Collins HF-2050 DSP Mil-Spec Shortwave AM SSB CW Radio Receiver w/ Manual **NICE

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Collins HF-2050 DSP Mil-Spec Shortwave AM SSB CW Radio Receiver w/ Manual **NICE:
$1599.00

This listing is for one of the finest military receiversever built and one that has a large following among premium receiverenthusiasts. The receiver is in good overall cosmetic condition showing marking on the front panel, but nothing serious. However, a previous owner had cut out areas in the top and bottom panels to install muffin fans to improve circulation for the well-known hot power supply. The gent that I acquired this unit from did something better regarding the hot power supply and upgraded to a newer cooler power supply similar to one found inside the WJ*8711A receiver. Therefore, it is a low noise power supply that generates very little heat. However, removal of the muffin fans has left the cut-outs in the top and bottom covers and I ask you to observe the pictures to see this. The cut-outs do not conflict with anything and the receiver\'s boards and internals are still well protected. If you install the receiver in a rack, you will not see these cut-outs. Please excuse the various reflections seen in the two front panel displays as these reflections showed up when I attempted to take pictures.

The receiver comes with it\'s AC power cord and a copy of the very scarce 381 page user manual complete with service notes and 71 pages of fold-out 11\" by 17\" sheets. The user manual copy is very good. The front cover and the first few pages with safety information and inconsequential data show some broken text, but the remainder of the manual is just fine and readable.

The Rockwell Collins HF-2050 has achieved legendary status amongenthusiasts and is best known as being the first commercial receiver to employDSP (digital signal processing) in it\'s circuitry. This was at a time when DSPwas as ground breaking as the jet plane being introduced into the skies filledwith prop airplanes.

Today, DSP would not seem that unusual as many receivers utilizethis to the benefit of signal recovery. Some time back, I came acrossinformation that someone had done extensive side by side comparisons of the2050 with other well known and highly respected receivers. Their conclusion wasthat the sensitivity among all the receivers was about equal (considering thenoise level), but that the DSP in the 2050 allows for better signal recoveryand therefore one could copy a distressed signal better than with other highend receivers.

I have searched and searched for this information to tag to thislisting, but could not locate it. Anyone reading this is welcome to offer theirinput on this and may email me. As I recall, this 2050 does not only includeDSP in the audio circuit, but also as part of the design throughout. TheCollins Collector\'s Site says this \"Hardware intensive amplifiers,filters, and control loops have been replaced with digital signal processingusing large scale integrated circuits (LSI), resulting in accurate and stableperformance.\"

This receiver was manufactured beginning about 1984 by Rockwellin the Canadian facilities and the market was virtually exclusive to theCanadian military. It is reported that 4 units were shipped to Israel, but thebalance of the approximately 1150 units stayed in Canada. Thus, consideringunits that may have been scavenged for parts, those that were deface/destroyed upon de-milling, those that have been lost totime, and those that may have failed in some respect, there are far fewer than 1,000 of these receivers remaining worldwide. If you care to see how these units weredispersed, you may locate the 2050 details within this web page that goes intothat detail:

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Unless I am incorrect and someone can advise me otherwise, thisis one of the earlier receivers employing the full BIT (built-in test). Thus,upon power up, there is a sequence of testing that is completed when you are directed to the last tuned frequency. If you happen todepress the test button, you will see the receiver carousel through a varietyof additional internal tests such as tests for the display and tests for the frontpanel buttons and knobs. The full test takes a couple of minutes and is themost comprehensive test that I have ever encountered with any receiver as mostwill test internal circuits, but not the control panel buttons, knobs, and include the fault lamp.

If the receiver passes the power-on test, then the operator will see amomentary readout that says \"BIT PASSED\". If the receiver fails thetesting, then the red fault light comes on the front panel. Here is the latest power-on testthat I did for this listing:

Most of you reading this listing are already familiarwith a lot of information regarding the 2050....perhaps even a significantamount more than myself. It is my attempt to hit upon a couple of items worthyof the listing details and then point you in a direction if you would like toresearch more fully.

Some features of the HF-2050 are:

·Frequency coverage from 14 khz to 30 mhz -thus covering LW, MW, Marine, Amateur and Shortwave bands

·Selectivity of 6 / 3.2 / 2.8 / 1 / .3

·Sensitivity of .42 Uv 10dB S/N

·Modes of AM / LSB / USB / CW

·Built in speaker

·1/4\" headphone jack and speaker jack

·IBM style keypad - very durable andexcellent for inputting

·BFO + or - 4 khz

·Noise Blanker

·30 or 100 memories (I am not sure as I neverutilized memories on this unit - later production had 100)

·AGC slow / fast

·Rate sensitive tuning

·BITE testing to the module level and fulltime operational fault monitoring

·Scan of memories

·10 hz tuning resolution

·RF Gain

·Passband Tuning

·Modular Construction

·High stability

·High reliability long time MTBF (5,000 hoursMean Time Between Failure)

·Operates on 100 / 115 / 215 / 230 VAC

If you care to see the fine print specs, you may read to yourheart\'s content here at the Collins Museum Site (and also see a description ofthe functional theory):

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A fine feature of this 2050 that I have not really read about,but I found useful was the noise blanker. I was fortunate to own one of these receivers a few years ago and so can detail this feature from personal experience. On most receivers, the noise blankerworks for only certain noise like automobile ignition. Since I do notuse noisy dimmer switches, fluorescent lamps, and other noise producingdevices and since I do not ever suffer with ignition noise problems with my receivers.....the builtin noise blankers found on receivers are virtually useless for my needs. I hear a lot of atmospheric noise on the bands and rarely is it reduced by built-in noise blankers.

However, the noise blanker on the 2050 is fantastic on theregular static discharges common here during the summer months. When otherreceivers failed to offer listenable signals due to this annoying noise, you can fireup the 2050 and rotate the noise blanker knob to choose the appropriateaggressiveness with minimal transmitting signal disruption. And you can virtually wipe out the static discharge crashes and go on listening to a tunedstation.

There are two potential weaknesses of the HF-2050 receiver. Thefirst one is the fact that the receiver does not have a backlit display. Thatcan be a problem if you use your receiver in a low light Environment and tunefrequently. For me, I generally tune into a station and listen for a period oftime so this is not an issue for the majority of my personal listening. This issue has arisen among the many owners and there was a lot of information regarding introducing display illumination found in many postings archived in the Premium RX user group.

The second issue has perhaps been even more extensively written about....the heatcoming from the internal power supply. Again, many articles can be found in the archived Premium RX user group concerning mitigation of this issue, but you need not worry about this since it has already been corrected by the previous owner. If you care to visit the site, you may do sohere and then investigate those archives. This is a great site for these high endreceivers:

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A hot power supply is an obvious concern forowner\'s of the 2050 because anything running hot may affect the durability ofthe components and create premature failure. Thus, this upgraded power supply should be of interest to someone wanting the problem mitigated, but lacking the technical ability and resources to do so....such as myself.

I could go on and on about this receiver. For it\'s limitedavailability, there is much found regarding this unit on the internet. Ehamoffers this single review:

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And here translated from Japanese is a site devoted to correctinga \"fault\" but showing some spectacular pictures of the internalcircuitry:

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I am happy to answer any questions for you regarding thisHF-2050.

Cost to ship this receiver may be determined by using the shipping calculator. Sometimes these calculators are off with the cost. Don\'t worry,if after arranging shipment there is money remaining, it will be refunded backto you. I have placed a $20 fee in the calculator for a new double walled boxand appropriate packing materials for the receiver and the manual. The balance is for actual shipping cost and insurance.

As for buyers outside the USA, I am going to make this unit availablefor purchase only in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. The reason for this is purely the costof shipping overseas. If someone out theremay be interested in the receiver, you may communicate with me providing your city and postal code for a shipping cost and we can discuss making this receiver available for your purchase. This cost would not include any import, duty, VAT or customs fees that you may also need to consider upon delivery of the receiver.

Payment is to be via Paypal within 3 days of purchase. Unfortunately does not permit the seller to list alternative payment methods and we will refrain from offering them as will remove our listing if we should do so. Please email if you have any questions.

Penna residents are reminded that they are responsible for the 6%state sales tax.

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