[ARC5] "Junk" M y Foot (Was: PT boat....)

[David Stinson]

OK.... 
I've been biting my tongue.  And biting.  And biting.
But I've had just about enough of people scoffing and 
calling the early WWII radio equipment "junk."
The engineers deserve more respect than that.
I have this equipment and operate it 
as originally designed.  
GF/RU.   SCR-183. SCR-274N.  ATA/ARA.  
AN/ARC-5.  ATB/ARB.  TCS.  
Australian AR8/AT5.  Half a dozen others.
 
   In the missions for which they were designed,
  * which was NOT DXing on the ham bands, *
   they were expertly engineered, superbly crafted 
   and performed with excellence- 
   better than anything anyone else 
   in the entire world had to offer at the time.

They were never designed to be "ham" rigs and 
comparing them to such is a stretch.
But I'll tell you this- You take your pick of 1950
and 1960s mid-range commercial "ham" gear-  
Halliscappers, Hammer-on, Greasekit, 
Swan, Johnson etc. and compare any of the above radios
*run as they were designed*,
watt-for-watt and frequency-for-frequency,
by stability, audio quality, reliability and durability 
and these early Mil rigs will run rings around the 
commericial "ham " stuff available in 1950.
I like my National receivers, but in their "stock" 
condition, I've got to chase stations all over the dial.
Put a *properly run* BC-348 or TCS on WWV
and leave it for a day.  Come back and it will still be
within a KC of where you left it.
Put a book on the key of a stock DX-100 and 
walk away for a day- see what's left in the smoking ruin.   
I could key-down a BC-375 and walk away for a week.
And unlike the DX-100, the 375 will stay somewhere
close to where I put it.

"Junk" my foot!  Hmph!

Dave S.