THE MIGHTY ROHDE & SCHWARZ, EK-07

Well, evidence of my advancing years crept up on me and was revealed today when I ran out of puff trying to move my Rohde & Schwarz EK-07 receiver.  Widely acclaimed by some as the best valve communications receiver made, I am priveledged to have one courtesy of my friend Norman Varnes (G4YXX) who tells a tale of spirited bidding over a glass or several of jenever at the famed Helmut SInger emporium to liberate it with a terrible sacrifice not only in pounds sterling but also a most horrendous hangover courtesy of much falling down water consumption during the lengthy negotiations necessary to secure this leviathon. 

For those that are not 'in the know', here's a little history lesson.......  The year is 1957. Rohde & Schwarz, founded in 1933, introduced the EK 07 shortwave receiver. This milestone set the benchmark for precision engineering in the radiocommunications market. Frequencies could be read with high accuracy, image frequencies were a thing of the past, the radio was immune to overload, and sound quality was above average. This was reason enough for the German Armed Forces to adopt the EK 07 as its standard communications intelligence receiver beginning in 1962.

Indeed, my EK-07 has an interesting provenence as it came from the renowned Norddeich DAN German maritime radio station and did sterling service until being demobbed on station closure in 1998.  Here is a nice photo of a bank of EK-07 in action at DAN: -

And here is an even nicer photo of the EK-07 production line at R + S in 1961: - 

Finally, here is my baby - a true representation of a boatanchor weighing in at 75kg: -

Thanks are also due to my friend Brian Harrison (KN4R) who has helped me out with an English translation of the weighty EK-07 manual so I now have no excuse to not check this over to ensure all is in spec for the next 50 years of operation - time to get weaving!!