[ARC5] Hamming of WW2 surplus electronics gear

[Jack Sullivan]

I was born the day after the start of the Battle of the Bulge. My ham (SK) father was an officer in the OSS running a clandestine radio station in Kunming, China. I grew up in a house whose basement was filled with NOS ARC-5 & similar gear. I think I developed an addiction to the smell of MFP during those years.
 
Military electronics underwent a technical & technological revolution before & during the war that outpaced the ham world. There was a pent up demand for state of the art electronics gear that could be filled readily by the surplus market. Radar indicators could be converted to the prized oscilloscopes. Equipment like the ARQ-8 could operate on the new 6-meter band with minor modification. So a lot of what was done is certainly understandable.
 
My current POV involves collecting & preserving NOS radar & countermeasures gear from that era. I value these as relics of a sweeping revolution, to be preserved & cherished for what they were: instruments that helped win a major war. I would never consider modifying any of these items or even powering them up. They are getting harder & harder to find.
 
Jack