[ARC5] More information sought to fill in the blanks

[Michael Tauson]

Hi, David,

On 5/7/07, David Stinson <arc5 at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> It's too bad the Type 12 doesn't get more attention.
> It's an exceptional set, and inexpensive.

Agreed.  As with the SCR-183/283 and the RU/GF, I hope to bring more
light on these sets as I write.  When I was still working for a living
as an aircraft mechanic in the late 1960s, I saw them in several
airplanes.  Most were twins but a few single engine planes had the
A.R.C. grey boxes as well.

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

*ahem* ... not anymore.  Some idiot in Hawaii bought them all. :)

RE: Type 21:
> I have the receiver, antenna and control box, but not handy.

Have I mentioned recently that I want to add one of these to the
display shelves?


> > Type 12:
> > Was this a specific set or was it only used as a generic descriptor?

>  "ARC type-12 is the designation assigned to a group of
>    radio components which may be employed to form a
>    variety of communication and navigation systems for
>    use in aircraft."

Ah, okay.  I wasn't sure if someone slipped a specific set in there
that I didn't know about.

> >Type 17: LF Omni's last dying breath but no reference found except a
> >brief comment in an article.
> Type 17 may have begun as a navigation set, but
> it was never produced as one.  Often, a project will be abandoned
> and its nomenclature will be "inherited" by a following project.
> I have an original, commercial ARC Type-17 Instruction manual,
> dated June 26, 1947:

I don't suppose a copy would be available, would it?

> It consists of an R-15 receiver with M-12A mount and
> D-10 dynamotor, T-11 transmitter with M-11A mount,
> C-15 control box with M-17 mount and A-12 antenna.

Cool.  Sounds like a neat set and a follow on to the Type 11.

> > Type 18: No reference found.

> Somewhere around here, I have an ad that references
> the Type 18 as a set similar to the Type 17 and intended
> for light helocopters (like med-evacs) during the Korean conflict.

Hmmm ... I wonder what the differences were.


> > In one of his articles, Gordon White discussed
> > the NRL's modifications to a small number of ARA/ATA
> > sets to crystal control to improve the stability.

> Never seen one.  Several years ago,
> I heard of one of the receivers and one of the transmitters
> being in the estate of a Missouri pack-rat who had
                       [clip]
> but was told they had decided to go with some local
> "estate sale" outfit.  I heard the stuff was sold for a pittance
>  and dispersed into the gathering darkness.  No doubt, the
> sets are buried in the stuffed garage of some guy who's going to
> "get around to them some day" or, worse: "make my
> Novice station with them.  Where's my wire cutters?"

*sigh* ... always happens, doesn't it.  According to several laws of
chance, at some point, someone's going to make a mistake and make the
good stuff available for cheap if not free just because they want to
unload a warehouse and one of us is going to be there to collect the
largess.  Much lots of good stuff - as in, way too much for any one of
us to manage.

> Do you have the military Type-12
> "Handbook of Operating Instructions,"
> AN 16-45-121, 10 january 1952 revised,
> with the table of aircraft types and Type-12
> equipment mixes for them?

Nope.  Mine's dated 6 June 1956 and it doesn't have that table.  Would
you make a copy for me, please?

> Concerning the AN/ARC-60:  I have the
> ARC commercial manual suppliment that covers the
> UHF equipment, dated Feb. 1955.  It designates
> the sets under the "umbrella" of "Type-12."

Ah, okay.  That was a big umbrella.

Best regards,

Michael