[ARC5] RE: HF operation post WWII

[Mike]

Telegrapher@QWEST.net wrote:
 
> Adding to the comments Dave made about HF operations, the ARC-2 was
> used into the 70's in Vietnam.  I removed a bunch of them from
> supposedly "vietnamese" marine helicopters.

The S-2A "Tracker" training aircraft at Corpus Christi NAS in 1971 still
had the AN/ARC-2 and a R-23/ARC-5 on board.  They weren't used much, but
they were kept operable.

I flew on a USAF T-29 in 1970 that still had a complete and apparently
operable AN/ARC-8 (T-47/ART-13 and BC-348-Q) installed.

It's surprising how long a life a lot of the WWII equipment had, but
consider that the AN/PRC-25 and -77 and the RT-246 and -524(*)/VRC units
have been in service since about 1961 and are still to be found the
world over.  That dwarfs even the time WWII equipment that remained in
service.

> the ARR-41 receiver which kinda looked like a small lightweight
> R-390

That was usually paired up on USN aircraft with the AN/ARC-38 and -38A
with CU-351/A as a way to tune the HF spectrum without using the awkward
code dials of the AN/ARC-38 or -38A.

The common HF aircraft frequency of 3105 kc wasn't phased out totally
until 1954, IIRC, and only then because 3023.5 kc replaced it as
required by FCC regs.  I understand that some airports monitored the
latter frequency up until past 1960, along with providing 278 kc ground
to air comms.

73,
Mike / KK5F