[ARC5] Using SCR-274N

[Bill Cromwell]

On Thu, 2013-03-28 at 08:32 -0700, Bob Macklin wrote:
> How do you use them?
> 
> This stuff was intended for short range communication  (not DX) and not 
> under crowed ham band conditions.
> 
> They were really made for voice operation, not CW.
> 
> Bob Macklin
> K5MYJ
> Seattle, Wa.
> "Real Radios Glow In The Dark"


Hi Bob,

There have already been some comments about how the radios are used. I
only use the MF and HF command receivers (no "ARC-5" transmitters). I'm
not particularly fussy whether they were ordered by the Army or the Navy
but I do have an acquired bias in favor of Navy and I prefer them
dressed in black.

My R-23 and BC-453 radios aren't too short on the range. I have picked
up an NDB transmitter at 1025 miles and one of the hams with an
experimental license for 600 meters with a very few watts (about 3) ERP
at almost 1200 miles. Of course my antenna won't really fit a B-17! At
140 feet I might find a way to wind it around here and there and force
it to fit. I have received 40 meter CW from the west coast in here
without too much trouble (great lakes neighborhood) using a plain
command receiver. Not DXCC. Not short range either.

It's the 21st century. Older scaf filters and later digital processing
(without modding the radios) does a lot to sort things out after the
radio grabs the signals from the ether and presents them at the output
terminal. We also have that grey filter between our ears that can deal
with a lot.

The 80 and 40 meter radios have a wider IF but the modern filters really
make a difference. There are a lot of add on tricks that I will be
trying but all of them are applied from outside the radios. A couple of
them - like a Q-multiplier, need access to the internal wiring but still
no butchery.

Finally, we don't have to be chasing DX wallpaper every time we turn the
radio on. At least..some of us don't.

73,

Bill  KU8H