Drake  7-Line Solid-State Blue LED  Illumination   Drake has used blue filters since the days of the 4-Line equipment.  This continued into the later 7-Line equipment including the TR7(A) transceiver, TR5 transceiver and R7(A) receiver.  The problem occurs in later years when the blue filters begin to change and the displays end up looking green.  Since the meter and frequency displays are illuminated by incandescent lamps they emit a glow that leans toward the red end of the emission spectrum.  Thus a blue filter being back lit by a yellow/red glowing filament will naturally result in a greenish illumination.  In the past people would replace the blue filters with newer and perhaps darker blue filters.  This was a step in the right direction, but you are still stuck with a light bulb that will eventually burn out  and require replacement.  In the TR7 transceiver the bulb that illuminates the analog frequency display requires the removal of the DR-7 digital readout board to access the bulb.  This is not  an enjoyable job and  has the potential of damaging the DR-7 or other parts in the radio if the deinstall and install procedures are not followed closely.  You will often see the analog display dark as the user never bothered to change a burnt out bulb. Another problem area with the 7-Line equipment illumination is that Drake used small round glass #53 bayonet bulbs.  Due to their small size they can not illuminate the total coverage area of the meter or analog display evenly.  You will have light and dark areas. To solve both the aforementioned shortcomings I have developed a Blue illumination kit to replace the existing  incandescent bulbs provided with the 7-Line equipment.  The kit consists of  two custom manufactured LED  lamps.  Each lamp utalizes the latest in Surface Mount Technology (SMT) assembled on Flex PC Board.  The internal lamp LED spacing was designed to provide a wide angle of light dispersion providing a very even illumination distribution across the meter or analog frequency display area.  Each lamp assembly has a solid plastic diffusion lens attached to further distribute the light evenly. Since the LED's emit a true blue spectrum there is no green affect encountered with the incandescent bulbs.  There is no need to replace or add additional gel filters.  Connection leads are high quality flexiable Teflon jacketed stranded and pre-tinned wires. Lamp assemblies install easily using integrated non-conductive slide-on clips.  Thus no destructive changes are made to your equipment.  This kit is fully reversible!   The life of an LED is long, typically 80,000-100,000 hours (almost 10 years of continuous power), and most of us will never experience  it going out.  Once the original lamps are replaced you should never have to replace them again.  You will save on current draw!  The two LED  lamp assemblies only require a total of 50mA whereas the original #53 lamps have a total of 240mA current draw.  That's almost 0.2 amps less current draw from the power supply and negligible heat dissipation from the LED's.   Before After Drake 7-Line Kit One Meter Blue LED Lamp Assembly One PTO Blue LED Lamp Assembly Four (4) Heat Shrink Tubing Sleves (If Needed) Full Installation Instruction Sheet   Simple to Install Installation is straight forward and every attempt was made for ease of installation.  Since internal wiring is performed this kit does require that the installer must be capable of basic soldering skills.  If you've never soldered before, please find someone who has experience to assist you.     An inside view Meter LED Lamp Assembly Installed PTO LED Lamp Assembly Installed Ordering Please Order Using these Part Numbers PART NUMBER Used In Price (USD) MOD-7LINESET Lamp Set 7-Line TR7 TR7A R7 $22.00 MOD-7LINEPTO Single Lamp RV7 $12.00 MOD-7LINEMTR Single Lamp TR5 Meter $12.00 MOD-7AMPSET L7 Amplfier Lamp Set (4 pieces) L7 $36.00 The lamp set for the L7 amplifier uses  four (4) standard T3-1/4 style bayonet lamp like those used for the Drake 4-Line meter illumination. All products and parts are shipped at the rates shown below.  There is no quantity limit for these rates.  You can combine items from other pages on this site and all will ship together at this one rate! All items shipped boxed. Destination Method Cost (USD) U.S.A. Priority Mail $9.00 Canada Priority Mail Flat Rate $29.00 All Other Destinations Priority Mail Flat Rate $39.00 Send Check or Money Order (US Funds Only) to: D.A. Buska Engineers LLC 4805 64th Avenue Kenosha, WI 53144  U.S.A. For mail orders use the order form provided here >> For immediate processing we accept on-line orders and payments through PayPal when using the Order Cart below.  You can change the order quantity if desired when you view the cart during check out.  This order cart can be used throughout the many pages on this site so it is not necessary to check-out until you have ordered everything you need.     Part Number Price (Ea) Range and Radio Add to Cart MOD-7LINESET $22.00 Lamp Set 7-Line (TR7(A), R7) MOD-7LINEPTO $12.00 Single Lamp Kit (RV7) MOD-7LINEMTR $12.00 Single Lamp Kit (TR5 Meter) MOD-7AMPSET $36.00 L7 Amplifier Lamp Set User Comments I installed the above in my 30+ year-old TR7.   A wonderful product indeed, and at an equally wonderful price. - Tom KJ2M The blue LED's for my TR7 are amazing!  My TR7/RV7 and L7 look new again. - Rick KA2BSM

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