[ARC5] My "ARC-5" Impressions

[Bill Cromwell]

Hi,

Some of my interests in the HF command sets are the same as on the other
people's lists. I am a "low power" enthusiast - QRPp up to 50 watts or
so for QRO operations. I have been moving away from tube based gear so I
have not paid any attention lately to the transmitters or any additional
receivers (I have some of the low frequency 'nav' receivers). My
homebrew efforts and other gear I look at buying is "single band" and
separate transmit/receive units. The "ARC-5" sets will fit right in and
the size is not overwhelming so I am reconsidering running some of
those. I will probably roll my own "glue" to get everything running
instead of buying/building/using the original racks and controls. I will
favor solid state DC power converters instead of dynamotors as a
practical expedient and quieter operation. But I don't see where there
is any need to modify the units, especially mods that cannot be
reversed. My units have some mods where "front panel" controls have been
added and somebody soldered wires where the dynamotors connect (or
completely removed the connector). Plugs and sockets are just not *that*
hard to fabricate - no excuses for that.

So now a question for the experts. Can one of the 6 to 9 mc units be
retuned to cover 30 meters without hacking? Is there a more suitable
unit for 30 meter coverage? 30 meters doesn't seem to be that much of a
"stretch". For higher frequency bands I'll just look elsewhere but 40/30
are my favorites.

73,

Bill  KU8H