[ARC5] Type 185 Radio Receiver?

Sun Jan 7 20:12:22 EST 2018

Tim, Here are some notes on the 185 from Dave AB5S, and Mike / KK5F.  I got my unit from Dave.  Mike, W6MAB

Reference ebay item:  280791538833,  or better, http://www.ebay.com/itm/280791538833

A Bureau of Aeronautics item - but battery powered.
The manual for these sets indicates they were built to be used in Navy trainer aircraft.  These sets were taken for cross-country training and returned after the flight to be re-issued.  In most cases, only the flight leader carried a transmitter.  Everyone else carried a "range" receiver with which to train and got any orders by hand signals.  Towers on Longwave could also give "one-way" orders, acknowledged by wing-wags.  There are HF versions of this set (I have one), so the flight leader could talk to anyone so equipped.

Although it's technically a Navy set, somewhere in this mess I have a photo of an AAFC (Army Air Forces Ferrying Command) pilot carrying one on the flight line.  AAFC operated during WWII as a branch of Air Transport Command.   Among other missions they "ferried" aircraft to various destinations, freeing combat-qualified pilots for front-line duty.  The famous WASP (Women’s Army Service Pilot) used a lot of these, and collecting the wide variety of battery-operated or easily-powered sets they used is a special interest of mine.

These "temporary" sets were issued to pilots at the time of flight, and either turned-in at the end of the flight or brought back to home base as checked baggage on the train.  The rigs often had provisions for connecting at least two headsets and many also provided for a microphone so the receiver audio stages could be used as an "intercom" between  pilot/copilot or trainee/trainer.

The Navy's "Manual of Bureau of Aeronautics," 1940 issue, pp. 151, Section 3, Chapter 13-303, "Ferrying of Naval Aircraft,"paragraph (4):

"The senior airplane in each flight shall be equipped with two-way radio equipment if practicable.  Other airplanes of the flight will be similarly equipped, or will have a beacon receiver."
Paragraph (7) charges Naval Air Station San Diego with keeping ferrying radio equipment in good order as it is turned-in.
Paragraph (8) directs that all stations maintain personnel who can repair and issue beacon receivers.

If a battery-operated light aircraft set was available during WWII, it probably saw some service with AAFC.  All the battery-operated RCA transmitters, Learavian and other such show-up in Signal Corps documents.

GL ES 73 DE Dave AB5S

My Type 185 Receiver with Type 186 Battery Box is on a later contract, NO(as)-2876, serial number 33.  The auction item is NO(as)-185, serial 501.  Mine was new, never used condition, with the initial set of dry batteries in the box that have not physically deteriorated after 67 years.  The paper inspection tag on mine is dated 12-13-44.

There are a lot of mechanical similarities to the earlier Type B-3 beacon band receiver made by Radio Frequency Labs in Boonton, a predecessor to Aircraft Radio Corporation.  I don't know how Boonton Radio Company, the maker of the Type 185/186, fits in with RFL and ARC.  The Type B-3 is of very high quality construction.

This set is a sort of super high quality, very expensive, rather large and heavy USN version of the popular civilian post-war Motorola Airboy and the several other commercial portable battery-powered beacon band receivers that were available to private pilots willing to cough up $30 (about $300 today) or more!  The single most important piece of aircraft radio gear for years after WWII was a beacon band receiver.

I seem to recall that the manual for my set specifically mentioned use in the N3N-3 biplane primary trainer.

Mike / KK5F

Sandy wrote:

>From the threads that have appeared, I was "wondering: about"......was this the birth of the Motorola Airboy and Airboy Sr.?  I had one of the Airboy Seniors once and fooled with it a bit in a friend's Piper J-3, devoid of any electrical system with it's Continental A-65 engine!  3105 khz and a short wire antenna wasn't conducive for long haul communications!

Certainly the Airboy, which was a 200 to 400 kHz receiver only, filled the same need that the Type 185/186 did for USN training a few years earlier. The Airboy Sr. was a considerable enhancement with the addition of the AM transmitter on 3105 kHz.

There are several of us, including Dave and Lloyd, who find these post-war light aircraft sets interesting.  My favorite is the GE AS-1B which was being sold in late 1945.  The receiver covered the beacon band and the broadcast band, had loop antenna connections, a 1020 Hz AF filter and utilized an RF stage at the front.  The transmitter was the ever-popular 6V6 PA plate-modulated by a 6V6 on 3105 kHz.  In the early 1950s this plane-to-tower traffic shifted to 3023.5 kHz which today is allocated to support SAR service communications.

The Airboy BCB receiver was $30 in 1946.  The AS-1B receiver-transmitter was $200 in 1946, about $2300 today.  The A.R.C. R-11A BCB receiver was, IIRC, about $150 new in 1946.

Mike / KK5F

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tim 
  To: ARC-5 List 
  Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2018 3:21 PM
  Subject: [ARC5] Type 185 Radio Receiver?

  A friend surfaced one, NIB.  Few details but he is interested in its function.

  Receiver is a cube shape, cabled to a battery box underneath which includes a carrying strap. Black wrinkle paint.. Does not look to have a shock mount..
  It carries a contract number NOa (S) 185, the (Navy?) manual is dated 1943 but does not look "military"..

  I'm guessing a portable NDB Nav receiver possibly for ferrying aircraft.  Sorry, no other identification details.

  Any ideas on this minimal description?  Thanks

  Tim

  N6CC

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