[ARC5] T-15, T-016, and T-17

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 3 Aug 2014 at 7:15, Mike Hanz wrote:

> On 8/2/2014 11:49 PM, Kenneth G. Gordon wrote:
> 
> > I also noticed that the manual says that the T-15 would output 1 watt to
> > most antennas, but with the TN-6, would output 20 watts.
> 
> Well, to be somewhat more precise, those extremes apply only to the T-16 
> and T-17 (*not* the T-15), and depend on the specific antenna 
> characteristics.  The TN-6 was necessary *only* when you had to feed a 
> short fixed antenna with a capacitance above 60pF, so its usefulness is 
> pretty limited.  The 20w CW power applies only to the T-16 and T-17 
> feeding a training wire antenna *without* the TN-6 (which isn't needed 
> under those conditions anyway.)  The T-15 was apparently never intended 
> to feed anything other than a trailing wire.  The manual is admittedly a 
> little hard to read - you have to look at both Figure 8-56 and paragraph 
> 4-38 to get the full context. Theoretically you could get 20 watts CW 
> out of the T-15 as well into a long enough trailing wire, bit it's not 
> explicitly stated - just implied, I guess.

OK. Thanks again. My next question may be harder to answer: what, exactly, 
was the original purpose for the T-15, 16, and 17?

Clandestine BC transmitters? (Hee hee!).

> > OK. So the coil in the T-16 and T-17 was "normal", then?
> 
> Yup.  The same L-52 coil was used in the T-16 through T-18/ARC-5 - which 
> is a good thing, as I have been able to resurrect a couple of T-16s with 
> L-52 coils from far more numerous T-18 parts hulks.

OK. That makes loads of sense. Thanks.

Ken W7EKB