[ARC5] Inspired hack job

[mstangelo at comcast.net]

The BC-453 was and is my favorite surplus receiver. It had good selectivity, good frequency resolution and had that cool
"black box" avionics look.

I had a many sets as a teenager. One of my passions is tuning the LF bands and I spent many nights
tuning the Aero and Marine beacons, listening to the 600 meter marine band and trying to receive the European broadcast stations.

I had one BC-453 with the crystal controlled converter (6800 kc FT-243 crystal) for 40 meters. It was my first decent
Ham Radio receiver.

I even modified one set for battery operation by replacing the tubes with MOSFets and JFets.

I traded two sets to an "Elmer" of mine who worked at the RCA Radio Central station in Rocky Point. He had wanted to go back to sea and used the two sets to get his code speed up by monitoring the ship and shore 600 meter channels. I got a BC-779 and a bunch of Cardwell condensers out of the deal.

I still have some of the sets but unfortunately got rid of the converter set and the BC-779 when I moved out of my parent's house.

73, Mike N2MS



> You know it occurs to me that you would have considerable difficulty in finding a receiver that would do a better job over the 190 -550 KHZ range
I'm not sure about that, but I do think many hams missed out out a good 
opportunity in not using a BC-453 Q5-er (including me).    Two of the 
most important elements of any receiver are the stability of it's local 
oscillator and the selectivity of the IF - and the 453 scores very well 
in both.    I'll admit I thought it was a lot cooler to have a Heathkit 
Q Multiplier hooked up to my two-dial Hallicrafters than some old 
military-looking thing -  but if I'd had the chance to hear what one 
sounded like and how nicely it tuned the crowded CW bands, I'd have been 
convinced otherwise.

One guy who clearly appreciated the power of this combination was Don 
Stoner W6TNS, who wrote both the "Novice Q5er" and two "SSB Q5er" 
articles in the 50s.   (Stoner was a prolific author and builder who 
went on to start several businesses, including being the "S" in SGC).    
He measured the bandwidth of the 85 kc IF to be 2.7 KHz...a bit wide for 
CW but just right for you-know-what!   And while the term "Q5er" was 
often used when a BC-453 was simply tapped onto the IF of a receiver, 
his designs were standalone crystal controlled converters making a 
double-conversion receiver capable of tuning 80 or 40 meters.   They 
didn't look as jazzy as a commercial set with a fancy front panel and 
all the trimmings, but I'd say it outperformed about 90% of them selling 
for under $200 in actual amateur service.

In retrospect, it's too bad someone didn't come out with a cosmetic 
cover like CE did for the 458 VFO, adding a kit for the power supply and 
converter in one housing...but gee, I think I feel a new project coming 
on...

73, Bob W9RAN