[ARC5] R-24/ARC-5 - Yet Another Mysterious Function

[Mike Morrow]

I wrote:

> Although the R-24 was designed to support a DF loop, a VHF homing adapter,
> and a instrument landing system, it in fact did none of those things.

I listed these *potential* functions for the R-24/ARC-5 520 to 1500 kHz receiver:

1.  Use with the DU-* or DW-* loop as a traditional RDF.
2.  Use with the AN/ARR-1 (ZB-*) VHF homing adapter.
3.  Use with the AN/ARN-9 ("Air-Track") ILS as MF localizer receiver.

But I failed to mention another potential use:

4.  Use with the T-15, -16, -17/ARC-5 MF transmitters.

This is one of the major issues of AN/ARC-5 documentation.  There seems to be nothing that officially documents why these transmitters were produced:

T-15/ARC-5                500 to  800 kHz
T-16/ARC-5, TN-6/ARC-5    800 to 1300 kHz
T-17/ARC-5, TN-6/ARC-5   1300 to 2100 kHz.

Whatever motivated the production of these items, it seems likely that the
R-24/ARC-5 was to be the associated receiver.

The R-24 had potential uses beyond that of any other command set receiver.  In actual application none were used...the R-24 was the least used command set receiver.

Mike / KK5F