[ARC5] More on the "No HF" Myth

[gordon white]

I am going to weigh in here (I have been reading all this with interest)
with the opinion that the  SCR-274N, AN/ARC-5 and the ARA gear was used
a great deal, although SCR-522 was too. VHF was proven better for
short-range work in the ETO pretty quickly after the Americans got
there, even thoiugh there was a good deal of SCR 183/283 stuff in use
far longer than made any sense. The SCR-274N was the workhorse as soon
as it was available in quantity.

    The SCR-274N was smaller, lighter and more flexible because of its
modular character. Recall, the SCR-240 died young because of its size
and weight and use of too many scarce crystals. Research into the
availability of SCR-522 equipment - when production by Bendix  got going
under their British Purchasing Commission contracts and when it was
adopted by AAF, might indicate when usage by the US became common.

    But the ranges flown by the 8th AF indicate a lot of use of
SCR-274N, as VHF could not reach, certainly, from the UK to Berlin.
Fighters seldom (never say never) had AN/ART-13's installed. Distances
flown in the Pacific were even longer.

    From my research into WWII work on various communications problems
indicate to me that the SCR-274N got a lot of use; that tuning drift was
the greatest problem, and that it was more or less dealt with.

    And, AN/ARC-5, SCR-274N units were used up into the early 1970s to
my personal knowledge, at least for use with Adcock 4-course ranges that
were in use in a lot of the world (may still be, somewhere), and with
outer markers, homers, etc. For some reason ARA units were considered
obsolete, probably merely on a nomenclature basis, when SCR-274N was
still in the inventory.