The receiver is turned on by pulling the AF Gain knob outward. Another clever dual use of controls. The standby feature is also tied to the RF gain control. Push the gain control in to put the radio into standby.
Another interesting feature is the location of the calibration switch. The calibrator is enabled by turning the antenna trim control so the white mark points down. Pretty clever!
The main tuning is extremely well designed and very smooth to use. The mechanism consists of two controls. The larger knob closest to the panel is a fast tune ratio control. The smaller knob in front is the slow tune ratio or fine tune control.
Between the Power/AF Gain control, Standby/RF Gain control, Antenna Trim/Calibrator control, and Course/Fine Main Tuning controls, Drake was able to eliminate four additional controls which would have cluttered the front panel. Had they been separate controls, the front panel would have been larger, probably making it look like all the other era radio's.
In the center is the revolutionary passband tuning control. Note this radio is a later model with the WWV position on the bandswitch.
The control and connectors are pretty self explanatory. Just below the speaker are the two antenna inputs. The upper connector is for a car AM antenna type connector. Below that is the SO239.
