[ARC5] Re: What did they talk to?

[David Stinson]

Gordon White wrote:
> Since senior A.R.C. engineers went to England to discuss problems with 
> the Command sets, they were obviously using them. The chief problem was 
> getting off-frequency, so that's when the lock-tune idea came in. They 
> would tune them on the ground and remove the tuning cable from the 
> receiver so the pilot could not diddle with them in the air.

Of course, the documentation supports this, Gordon,
but I have to say I've wondered about it.  I have several
SCR-274N receivers, which were basicly the original, un-"Stablized"
ARA design, and once brought up to original spec
and allowed to warm up, they're pretty darn stable.
I had a BC-455 on a couple of weeks ago for two days.
After the first few hours,
I never had to move it unless I intended to QSY.

One of ways pilots got "radio trouble" was calling someone once
or twice and, if not immediately answered, they would
assume the radios had "drifted" (mostly because their friends
said "the radios drift") and start cranking away
on the "coffee grinder."  Since they were off freq,
their wingman would get no answer and he would start cranking.
Next thing you know, everyone is using hand signals and
cussing the radios that "always drift off channel."

Sometimes I wonder if "stability" was blamed to keep from
blaming the pilots for not following procedure;
no amount of training and orders would keep them
from turning that crank.
Lock-tuning was the answer to both problems.

73 DE Dave S.