[ARC5] History and Context of the ARC-5 sets

[Michael Bittner]

When I learned to fly in the Navy in 1955, I had to learn a variety of 
navigation systems that marked the turning point from the old low frequency 
systems to VHF systems.  These included; Low Frequency Beacons, Low 
Frequency 4-Course Ranges, Consolan, LORAN D, HF-DF, Visual Aural Range 
(VAR), VHF Omni Range (VOR), Distance Measuring Equipment (DME), TACAN, ILS, 
and 75 MHz Marker Beacons.  All were necessary for either instrument flight 
on US Airways or navigation over waters surrounding the US.  Later came 
Omega, Loran C, the Navy's Transit Satellite Navigation System, and finally, 
GPS and DGPS.  I saw the transition from ARC-5s to ARC Type 12 radios in our 
training aircraft.

When the final Consolan station on 195 kHz in Petaluma, CA went dark, it was 
like losing an old friend on the air.

I fail to understand why the LF Beacon band was selected for the DGPS 
signals.  IMHO, these broad-band signals are misplaced in this narrow-band 
region and could have just as well been put in the VHF Air Band, e.g.. on 
the Terminal Information Service (TIS) frequencies transmitted by control 
towers and similar transmitters at existing Marine Beacon sites.

Mike Bittner, W6MAB


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Haynes" <jhhaynes at earthlink.net>
To: "Discussion of AN/ARC-5 military radio equipment." 
<arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2010 7:34 PM
Subject: Re: [ARC5] History and Context of the ARC-5 sets


> For the U.S. there is a book "The Federal Airways System" published by
> the IEEE in 1970 - looks like a couple of copies are available from
> abebooks.com.  It gives a good history of the civilian airways
> development.
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