[ARC5] WWII Direction Finders

[Mike Morrow]

David asked:

>Who here is the big fan of WWII direction finders like the SCR-269?

I don't know who "the" big fan of DF sets is, but I'm partial to airborne models prior to 1970.

One could specialize in nothing but collecting USAAF WWII airborne RDF gear.  Starting AFTER the SCR-242 (my BC-310 was made in 1937), you have at least the following to deal with:

SCR-246, 263, 269, 273, 276, 278, 279, 280, and 282.
AN/ARN-7, AN/ARN-11 (MN-26)

Of course, "the" classic to have is the SCR-269.  It's a really wonderful design.  But even there you have variety.  The receiver made by Fairchild (BC-433-F of SCR-269-F) is a *completely* different design with almost no common parts compared to other BC-433-* units.  It just happens to fit in the same space and mounting rack and use the same controls, indicators, and loop as the other versions.

It's always struck me odd that the USN didn't come up with RDF gear as modern and easy to use as the USAAF's SCR-269 and AN/ARN-7.  USN DU-* and DZ-* stuff was way old fashioned by comparison.  Well, at least they had the ZB and ARR-2 homing system.

I've also thought it was strange that the RAV navigation receivers for .19 to .55 and .52 to 1.5 mc (CBY-46102, 46103) had the loop antenna connections and switch, the later ARA versions (CBY-46129, 46145) did not, then the even later AN/ARC-5 versions (R-23, 24) got them back again.  It seems the Navy was unsure of whether it needed to have receivers to function with the DU-* loops.

Mike / KK5F