[ARC5] RME As Aircraft Radio (?!?)

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Todd, KA1KAQ" <ka1kaq at gmail.com>
To: "Mike Morrow" <kk5f at arrl.net>
Cc: <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2012 9:54 AM
Subject: Re: [ARC5] RME As Aircraft Radio (?!?)


> On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 11:49 AM, Mike Morrow 
> <kk5f at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> One would suspect that the claim made in the auction item 
>> description that
>> it is a
>> "Shortwave radio, amplifier and speaker from 1936 removed 
>> from a US
>> fighter in 1942"
>> is a bit doubtful.
>>
>
> A BIT?? This receiver is a home/amateur receiver from the 
> mid 30s, in no
> way compatible or even desirable for aircraft use. The 
> DB-20 is required
> for acceptable reception above 18-20mc.
>
> Could've possibly been used as a ground station receiver, 
> but it would've
> been in one of those 'this or nothing' situations. These 
> things were
> rapidly outpaced by the Super Pro, HRO, etc. well prior to 
> the war.
>
> Definitely a funny read. Looks like it's been buggered up 
> with an
> additional switch as well as some well-intentioned 
> polishing of the painted
> brass dials that were never meant to be shiny beyond the 
> raised numerals.
> Appears to have been oversprayed or wiped with a new coat 
> of black paint,
> too.
>
> ~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4

     A receiver for a ground station would have the low 
frequency bands used for aeronautical purposes, generally 
200 to 400 Khz.  The Super-Pro, HRO, and other receivers 
were supplied in special versions for this.
     I think people are very confused by much of anything 
that is old. Old meaning it was made before _they_ were 
about ten years old.
     For some reason RME liked the idea of a separate 
pre-selector. Perhaps it was because it resulted in cheaper 
receivers and gave them a second product to sell which could 
be applied to many other receivers.  At some point, after 
WW-2 RME also made a converter to allow reception of higher 
frequencies on receivers limited to a high end of around 
18Mhz, which included a lot of the surplus military 
receivers.  I have no idea how well this thing worked but it 
would have knocked image response down a lot more than the 
pre-selector. They were not made for long.  RME also made 
VHF converters but those stayed in the catalogue for years.
     A curious company; they used to advertise that they 
would customize receivers for customers. Like other 
companies who merged with larger ones it did not survive the 
merger for long.


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