www.boatanchors.de

Introduction

This  web site is dedicated  to "boatanchors", i.e. commercial tube based communications receivers.

The main emphasis is on German communications receivers. The reason is simply that in contrast to US or British communications equipment, which is covered on quite a lot of web pages,  there are only very few web pages which treat German shortwave and VHF receivers. So we had the feeling that it might be of interest to other enthusiasts to provide some more information on receivers built by companies like Blaupunkt, Debeg, Hagenuk, Lorenz, RFT, Rohde & Schwarz, Siemens and Telefunken.

What is so fascinating about a boatanchor? Well, many if not most people will not understand our passion. Often heavy "beasts" in a steel or aluminum housing painted in gray or military green, this equipment can hardly be called pretty in a usual sense. We think one must have a good deal of interest in electrical and mechanical engineering in order to build up this passion. Because of the use of this type of equipment for commercial communication, money normally was not the primary limiting factor in design. Customers were often willing to pay a lot of money, so the engineers could use the forefront of technology of the actual time in their designs. They could use expensive material and costly methods of production if the result was a good receiver. So normally the "beauty" of these receivers can be found more in the inside than in the outside appearance.
Of course this is not strictly valid for every commercial receiver. But in all cases the requirements to commercial receivers are quite different from those valid for consumer equipment. This makes commercial receivers different.

The presentation of a receiver on these web pages normally consists of two parts:


Copyright

The information on these web pages may be copied for private use. Any use of the contents of these pages (i.e. text and/or pictures) for other than private non commercial purposes is strictly prohibited unless you have obtained our explicit permission.
 

Contact

The authors of these web pages can be contacted via email. Constructive comments, error corrections, additional information etc. are always welcome. You are invited to use our guestbook to make your comments.


 


If your are interested in software which supports shortwave listening, see this website.