[ARC5] Cool acquisition (not for the squeamish)

[J. Forster]

When ARC-5 were $4 to $8, remember gas was $0.29/gallon and a burger $0.19.

They were not cheap. They just appear cheap as a result of high inflation
due to governmental misconduct.

-John

==================



>   Last weekend was the Peoria Superfest, where some buddies and I have
> been getting together for a big cook-out and gabfest as well.   One of
> them has taken on the chore of helping a widow dispose of the estate of
> a local SK, and included in the pile of stuff were a half-dozen  sundry
> ARC-5 transmitters and receivers.  Most had been "hammified" to  a
> greater or lesser extent - only one looked to be original.  But my
> attention was drawn instead to one that was REALLY hacked-up, but
> immediately recognizable to the "trained eye".
>
> It was a nearly-intact version of the W2EWL "Cheap and Easy SSB"
> transmitter that was featured in the ARRL Sideband Handbook that I've
> been studying lately.   Of course I immediately acquired it, as early
> SSB is an area of great interest to me.   When this article was written
> the author noted that the price of the BC-458 was "from $3.95 to $7.95",
> so it's understandable how this was an attractive value for a
> homebrewer, although we'd consider it heresey today.  The first step was
> to strip the chassis of all parts except for the 1626 oscillator and the
> final tube sockets...
>
> (Graphic image alert!)  I've posted some pictures at:
> http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v652/ranickel/Cheap%20and%20Easy%20SSB/
>
> I'm tickled to actually find one of these already built and very
> restorable, as I'd feel guilty stripping out even a basket case BC-458,
> and it would be  a real challenge to find the audio transformers and
> phase-shift network to try to build one from scratch today.
>
> 73, Bob W9RAN
> ______________________________________________________________
> ARC5 mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/arc5
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:ARC5 at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
>