FRG 9600 Mods

[Editor - shortwave.org.uk]

I have just received an FRG 9600 which has has a stciker on it stating it
has been modified by R. Withers Communications who no longer seem to exist.

The receiver has a BNC socket added to the rear of the receiver next to the
antenna socket, but has no affect when an antenna is connected to it.

Has anybody heard of R. Withers Communications or could shed light on what
the modification could be?

--
Graham Powell
Editor - Online DX Logbook
A full list of English Broadcasts from the Middle East is available Free at
http://www.shortwave.org.uk

[Richard Mekka]

Editor - shortwave.org.uk wrote:
> I have just received an FRG 9600 which has has a stciker on it
>

> Has anybody heard of R. Withers Communications or could shed light on
> what the modification could be?

It rings a very faint bell with me. Could it be an up-converter of some sort?

Withers were a well known company in the 60's & 70's that produced Amateur radio gear - for VHF and 160 mtrs from memory.
--
Richard

[Bill]

In article <b8glon$lb1$1...@news7.svr.pol.co.uk>, Editor - shortwave.org.uk
<od...@msn.com> writes

There was a Withers mod that added HS to the 9600 although it was
normally accompanied with a toggle switch on the rear of the set that
enabled it and altered the display so that 140.000MHz would read
40.000MHz i.e.. used 100 to 199 MHz as 0-99 MHz
Maybe this mod was without the switch? Try fitting an aerial to the BNC
and tuning around 188MHz wide band FM and see if you receive radio 2 if
you do then that is it.
Is it a 9600 or a 968? They seemed to go in for a few grey imports at
the time.
--
-- Bill

[Editor - shortwave.org.uk]

The receiver appears to tune from 0 to 999.995 Mhz but nothing can be heard
under 60 MHz except white noise ni matter which antenna socket I use.

Thanks for the feedback let's hope we can find the answer. The sticker also
says " Radio Telephone"

--
Graham Powell
Editor - Online DX Logbook
A full list of English Broadcasts from the Middle East is available Free at
http://www.shortwave.org.uk

"Bill" <bi...@birchnet.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:f6CZQbnIHAr+Ew4$@birchnet.demon.co.uk...

[Dave Liquorice]

On Sun, 27 Apr 2003 14:25:45 +0100, Editor - shortwave.org.uk wrote:

> I have just received an FRG 9600 which has has a stciker on it
> stating it has been modified by R. Withers Communications who no
> longer seem to exist.

Ray Withers died within the last year, but the company is still very
much a going concern: http://www.raycom.co.uk

--
Cheers new...@howhill.com
Dave. Remove "spam" for valid email.

[Steve Terry]

"Editor - shortwave.org.uk" <od...@msn.com> wrote in message
news:b8h2ee$dv1$1...@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...

> The receiver appears to tune from 0 to 999.995 Mhz but nothing can be heard
> under 60 MHz except white noise ni matter which antenna socket I use.
>
> Thanks for the feedback let's hope we can find the answer. The sticker also
> says " Radio Telephone"
>

I know that means, standard 9600 only went upto about 905 MHz
Raycom used to mod them to go up to 999 MHz,
up into the old analogue mobile phone band

The BNC socket maybe a IF tap for feeding to another RX ?

Steve Terry

[Bill]

>The grey import was a 965, not 968.
>
>----
>Pete

OOPs sorry you are correct, there is one beside me at the moment!
--
-- Bill

[Joe landy]

Right, Here's my chance to explain some of the history of mods for this
unit!
I actually found this out about a year after I bought an FRG9600, which I'm
still listening to right now!
R.Withers did a mod for the FRG9600 which improved the receive greatly. They
were a little deaf in some places before this mod was done. Coverage was
apparently extended up to 950MHz too.
The BNC socket is for PAL video, which is provided by an internal adaptor.
R.Withers also supplied an external up-converter for coverage of 100KHz up
to 60MHZ.
I would kill for one of those!!!

All this info is detailed in the 1993 edition of Tandy SCANNERS Book written
by Peter Rouse GU1DKD.
Perhaps he's still around. ISBN Number of the book is: 1 85486 006 2. May
be still in print, or available secondhand on amazon?

Yes, Yes, Yes. My good lady has just handed me the original manual for this
set.
Original Coverage was 60-905 MHZ. That backs up the tandy book which states
that the R.Withers communications mods included coverage up to 950MHZ.
Also stated is that the Video unit available from yaesu is NTSC. R.Withers
did make the PAL unit thens
I have recently done the mod which is supposed to give coverage from 20MHZ
up to 60.
Turns out that the reception os so poor in this area that it's unusable.
I have loads of info on this receiver, so if anyone requires it, or the user
manual e.t.c, please ask!
the manual pictures the rear panel of the unit, with details of all the
options available at the time. There is even space for 'future' options!
Hope this helps you understand what the BNC socket is, and what coverage you
can expect.
Sorry to hear that Ray withers is no more. He's brightened up my life no
end!
Good luck.
P.S I use my FRG9600 for Weather satellite reception (amongst other stuff)
with good results.
3 guesses what I wanted 20-60MHz coverage for!
Bye.
Joe landy.
Peterborough
UK.

"Editor - shortwave.org.uk" <od...@msn.com> wrote in message

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