[ARC5] Interesting historical info/Re: ARC-5/SCR-274 Navagation Receivers?

[Henry Mei'l's]

I find this historical background info very enlightening. Thanks David S.
73,
Henry F.M.(on your radio dial ;0), Cph.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Stinson" <arc5 at ix.netcom.com>
To: <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2011 6:21 AM
Subject: Re: [ARC5] ARC-5/SCR-274 Navagation Receivers?


>I just got in from 280 miles round trip to repair a signal bungalow
> for the railroad, and the call came after a full work day was already 
> done,
> so I haven't had a chance to read everything in this interesting 
> thread.
> But I will interject a couple of things before collapsing into bed.
> We've covered how ADF and RDF are different animals and
> ADF isn't an issue, right?
> 
> First- remember that WWII was a global conflict, with many often
> conflicting operational environments.  Don't fall into the common trap
> of thinking of our sets within Amero- or Euro-centric limits.
> While "radio range" transmitters were set up in most major U.S.
> cities, that didn't help you with the very many more airports
> into which you might need to fly which had no A-N "range" transmitter.
> Most of the world had no such "range" system in place,
> and it wasn't good for everywhere in the U.S., either.
> If you wanted to fly into "IchyArmpit Naval Air Station, Idaho,"
> you'd "fly the beam" of the radio ranges until you got to Boise,
> then switch to one method or other of RDF to direct you
> to the Itchy Station NDB.   The Navy kept RDF capability
> because they might be flying into a strip on a barrier island
> of the coast of Brazil, which had only an old 50-watt 278 KC
> voice transmitter that doubled as an NDB and a desk lamp
> for a tower light.
> 
> To understand why the Army dropped the loop connections
> after moving beyond the SCR-183, remember how the Army
> was in puppy-dog, roll-over-n-wag-your-tale love with
> everything British.  The Brits didn't let fighter aircraft RDF
> their way home; they did it the other way-round.
> The Brits RDFed the aircraft from the ground with direction finders,
> and that's what the USAAC went about trying to do.
> The documents are full of pilots asking some tower to "get a fix"
> on their position.  While the BC-453 was still needed for
> "flying the beam" from sector to sector and for talking to
> towers on Longwave (usually 278 KC), if a couple of P-47s
> got lost in the rain they were likely to call the nearest Army Airways
> on 4 MC and ask them to "get a fix" on them to bring them in.
> The idea of cribbing the Navy's ZM system using the BC-946
> and an AN/ARR-1 was a late-comer.  Given the condition of
> most BC-946s and ZMs when they hit the surplus market,
> I don't think that system got installed very widely in the Army's
> aircraft.   I think that system was obsoleted by the AN/ARR-2
> before it was ever uncrated, throwing the USAAC into a
> state of "confused neutrality" about RDFing from single-seat
> aircraft and falling back on their existing "RDF from the ground"
> system.  It certainly worked, and they didn't have the money
> that was showered on the swabbies for "fiddling around."
> 
> As for the R-24 not seeing use- I'd disagree.
> I don't think a lot of them saw use, but they'd have a role.
> Many of the second-tier and tertiary allies in places
> like South America and Africa were still equipped
> according to the 1920s Naval agreements and would have
> used this band both for communication and for RDF with
> shore-base broadcast stations.  You weren't going to find
> an A-N range or a "YG" transmitter in Columbia in 1943,
> but you could find "Radio los Mosquitos" on 712 KC to
> "home on."  You could also talk to a Columbian Navy unit on
> 600 KC, which would then clamp his key so you could find
> him and the possible U-Boat contact he was telling you about.
> 
> I'm falling asleep here.  More later.
> Night, Ya'll.
> 
> 73 Dave S.
> 
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