[ARC5] MFPO- Before or After

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J. Forster" <jfor at quikus.com>
To: <ARC5 at mailman.qth.net>; <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Cc: <Vintage-Military-RADAR at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 7:38 PM
Subject: [ARC5] MFPO- Before or After


> Recently, I got a NOS (?) Output Meter for an ASB-5 RADAR 
> set. I powered
> it today and smelt like something was burning, so powered 
> it down.
>
> It turns out the filament series resistor, a standard 
> ceramic wirewound
> type had burn marks on it. I was puzzled because the 
> resistor had looked
> new ten minutes before. It turns out, there was some 
> varnish on the
> resistor that had charred when the resistor got hot. (It 
> scraped off
> easily).
>
> Now, I would have expected that the unit would have been 
> tested before
> shipment. Had that happened, the resistor would have been 
> charred.
>
> So, the question is, would an MFP coating have been 
> applied after final
> test or before. This unit implies it was applied after, 
> but that doesn't
> really make sense either.
>
> Best,
>
> -John
>
     I have seen a number of pieces of military equipment 
with dates stamped on them for the MFP treatment, some 
several years after original manufacture. I suspect some 
equipment was built and put into stock for a time, and then 
MFP treated and returned to stock.  I don't know this for 
certain but think its true.
     BTW, just today I saw a notice in a 1945 QST that 
stated that "now that the European war is ended un-needed 
equipment is being tropicalized and sent to the Pacific".


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com