place somewhere.
Finally, in an ironic twist of fate, there was to be a Drake TR-8, a super-duper DSP version of the beautifully proportioned TR7. An HF transceiver that would propel yet more Drake fun and magic into the 1990s and beyond. Two design engineers, Steve Koogler and Neil LeSaint, were the people destined to bring the TR-8 to a fruitful launch. However, the whole TR-8 show was shelved.
The prototype was boxed up and given an ignominious send-off. Such were the dreams of thousands of dedicated Drake fans, which were so cruelly crushed that day. But don’t fret. Out there in amateur radio land, plenty of pre-loved Drake rigs of various ‘flavours’ are seeking new owners to perform with. (with thanks to Ron Baker WB4HFN for the photos accompanying this article)