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

[Dennis DuVall]

Early WW-2 portable/vehicular FM radio. Used up into Korea. The BC-1335 is the second generation development of the idea.  
I’ve overhauled 5 of these radios, see ER#135, July/August 2000.  Biggest problem to be overcome is in the AFC circuit 
that keeps the transmitter locked to the xtal controlled receiver frequency.  As designed the radio used a special battery pack to 
provide bias voltages and a  DC offset voltage required by the AFC circuit.  I came up with another way do this (see ER #135) 
and the Italian guy who makes power converters for the BC-611, PRC-8, 9 & 10 and other WW-2 radios has since come up with 
a well-working battery substitute as well.  I can provide a copy of my article on request including some notes
I made along the way.

I currently have a pair of working units xtaled up for 29.4 and 29.6 mHz.  Have had NO problems with the crystals used
with these radios BTW.

Wide deviation FM here so should be operated only above 29.0 mHz.

Dennis D.  W7QHO
Glendale, CA

****************





> On May 31, 2016, at 9:08 PM, David Stinson <arc5 at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> ----- 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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