As it's mainly used as commercial maritime receiver, Drakes MSR-2 comes as a 19 inch rack receiver, the mains connectors are found at the rear of the set, the MSR-2 accepts voltages of 120 or 220-240 volts and can be operated from 12 - 24 V DC by use of an inverter. Also at the rear of the receiver, You will find the connectors for AF signals and for the AF of the second band for independent side band reception. The RCA / chinch connectors for 50 kHz IF output, speaker AF output and muting as well as the SO-239 antenna socket do not really match a commercial grade receiver and might remember that the set's realtives are found in the high end amateur radio class.

The MSR-2 as a 19 inch rack model comes with dimensions of 480 x 133 x 380 mm and a weight of 11,5 kg.

On the front panel, You find in the right upper area the very impressive nixie tube digital frequency display with it's characteristic orange glow. Two rotary switches let You select the 10 MHz and 1 MHz segments, You tune in the kHz and 0,1 kHz digits with the large VFO knob; a mechanical lock prevents the receiver to be detuned, when You find Yourself with Your vessel in a severe thunderstorm. In the right lower corner, You find the 6,3 mm headphones jack.
Left to the frequency display, You find the signal strength meter, three pushbuttons just underneath set the receiver to fast AVC, noise blanker and stand by mode. Next to these buttons, You find the preselector control for the 0,5 - 10 MHz shortwave ranges.
Below You find the knobs to control signal processing: The volume control is combined with the mains switch, the two modes switches (left one let's You chose IF bandwidths, upper or lower sideband an the ISB (independent side band) modes; use the right one to select AM and SSB modes). The following two knos are marked brown to indicate, that additional features are activeted, when the knob is pulled: Pull the RF gain knob to activate manual gain control, pull out the BFO knob to activate the beat frequency oscillator. Use the "Vernier tuning" control for fine tuning between 100 Hz increments.
In the left upper corner, You find the monitor speaker and the switch to activate ist, just below the controls for the VLF preselector. In the 0,01 - 0,03 MHz segment, no further tuning is required, in the 0,03 - 0,5 MHz segments tweak the VLF preselector for signal maximum, so You should never miss a faint VLF beacon signal again...

The slightly odd arrangement of the MSR-2's controls are explained by that the fact that the construction of this receiver is based on the chassis of the Drake R-4 and SPR-4 receiver series. The signal strenght meter, digital frequency display, the main preselector and the lower row of controls including AF / RF gain and modes control have identical locations as found in the DSR-2, which was an improved version of the SPR-4 with a frequency synthesizer and digital display added. The monitor speaker and the VLF preselector part has been added later.

As this set has been used in maritime communications, it is worthing consulting the operator's manual before switching it on:
To listen to a station in the 49 m shortweave band, the left preselector control should be in the 0,5 - 30 (MHz) position, You don't need the 0,03-0,5 MHz preselect control. Turn the knobs for the first two digits of the frequency to "0" and "6", and use the main tuning knob to tune in to 155,0 kHz. Th If bandwidth should be set to 6 MHz, and the mode switch to "AM", push in the RF gain control to activate automatic gain control. Just in case, the MGC is activated and the knob is in the most counterclockwise position, You won't hear anything. Use the volume / AF gain control to chose optimal volume und tweak the preselector 0,5 - 10 MHz for maximum signal strength and optimum rerading of the meter.