[ARC5] ARC-5 in the X-1

[Robert Eleazer]

Well, since the VHF Type 12 receivers were tunable, rather than crystal controlled and the pilot in the X-1 sure had enough to do without fooling with the radios (including activating, adjusting, and monitoring propellant tank pressures), maybe the best combination in terms of weight and space limitations would have been a Type 12 T-11 transmitter with a VHF ARC-5 receiver.  The whole thing could have been controlled by push buttons then.

It appears that they had almost no problems with the radios  On one of the pre-supersonic powered flights "Channel D" went dead.  They found this to be due to the fiberglass cap over the vertical tail being broken, which is where the VHF antenna was.  Why this would have only affected Channel D I have no idea, but maybe that was the only one they used.  So perhaps a single channel radio would have been just fine.

Wayne
WB5WSV        
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/arc5/attachments/20160528/1a4c8f0d/attachment.html>