The AM Forum

Ah, the RME-45.  Goes down to my ham radio roots.

The guy who arrainged my novice examination in '60 used and RME-45 then.  I saw it just briefly when I visited his shack, but never operated it or got to know it.  The rest of his station was a DX-100, a couple of folded dipoles, and a Mosley vertical in the backyard.

But between the time I took the exam in his house (I was 12, he was 15) and when I got my license (about 5 weeks), he'd upgraded to one of the first SX-111's, and a Hy-gain Th-4.  That's the radio I had my first contact on a few minutes after I got my ticke in the mail ( he lived across the street from me).  I was KN8TFH, the first contact was KN3IXD.

Anyway, I only heard it for a short while, but I remember that it's CW tone was good.  And it had an unusual dial that was unlike other receivers.

So, you guys that have used an RME-45, and that's (among possible others) you, Chris.  I say yours in the gallery.

What's an RME-45 like to use?

I'm tempted to get one.  Good idea? Or what?

Paul

I tell ya what Paul, I'll trade you one for your Davco!!  :o

  glad you noticed the RME45. most people don't get past the sight of my M1 carbine and sick stare! (if that's the picture i think you saw) i found that receiver in a pile of trash in front of a house nearby about 25 years ago. i recapped it, and it worked well, with good performance all the way to 10 meters. i gave it to my father, who put it up at our place in the Adirondack mountains about ten tyears ago, which is where the picture was taken. as time went by the dial drive wore out and slipped rather badly. my dad somehow fixed that, and it soldiered on until the thing went funky and intermittent last spring. with the help of Joe N2YR who was visiting me there we spent two full days re resistoring it and finally replacing all the mica caps in it too. then i modified the audio. what's it like? great crystal filter, nice S meter, very quiet and sensitive, and about 8 kc bandwidth with the filter turned off. very stable, and smooth tuning with excellent bandspread.very friendly audio into an old Sony speaker cabinet, bass reflex with 10" driver. it's the onlyest RME radio i have and i dig it! any radio with a dial like a 57 Chevy speedometer has just gotta be cool... 

Chris,
       I wanted an RME-45 so bad I could taste it! I picked one up for a good price at a 'Fester in North Jersey last year and have to go through the entire thing. I recapped it, gave it the "smoke test" and guess what? I did in fact produce smoke when I applied power to it! Regardless, It was one of the most popular receivers in the years directly prior to WWII and a pretty good player. I have a pre-war RME-99 and 69 that I use (The 69 is currently in the radio hospital) and don't underestimate either one of them, especially the 99. The bandspread on the 99 is superb, and it's 7C5 locktal outpoot is equal to a 6V6 "normal" tube.

The RME-84 is a scaled down version of the 45 and includes an internal speaker. It's not too bad, but definitely not up to the standards of it's bigger brother. 

RME also made many different converters and preselectors as accessories for their rigs.

My favorite RME's to operate are the 69 with the pre-war DB20 preselector, and the RME-6900.The 69 was introduced late in 1935, and if you consider the types of receivers in use at the time, it was a real milestone. Hell, in 1935 most Hams were still using "Bloopers"!  I mated a 6900 to my Apache a few years ago before I acquired a "correct" matching Mohawk. The 6900 blows the Mohawk out of the water!

RME - "Radio Manufacturing Engineers"

Chris, KD2XA - If you're into RME's you gotta come down my shack someday. The offer is ALWAYS open to you. I'll open up my RME "toybox" and let you play.

Glenn - I wish the Davco in my current Avatar was mine.  It's not.  I only ever saw one once at the ARRL Nat. Conv. in Boston.  Guess they never came out with the matching transmitter.

Chris - I did notice the M-1 and the stare, but looked right past them when I locked onto the the '45.  Thanks for the nice description.

And Joe, re the '6900.  I always thought they looked cool until I learned that that dial that looks for all the world like a kc indicator isn't.  I've heard that it's only an arbitrary logging scale.  Is that true?

And of course one of those would blow away a Mohawk.  The Mohawk I've got, even tho' it's close to mint SUCKS!  It's servicable with decent specs but the sound is yellower than yellowy.  And what gives with the IF gain control?  Give me a break.

For that matter, a '45 would blow away a Mohawk.

Pity...with it's block diagram I thought it'd be like an SX-101 or NC-300.  But no...

The dial under the main scale is nuthing but a logging scale. I guess it was RME's (They were a division of "Electro-Voice" by that time) attempt to make people think it had a 1KC resolution like a 75A4, etc. Actually, my RME-6900 could use an alignment, but the scale didn't come close to the freq I was at.

Regarding the Griefkit "Mohawk", they are what they are, and they do look nice next to an Apache. I have an Apache/Mohawk/Merry-Udder (Maurauder) sitting next to each other with the 6M and 2M rx cornverters on top.

Speaking of "Mohawk", it's the primo receiver for enthusiasts that are into the 12 Meter band. The VHF logging scale has it's output on 24MHZ. If you can live with plenty of birdies and all sorts of IHD, you can use it with a 12M transmitter!

A very cool receiver!... I think I remember seeing one on E-bay once..... I bet WB6ACU has one!  ;D

Carry your interest to the Ebay section of the site. This one might get to your heart.

That one looks good.  I also notice in the pictures that RME was licensed by Hazeltine.  Can anyone expand on that?

ALL superhets in the 30's and 40's were licensed by Hazeltine.  IIRC Hazeltine was the holding company for the RCA patents - one of which was the superhet receiver.

73 John

I think RCA had the superheterodyne license, and Hazeltine had the license for the AVC circut.

Thought Armstrong was the father of the superhet?

Bruce - yes he was, but I think it was Hazeltine who invented the AVC circut. Most early Superhets were w/o AVC.

Hazeltine invented the neutrodyne and owned the AVC patent.  Encyclopedia Joe!. 

Armstrong did indeed invent the superhet but sold the patent to RCA:

John,
       I appreciate you clarifying this. I knew Hazeltine had something to do with AVC, and yes, "Neutrodynes" as well. BTW, The Neutrodyne wasn't such a bad circut. Everybody should have at least one in their stash!
Best Regards,
                  Joe Cro N3IBX