[ARC5] [Milsurplus] Article in Nov. QST

[MillerKE6F at aol.com]

I've been buying and rescuing these critters for over 50 years and during  
the past 10 years or so I kind of set my max price at around 10 bux or so if 
 they look like they might work.  Oddly, I've see very few of the LM or  
BC221s that have been modified or taken apart or repurposed to use the new  
touchy feely verb.  
 
    BUT it's a shame to see these unit just sitting on  the shelves 
gathering dust.  As one who actually used the BC 221 in the  active Army I must say 
that while they worked quite well,  they pretty  much fell out of favor 
when we got the AN/GRC-19s to replace our  AN/GRC-9s.  And as an Army operator 
I didn't miss the BC-221 or the  AN/GRC-9 with all the fiddle farting one 
had to do to get on frequency. (This  was in 1958-58 by the way).  
 
    So what's a good use for the things since so many  were made over the 
years and seem to be everywhere based on swap meets and other  ham radio 
venues?   I think it's quite a good thing to convert (notice I  don't say 
hacked) these unit into something that's useful and fun to play  with.  Those 
without calibration books are great candidates for conversions  since not  many 
folks are going to take the time to build a new book (I've  done that and 
while it's not technically difficult, it's sure tedious).   Why not make a 
nice HF vfo or a Regen Receiver or small transmitter in the nifty  enclosure 
and use that cool variable cap and dial system that's soooo  smooooothe.  
 
    What I'd really like to know is how  many in  these august  groups 
actually have an LM or BC-221  in their shop or shack and do they actually use 
them for anything?  I do  use a few of mine just to stay on top of the clever 
if not tedious interpolation  process.  So how about it folks.  Lets get a 
tally on those who both  love 'em and use 'em
 
 
    73  Bob, KE6F