[ARC5] History question: post-ww-ii use of ARC-5 style equipment

Sat Mar 19 17:36:21 EDT 2016

To add a few observations to the conversations, 1n 1962, our squadron's 
U-6A Beaver had an original suite of "coffee grinder" Type 12 gear in 
it.  This included both LF and VHF equipment. Of course we also had an 
ARC-27. The "Dash-One" I still have for the L-19/O-1E have Type 12 and 
similar equipment.  The U-8 also had a suite of ARC late-1950's 
avionics. Understand that Type 12 and similar stuff is 50's vintage and 
can't be judged with ARC-5 and SCR-274-N gear.    In 1959, as a cadet, 
the C-47s assigned to Andrews AFB had working ARC-8 installations.  I 
know as I operated one on a flight from ADW to Wright-Patterson.  That 
said, the aircraft fleet also had, at the time ARC-49 VHF, ARC-27 UHF, 
and Collins 18S-4 HF, all suites on AM.  C-119s at ADW had ARC-27 UHF 
and ARC-38 HF in 1960s.  If one reads the Proceedings of the RTCA, dated 
1952, they (RTCA) spelled out the requirement for frequency tolerances 
of .01% for transmitters.  The ART-13 and ARC-5 "type" equipment cannot 
maintain that tolerance.  Hence the Comco (et al) crystal modifications 
for the ART-13( ).  About the mid-50's, Bendix, Collins, and others were 
providing crystal controlled radios.  Now, the fact is, the DoD and the 
Gov-mint always gets waivers.  AM on the HF aviation continued well into 
the 1960s, as the financial impact to commercial aviation was sizable.   
In fact, the ICAO grandfathered various older, legacy AM equipment to be 
used into the early 1970s.  I have an operational T-47/ART-13 on the 
air.  It came from NASA at Moffett Field and the frequency card was 
dated 1969.  I understand it, in Africa for example, domestic airlines 
used AM for a very long time.  It was the international carriers that 
sort of pushed out the old and brought in the new (read: SSB) in these 
countries.  As an airframe was pulled out of service, the replacement 
would have "new stuff". Regarding airframes with old gear in them into 
the 80s and later? Sometimes pulling the old stuff out was more costly 
that simply leaving it in...  Anecdotal story:  There was a company in 
Georgetown, DE that overhauled older, typically military transport 
aircraft.  On a number of occasions, equipment coming in for overhaul 
from the 3rd world were not permitted to leave as an outbound waiver was 
not an option.  The owners/operators had to either buy or rent a 
something to get them out of US airspace. As far as VHF Nav gear, when 
the requirements went from 100 to 200 VOR/LOC/GS channels, a lot of 
equipment was simply unusable in /mos/t of the world.  But, once again, 
in the 3rd world and around Podunk... things moved a lot slower.  
LF/MF?  Just listen to the band...now.   One final comment (order in the 
Court... etc etc). In Europe, the requirement for VHF comms is currently 
a nominal 1440 channels with a 12.5 kHz spacing.  Carriers that operate 
in the Euro airspace must be so equipped.  Not so in the US, where 720 
will get you into the game...  Geez... Remember when we could do it with 
6 channels*, then maybe 20, then 90, 180, 360, and for the past 30+ 
years, 720 channels?  That, gents, is my take on the subject from a few 
years of being either directly in, or tangential to, the aviation 
industry, Mil and civil.  I entered aviation in 1960 and, save 
museum-type aircraft, I have never /personally/ seen any ARC-5 or 
SCR-274-N gear installed in a "line aircraft", military or civil.  Maybe 
the 1950's RTCA, and CAA, etc. requirements did this stuff in?   The 
thing is, the T.O. library in my Interceptor squadron at DOV in the 
early 60's had manuals for the SCR-274-N, the AN/ARC-8, and a number of 
other vintage radio sets and accessories.  Nuff said as I'm certain 
others have their slant on the subject, too.

Jeep - K3HVG

* Any of you remember when the USAF had but one universal tower 
frequency, 126.18?  Zorro?  Before my time, but the ARC-1s and ARC-3s 
did the job!  Of course, now days you'll hear several frequencies at the 
same time.

On 3/19/2016 3:12 PM, WA5CAB--- via ARC5 wrote:
> The final revision to the AN/ART-13 Operator's manual was in 1968.
>
> A C-45 given to the LA Tech Aviation Department around 1966 still had 
> an R-23/ARC-5 in it.
>
> Robert Downs - Houston
> wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
> MVPA 9480
>
> In a message dated 03/19/2016 12:57:09 PM Central Daylight Time, 
> macklinbob at gmail.com writes:
>> We had BC-453s in KB-29s until at least 1950.
>>
>> And I saw ARC-5 VHF sets in the radio shop until the late 50's.
>>
>> The KB-29s also had ARC-8(BC-348/ART-13) probably until the aircraft 
>> were
>> taken out of service. And they were in service until at least 1959.
>>
>> Bob Macklin
>> K5MYJ
>> Seattle, Wa.
>> "Real Radios Glow In The Dark"
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Jim Haynes" <jhhaynes at earthlink.net>
>> To: <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2016 10:25 AM
>> Subject: [ARC5] History question: post-ww-ii use of ARC-5 style equipment
>>
>>
>> >
>> >We know vast quantities of this stuff was on the surplus market after
>> >WW-II.  I got to wondering how long it continued to be used in military
>> >aircraft after the war, and what replaced it.
>> >
>> >
>
>
>
>
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