[ARC5] R-11A as a Q-5er

[Robert Eleazer]

It is practical to use an R-11A as a Q-5er.  I bought one for $7.95 from Fair Radio in 1974 and used it for that purpose.  Admittedly, since it was used with a GE solid state multiband radio that had all of 80 meters in about a 1/4 inch length of dial, the combination did not work too well for getting communications signals, but I did find that I could receive the IF signal from the GE from 10 feet away or more without even wrapping the antenna around the GE set.

The R-11A is, if anything, easier to use than the BC-453 for that purpose.  It requires no modification or added control box of any kind, and as Brian has explained, the caps are far more likely to be in good shape.
You only need to know which two contacts on the center "dial" position need to be shorted in order to get the B+ to the right spot and then just power it up, plug in a set of headphones to the integral phone jack, and you are in business.

The lack of a tuning dial is no problem.  You only need to tune a very narrow range and it is easy to find the right spot just by listening. And any number of plastic knobs will fit over the spline for tuning purpose.  I found one the other day in a discarded boom box. 

Biggest problem is that the R-11A lacks a BFO, but if the set you are using for the front end has a BFO you are Okay there, too.  

And has has been mentioned, an IF transformer of the right freq will work as a BFO coil using a simple Colpitts (I think) one transistor circuit I found in a 1960's issue of 73 Magazine.  A 455 Khz BFO for the GE receiver was the first oscillator of any kind I ever got working.  I built a number after that and found that older tube type large IF coils work much better for that purpose than do the little transistor set IF's.  I guess that has to do with "Q."  I bought a 85 KHZ Command Set IF coil to use for that purpose but never got around to building the BFO for that freq.  

Also, I too have a Navy BCB Command Set and it is indeed missing the BFO coil.

Wayne
WB5WSV