[ARC5] Setchell-Carlson 524 sparky machine

[Hubert Miller]

After a recent auction, i found i owned besides what i was  bidding on, i now owned a Setchell-Carlson
524, LF beacon receiver. I was suspicious of the thing as soon as i saw the power cord coming out the
back. When i opened it up last night, i saw in a recess at back of receiver, which may have held DC power
filter components originally, now held 35W4 and 35C5 tubes, diodes, and filter cap. It looked to me that,
of course, the tube heaters have been rewired in series. The power cord is NOT polarized. I don't see how
anyone would really want to use such a machine. Sparks are almost guaranteed. I reckoned if using an
isolation transformer, the power level would be around ( 0.150A + 0.03A ) x 120V = ~20 watts. Unfortunately
that is an in-between power level, between wall AC adapters and real isolation transformers. So maybe
"someone" could remove the tubes and rewire the 524 heaters parallel, or transistorize the whole thing
per some article in 'Ham Radio' or '73' magazine from years back. The radio actually looks good, but of 
course it is useless these days. It occurred to me that back when, you could use this receiver as a "Q5er"
outboard to your Heathkit or Lafayette or Hallicrafters, with the 524 tuned to 455 kHz. No one did that;
they all used BC-453 or RAX-LF. Anyway, my curiosity is satisfied; now i need to find a new home for it.
( If you don't know Setch-Carlson 524, it's the same as BC-1206. )
-Hue Miller
Newport, Oregon