[ARC5] ARC5 CW Question

[David Stinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kenneth G. Gordon" <kgordon2006 at frontier.com>

>> How did they come on frequency when they used these things in 
>> World War 2?
>> I suspect they used a BC 221 or similar prior to the mission 
>> and locked the
>> frequency in. So they really didn't have the spotting problem 
>> during a mission?
>
> Usually, the transmitters and the receivers were on quite 
> different
> frequencies.

Respectfully, Ken:  That was only true when flying "range."
In that case, the aircraft would transmit on something like
3105 KC and the Tower would respond on LF 286 KC
or similar.
There was no "spotting" because the Command transmit freqs
were fixed before the mission and never changed by the Pilot.
If any change was needed, the Radio Op did it with the -221.
On combat missions, the Radio Operator used the BC-221
or LM before take-off to set the Command Sets
to assigned simplex frequencies and left them there.
If the aircraft was flying from one base to another rather
than returning "home," the Radio Op could use the -221
to reset the Command Sets to the new channels or
to the Army Airways 4 MC channel or
to "range" freqs as needed.

In my sets, I installed a "SPOTTING" switch by
simply breaking the receiver muting relay circuit so that
the receiver audio stays "on" during transmit.
Won't hurt the receivers.
Turn down the gain, zero-beat the transmitter to the receiver
and flip the switch back.. Works well for me.

73 DE Dave AB5S