I would like to think, and I do hope, that someone that wrote off a Drake with a bad PTO has been able to dust it off and fix it with a bit of glue. Unfortunately far too much old gear gets written off because fewer people have any idea just how well it really works. I wrote this article for a few reasons. First, I wanted to publish whatever maintenance tricks I had learned. I wouldn't want someone else to learn the hard way as I did.
Life's too short.
Second, I believe that it is important that mods and data regarding this equipment should be available. The intent of this paper is not only to put on paper some mods, I wanted to have some kind of a record indicating what this gear was like. Not only is this equipment part of our heritage, Drake and others made some excellent products. An increasing percentage of amateurs every year have no idea what Drake, Collins, Hallicrafters or even Heath were all about. More than anything else, I guess, was the initial frustration I had getting information.