[ARC5] BC-946 Tuning capacitor removal and panel straightening

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 27 Mar 2011 at 13:33, Andy Young wrote:

> I can report a successful outcome regarding straightening the front
> panel of that damaged BC-946 I asked for help on a week ago.

Good job!.

The BC-946 and the R-24/ARC-5 are VERY rarely found in restorable 
condition here in the U.S.

Although I don't know the exact number made, I know there were possibly 
fewer of those made than any other receiver in the series, at least up to 9.1 
Mhz.

Then, almost all of those were hacked into "hi-fi BC band tuners" after WWII 
into the '50s and '60s. 

In the process, the BFO coils were removed and discarded, along with the 
entire audio stage, and the output of the detector was fed to an external "hi-
fi" amp, all the "unnecessary" can-caps were simply chopped out, and those 
that were left were routinely replaced with...something...

Sometimes the last IF stage was removed and a simple diode detector 
installed in order to widen the bandwidth for greater fidelity. 

At the same time either the back dynamotor deck was chopped off with a 
hacksaw to shorten the receiver, or a power supply was built on that deck.

The outer case was then thrown away to help cooling.

I have several examples here, and it almost brings me to tears to see what a 
mess has been made of these. They are completely unrestorable, or even 
useable in their present condition.

Sometimes, if all the IF cans are still there, one can remove those, and the 
coil pack, and the dial, and move them to a derelict chassis of another band-
receiver, but the BFO coil is still gone and can only be replaced by rewinding 
one from an R-25/ARC-5 or removing turns and changing the capacitors in 
one from an R-23/ARC-5 or BC-453.

What a mess.

So, you are extremely lucky to find one in essentially intact condition, despite 
what you must have had to pay for it.

Treat it with extreme care.

Ken Gordon W7EKB