[ARC5] RBB and RBC On The Air!

[Richard Knoppow]

    SE means Steam Engineering. The Steam Engineering division of 
the Navy had authority over wireless equipment for quite some time.

On 9/11/2019 10:00 PM, David Stinson wrote:
> 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 for Navy equipment through WWII until it was superceded by the 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


-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL