[ARC5] Re: Getting an "ARC-5 " Transmitter Running

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

Roger,

To answer your second question first, no, or at least I don't think so with 
the Command Sets.  Shock mounts must have often been left in the aircraft.  But 
it was simpler and quicker to remove transmitters and receivers (and 
modulators and etc., although they weren't in racks)  by cutting the cables at the 
plugs, cutting the safety wire on the shock mount slides, and lifting out the 
units still in the racks with the connectors still attached.  My opinion on the 
shortage of racks and connectors is that the Surplus Conversion Manual writers 
are at least in part to blame.  Even though at the time the books were 
written, racks and connectors were plentiful, none of the articles advocate using 
them.  Or for the most part even mention that they existed and probably were 
sitting on the surplus store shelf next to the receivers or transmitters.  That's 
my story and I'm stickin' to it.  :-)

If you have a junked out receiver (and Lord knows there are enough around), 
unless it was removed as part of the "conversion", in the front of each 
receiver is a 7-pin connector that mates with the power connector on the back of all 
of the receivers and the ATA and SCR-274N transmitters.  With a little work 
(you have to add pin 7), each receiver contains three plugs ( for the IF cans) 
that will mate with the power connector on the AN/ARC-5 transmitters.  
Sometimes, (later production???), they are missing other pins as well, but the holes 
are there.  The coil rack connectors are the same as the IF can ones but 
sometimes don't have solder lugs on all the pins.  

You can use these connectors open, or glue a shell to them after wiring.  
Hollow rivet style mini-banana pins were at least fairly recently still available 
from Pomona.  

In a message dated 12/21/2004 4:28:15 PM Central Standard Time, 
roger at new-gate.co.uk writes: 
> Having given up on finding any mating power plugs for the RXs and TXs, I've 
> 
> started making my own using a suggestion by Terry, N3GTE, about using car 
> body-filler material to make plug bodies. It seems to work well and with a 
> bit of practice I'm sure I can produce a few more for powering my 
> collection. I've potted my first into a discarded octal tube base to cover 
> up the voids in the potting. (Why is it that the accessories like plugs, 
> control heads, racks, etc. are so rare? Were they scrapped with the aircraft 
> 
> or did no-one want them at the time the gear appeared as surplus?)

Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
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