[ARC5] BC-1206 Antenna...now VHF command sets.

[Mike Morrow]

> I understood the early decease of the AN/ARC-3 family was caused by the 
> inability to churn out crystals fast enough. Hence the beginning of 
> frequency synthesis and PLL systems ...

The AN/ARC-3 (and 16-channel AN/ARC-36 version, and 48-channel AN/ARC-49 version)
had a very long service life.  Certainly it was much longer than any other WWII-
vintage VHF command set, including the USN's AN/ARC-1.  The AN/ARC-3/36/49 was
still in service on some older USAF aircraft into the late 1960s...maybe even later.

The USAF seemed in no hurry to replace the AN/ARC-3/36/49.  The AN/ARC-3 must have
served its design function rather well...enough to justify design extension for
the 16- and 48-channel versions through the 1950s.  The USAF (and US Army) hung on
to having VHF command set along side a UHF command set even up to recent times, yet
the service replacement for the AN/ARC-3/36/49 waited until the Collins synthesized
AN/ARC-73* was available...about 20 years after the AN/ARC-3 was first deployed.

That does *not* seem to describe any "early decease" for the AN/ARC-3. :-)

The USN dropped almost all interest in VHF command sets almost immediately after UHF
sets was available.  The early 10-channel UHF-AM RT-58/ARC-12 was intended to replace
the VHF-AM RT-18/ARC-1 in existing AN/ARC-1 installations, simply by pulling the RT-18
from its rack and replacing it with the RT-58, plus an antenna change.  No UHF plus
VHF installations like those that the USAF and US Army preferred.

The 1750-channel Collins UHF-AM AN/ARC-27, used almost everywhere for many years
by every service, dates from the very early 1950s.  That shows that the effort
toward synthesized command sets was directed toward the UHF spectrum rather than
VHF.  The VHF AN/ARC-73 took yet another decade to appear in service.

I am unaware of any significant crystal procurement problems after WWII.

Mike / KK5F