[ARC5] ARC-5 modulator FS

[Gordon White]

   My instruction book, issued under contract  order No. 1470-NY-41, is 
labeled "RADIO SET SCR-274-N  Practically all the components have -A 
nomenclature

     I have seen it as SCR-274N in correspondence.

    the "N" in SCR-274-N came about because the Navy was the first 
service to adopt the equipment and when it was given Signal Corps 
nomenclature the "N" was added to reflect that it was a Navy set. Of 
course AN nomenclature came in later, but with so much of the old stuff 
around and still being  produced there were both types out there. There 
were, as you all know, differences in the transmitters and modulators, 
as well as in the audio output impedances.

    Actually, Aircraft Radio Corp worked with the Air Corps for a long 
time before signing Navy contracts, and the Navy  contract came about 
first because the Navy did not have either Ft. Monmouth (Signal  Corps) 
nor Wright Field (Air Corps) bureaucrats, who in 1940 wanted their own 
designs, which failed. The Navy had the Naval Research Laboratory, in 
Anacostia, MD, which was busy with Radar and only tested the radio 
equipment.

    Hap Arnold, Jimmy Doolittle, etc. used to fly up to Boonton on 
weekends and drink and play poker with Lewis Hull and Frederick Drake 
and discuss equipment. If the Air Corps did that today they'd be up on 
charges.

- Gordon White