[ARC5] the age old battle of modify or sanctify and the Demill dilemma

[Robert Nickels]

On 2/7/2011 6:44 PM, MillerKE6F at aol.com wrote:
> in that process preserved much if not  all that is
> available to us today be it a pristine command set found in an  estate sale
> or a command set transmitter that had been used as the foundation  for a
> W2EWL SSB package.
I fully agree Bob.   I've been having fun getting my W2EWL transmitter 
working but trust me, if I were doing it today the last thing I'd use is 
a Command set chassis!  While it's a testimony to the cleverness of Mr. 
Vitale that it could be done at all the physical limitations create 
several problems and make it a pain in the rear to work on.   In fact a 
buddy of mine is planning to strip his down and rebuild it on a new 
chassis for just that reason.

But there is value in getting to know these sets, regardless of the 
state of hackedness.   Last night I sat down and read the ARC-5 
documentation to understand once and for all just how that master 
oscillator worked and why filament power was routed through an identical 
winding on the VFO coil.  I sure have never seen that ingenious method 
used in ham gear, nor of course the same quality of components.   Any 
student of RF design would learn something from examining the Command 
Sets design.

73, Bob W9RAN