[ARC5] A.R.C. Types and Military Usage

[Mike Morrow]

>For instance- right now on ebay there are A.R.C. ads for 
>Type 11 and for Type 21- a navigation set.

The A.R.C. Type 21 is the commercial model number of the AN/ARN-59 ADF, but I suspect the principal buyer of the Type 21 was the US military, not civil aviation users.  I think the same is true of most of the Type 12 and Type 15 components.  Almost every one I've seen *without* JAN nomenclature still has something (such as an ink stamp, military contract number, or "US" label) which indicates military rather than civil service.  Even the sale flyers that A.R.C. was publishing around 1960 list A.R.C. Type 12 and similar units as available ONLY for sale to the government.  I suspect this was because these components by 1960 were considered obsolete for civil service, yet were still available to the government for replacement use.

My vote for the most interesting 1950s-era A.R.C. set is the Type 210, which used the RT-11A VHF-AM transceiver. 

Speaking of A.R.C. type numbers, it's always bothered me a bit to see the A.R.C. Type 12 noted very inaccurately as the ARC-12, or even worse, the AN/ARC-12.  The real AN/ARC-12, with the RT-58/ARC-12 main unit, is essentially a UHF-AM (230 to 350 mc) version of the AN/ARC-1.  It's the same size, weight, and uses the same rack, wiring, dynamotor, and control box.  Pull out the VHF-AM RT-18/ARC-1, slide a RT-58/ARC-12 into the rack, change the antenna, and upgrade is complete.  Fair Radio sold RT-58/ARC-12 units in the mid-1960s for $30.  I'd like to come across a complete RT-58 today.  I have most of one, courtesy of Mike Hanz, and it's an interesting set.  It's definitely not an A.R.C. Type 12!  It in turn was displaced by the most common aircraft command set of the 50s and 60s, the Collins AN/ARC-27.

Mike / KK5F