[ARC5] OT The BC-659- what were they thinking?

[David Stinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J Mcvey via ARC5" <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [ARC5] OT The BC-659- what were they thinking?


>I'm fixing one of these monsters for a guy who had 
>to have that particular radio for his WWII Jeep....

You have my sympathy and admiration for 
accepting the challenge of a BC-659.
On the crystals:  Those WWII-era crystals are three
quarters of a century old.  You'll find a lot of them 
won't get you exactly on the marked channel 
and if the set is going to talk to someone, 
they are going to expect it to be on freq.
Identically-marked CR-1s for ARC-8 and VHF ARC-5
can put you +/- 20 KC or worse.  I've got a dozen
that are supposed to put me on 144.220 and not
*one* of them is within 5 KC.

I've gotten pretty decent at etching and "rubbering"
crystals to the freqs I need, but sometimes there 
just isn't one that will do.  If you can't find one 
and Bry doesn't have what you need, 
consider the Programmable Oscillators I've written 
about several times.  $6 or $7 worth of goodies
and a board with 5 parts on it and you'll be 
exactly on freq.  They should drive that mulitplier
without any trouble.  Will be glad to help if you
decide to investigate that option.  I'll even donate
the little DC-DC board to get you the 5 VDC.
Please let us know how you fair and what 
interesting gremlins you chase out of that old warrior.
I look forward to putting all your discoveries in 
my "BC-659" reference folder.

GL OM ES 73 DE Dave AB5S