[ARC5] RBB and RBC On The Air!

[David Stinson]

Beginning in 1916, the U.S. Navy found it had such a variety of radio 
equipment that they needed designations to keep sets together and 
provide logistical support.  They began with two-letter "S" designations 
i.e. the SE143 receiver of the WWI era,  for Service-built sets and "C" 
designations for sets build commercially, like the CM-295 by American 
Marconi.    This system soon proved inadequate.  The Navy tried a few 
solutions until, around 1918, they settled on two- and three-letter 
designations, i.e."TA," "RAK," "RBB" and "TBW" etc.  The first letter 
usually applied to the general type of equipment: "R" for Receiver, "T" 
for Transmitter, "M" for transceiver,  "D" for Direction Finder, "A" for 
Aircraft equipment etc.  This system remained in effect for Navy 
equipment through WWII until it was superceded by the Joint Army-Navy 
(JAN) system.  AN/ARC-5 is an example of this new system.

Important to note that the two-or-three letter designations applied to a 
radio set or system, not just to individual models of radios, unless 
they were "stand alone" sets which may or may not be installed with 
other, similar sets.  For instance, RAK and RAL were usually installed 
together, but they are individual, stand-alone sets.   There were also 
systems like the RAX, which has three models of receiver under that 
designation, and RAV which had eight.

For one who is serious about understanding the designations and types of 
equipment, their era of deployment etc., a copy of NAVSHIPS-242A 1945 is 
essential.
You can download a .pdf copy from Google Drive at:
*https://tinyurl.com/y5jdeh3u

GL OM ES 73 DE Dave AB5S
*

On 9/11/2019 10:17 PM, kn7sfz wrote:
> OK.....for the uninitiated, what does:
>
>
> RBB
> RBC
> RAL
> RAK
>
> Stand for?   Abbreviations of some sort?
>
> Thanks to whomever knows......:-)
>
> Richard  kn7sf
>
>


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