[ARC5] TS-306/ARW again

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 26 Apr 2013 at 18:17, Wayne Eleazer wrote:

> Perhaps we already discussed this, but ARW indicates an airborne
> remote control application - such as for a target drone.  I would
> assume that there was a coding unit designed to interface with the
> transmitter and provide audio tones or other forms of control coding. 
> I have the manual for an ARW-26 receiver, a WWII vintage target drone
> control receiver that is designed to activate relays in accordance
> with tones received.

I found, or was sent, some information on the TS-306/ARW and on the ARW 
type of gear.

ARW has to do with remote-controlled aircraft or guided bombs, and the 
electronics connected with all that stuff.

The latest interation of the ARW equipment is something called "GuardRail", 
which is interfaced with satellites. The nomenclature is ARW-83.

My unit was MFPed on May 7, 1953, and the two capacitors I rebuilt in it 
were dated 1952.

According to what I found on it, the test set contains a complete transmitter 
and a receiver, plus signal generators (both crystal and VFO), both RF and 
audio tone generators. The audio tone generators include 10 channels, all of 
which work.

After rebuilding the filter caps, testing other suspicious parts and finding all 
else OK, and firing it up, I found that when the unit is plugged in, a heater 
fires up first, indicated by a white light on the left. When the toggle switch 
that turns the equipment on is activated, the white "HEATER" light goes out, 
and the red "POWER" light, on the right, comes on.

All 28 tubes light up, and within a few seconds, the VR-150 glows. 
Everything behind the panel remains cool to the touch, except, of course, the 
5U4G.

When any of the 10 toggle switches are activated, the Deviation Meter reads 
upwards, usually between 4 and a little over 6 KHz, indicating to me that they 
should be adjusted. There is a red line on the meter at about the 5.5 KHz 
point, and I suspect that this is the "set point".. 

Plugging a set of phones into the PHONES jack lets one hear the tones. 
They are all there.

However, none of the green lights which are above each switch light up. It 
seems obvious that those are indicators of the signal reaching the transmitter 
or receiver, which then sends a signal back to the test set, which then 
activates the light.

This particular unit is designed to test and adjust transmitters AN/ARW-3, 13 
and 34, and receivers AN/ARW-2, 14, 17, 35, and 37.

However, I have so far found nothing at all on any of this gear, despite my 
intense curiousity about it.

If you would like to see many different photos of it, and that document I was 
sent, you can see it on eBay at this item number:

Item # 161011899347

Ken W7EKB