I included this photo because I think the RME 6900 is definitely a radio with a pretty face. Or, at least, one that's memorable. I currently have this receiver paired up with a B&W 5100 and a 75A-4 modified for AM operation.

The RME 6900 is one of those receivers that I admired but simply could not afford, when they were new. I would visit the local ham store and stand in awe of this wonderful receiver and its competitors. They were all great receivers, but he 6900 was something wonderful. Well, it was wonderful to me, after all, I was using a BC-348 at the time.

I still remember looking, through my 16 year old eyes, at that big mode switch with its 500 cycle CW position and a real 2 KC SSB position. The long, calibrated tuning dial and with its silky smooth knob ..... it was almost more than a teenager could take in. Indeed, those were wondrous days.

A really nice RME 6900 found its way into my shack. Now it's one of the regulars as a companion to the B&W 5100 in my AM position #2.

Looking back from 1998, there is nothing particularly outstanding about the 6900 other than it's interesting looks. But, I'll bet that in its prime, it was a terrific station receiver. You have to remember that ham radio was a lot different back in the fifties and early sixties. Transceivers were yet to be popularized. You learned the art of zero-beating your transmitter to the receiver frequency and hoped they would stay close enough in frequency to one another to finish the QSO somewhere near the starting frequency. AM was still a big deal mode and SSB sounded like "Donald Duck" to a lot of the ham community. Notch filters were a real necessity due to all the heterodynes AM signals caused on the air. When you called CQ on CW you actually tuned up and down the band for a response. For me, these were the wonder days of ham radio. I couldn't take DX for granted like I can today. Back then, when I worked a new country, it was a real kick. (Of course, it still is, but in my high school days, a G station was a big deal.) Indeed, those were good days.

The RME 6900 is similar to several receivers made in the late fifties and early sixties. It is a double conversion, ham band only receiver with adequate sensitivity, selectivity, and calibration. Stability? Well, that's OK, too, if you understand that the 6900 has a variable HFO and not the crystal controlled front end of expensive receivers. The second i.f. frequency is 60 KHz and selectivity is developed by four high-Q i.f. tuned-circuits. I did a comparison between the 6900 and an SX-101A. There seems to be little difference is overall performance. The SX-101A is bigger and heavier, but the RME-6900 holds it's own fairly well even under today's band conditions. So does the SX-101A. Of course, none of the older receivers which used low i.f. frequencies to develop selectivity can live up to the steep skirted standards of a mechanical filter equipped Collins. But, this class of receiver was not intended to compete with Collins. It's peers were National, Hallicrafters, Hammarlund and Heath. All of those manufacturers sold similar products. Receivers like the RME-6900, SX-101A, HQ-170 and NC-303 provided a high level of performance, but compromises had to be made.

These receivers are like old friends. They have their faults but you overlook them. Sometimes you love them because of their shortcomings. It's their personality. It's what makes good friends special and it's the same kind of thing that makes these receivers special. You overlook their problems because they are so much fun to be with and a heck of a lot of fun to listen to.