[ARC5] UH-1 and OH-58 Radios

[Mike Morrow]

Wayne wrote:

> Our sheriff's dept acquired some surplus OH-58's and three
> UH-1H's...
> As far as I have been able to determine most of these aircraft
> came equipped with ARC-114 FM, ARC-116 UHF, and ARN-89 ADF.

That is gear from the immediate post-Vietnam era.  The small AN/ARC-114*, -115*, and -116* sets were not all that popular with many pilots who had used the AN/ARC-131, -134, and -51BX sets that they replaced.  These small sets were perceived to be lower in performznce and range, plus the -116* has no memory...it does not have the capability to store the 20 preset UHF channels that the pin-set drum on the control box of -51BX allows.

> I presume they had ARC-115 VHF as well but I have not seen any.

Very likely.

> The ARC-114, ARC-115, and ARC-116 all use similar connectors
> with minor clocking differences; it appears to be possible to
> build a "universal" harness for those sets.

The same set-up should also work, more or less, with some of the later sets like the common AN/ARC-164 UHF variants.

> I was disappointed that the UH-1H did not come with HF SSB!

Only some VN-era UH-1D/H units had the AN/ARC-102 (Collins 618T-3) HF set RT mount/400Hz inverter, antenna coupler, and zig-zag HF antenna on the port side of the tail boom.  Fewer of those actually had the RT-698/ARC-102 installed, because weight balance issues required two pilots to be up front for balance.

> In researching these avionics I found that the ARC T-11/T-13
> transmitters were used as back-up VHF transmitters in some
> UH-1's, presumably in conjunction with the ARN-30

There could be one those T-363 or T-366/ARC units installed in older aircraft that used an AN/ARN-30* VOR/LOC.

Mike / KK5F