[ARC5] ARR-1

[Mike Hanz]

On 9/16/2014 1:17 PM, Kenneth G. Gordon wrote:
> I still think the guys who
> designed it were sheer geniuses.

You won't get any disagreement from me...:-)

> Have any of you ever seen a BC-946B with the added bits necessary for use
> with the YE/ZB system?

Fairly frequently.  The only added accessory necessary was the FT-310-A 
for power to the ARR-1, so the originals I've seen all had that adapter 
in the front drawer.

> I never have, but one would think that if the Army
> used that system with the B-29s, there must have been some use of the
> BC-946B...or perhaps the Army used Navy equipment?

The ARR-1 is one of the few examples of common sense overcoming 
Army/Navy insularity and Service rivalry.  In that sense, the JAN system 
probably had the intended effect, or at least the *beginnings* of 
efficacy.  There are some other examples, like the AN/ART-13, and they 
all seem pushed by two factors - combat need and exigency.  I wouldn't 
push the envelope so far as to say the Army would use a Navy receiver, 
however, even though the BC-946 had essentially that birthright once 
removed.

> What I don't quite understand is that if that system (YE/ZB) was used so
> extensively, why were there so few BC band receivers made?

Perhaps because there were alternatives for the ARC broadcast receiver, 
including the RU and SCR-183/283 receivers.  The original ZB in the 
article on my website was installed on an RU set.

> I think I DO know why there are so few left: most were hacked to ribbons by
> those wanting HiFi AM tuners...

I'm sure that was part of it. :-)

  - Mike