The R. L. Drake Company was once the most respected name in American amateur radio. For over twenty years, their receivers and transceivers were the equipment that serious operators swore by. The blue glow of a Drake dial was one of the most recognized symbols in the hobby. Before any of that, their engineers built electronic warfare equipment used during the Second World War, working out of a building so small they shared it with a coat hanger manufacturer. Robert Lloyd Drake started the company in 1943 with a handful of employees and a specialization in electronic filtering. What he built during the war earned him military contracts and a reputation for precision. After the war, he kept the company alive through years of unglamorous contract work before developing a receiver that bet against everything the rest of the industry was doing. That bet paid off and turned Drake into a global brand. But the same philosophy that made them dominant eventually became the thing their competitors used against them. This video covers the full arc, from a rented workshop in Dayton, Ohio to a bankruptcy filing eight decades later.
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Drake TR4-Cw, RV4, MN-2000, W-4! When I was a kid in the 60’s and early 70’s, I used to dream of getting a Drake transceiver! R.I.P Robert L Drake… 😊
As a Brit I always thought American radios had real class in both design and performance. Got a collins HF380 a Drake R7 and an TR7 and i still love them.
Drake will live on. Still used today.
I was just using my Drake Twins the other day, including the transmitter that I had a hand in building.
Nice video, my dad worked at RL Drake and retired in 1979. I knew that they made the satellite dishes at one point but didn't know why. Your video brought back a lot memories for me.
My father had a Drake TR7 an absolutely loved it but when he passed in the mid 90s it was sold off and now 30 years later I’m back into Radio myself and I wish I had it back.😔
Drake did nothing wrong; no American company can compete with the low labor costs of Asian industry.
if US did not allow unfair foreign competition like we have started to do in 2025, 2026 , we would still have many electrocnis companies and employed many American. AG6JU
2.95 Million dollars is the price of a “modest” house??!😮 Yikes!
The only constant is change. If you want to live you stay ahead of the change or at least keep pace with it. If you fall too far behind you die.
always wanted an R8B.
It's hard to compete in a land where a "modest house" is 6.5 million dollars.
Not true. Collins "set the standard". Drake was really excellent but what you say about Drake actually applies to Collins.
I still love my Drake TR-4 which turned out to be a very well made transceiver. I wish they were still in business making high quality amateur radio equipment.
About 1970-72’ish, my best friend in high school had his own Drake system next to his bedroom. He was very proud of it, and it did look cool. . . R.I.P. my good frield Ed.
I wanted an R8B, but by the time I could spend the money it was no longer available. Dreams can't always come true.
My TR-7 was one of the last serviced by Drake. They serviced, aligned and brought it up to TR-7A specs. To quote the Doc Holliday character: “it’s a daisy”. TR-7, RV-7, PS-7 and the matching speaker.
Drake had the SPR-4 receiver which was all transistor in 1969. And it had the "C" concentric dial, which didn't come out until later on the C Line. The SPR-4 was a great receiver and the only thing lacking was it didn't utilize a pass band filter that the other tube receivers had. Other than that, it was quite comparable to the tube receivers and also had the capability to transceive with the tube Drake transmitters. The SPR-4 was a professional receiver and used in a maritime configuration as a secondary receiver. The FCC also bought many of them for their enforcement division. Drake was ahead of its time with the SPR-4, but sadly didn't expand on their transistor engineering until later with the 7 line.
Users are the better engineers, goes for hifi, bike, more or less everything. That vintage gear looks awesome 😃👍
When I started in Amateur Radio, I purchased a TR-3C for $150. I made many contacts on my multi-band horizontal wire antenna. That was a good performing transceiver.