[ARC5] AN/ARR-69 inquiry

[scottjohnson1 at cox.net]

Some larger aircraft didn't even have UHF installed at that point.  C-54 comes to mind, as well as C-47/R4D


Scott

-----Original Message-----
From: arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net <arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Francesco Ledda
Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2024 14:32
To: zakariya.abu at yandex.com
Cc: arc5 at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [ARC5] AN/ARR-69 inquiry

1956 may be too early to find the ARA-25 deployed everywhere. 

In the late 50s, most USN and USAF combat theatre airplanes had the ARA-25 installed including SAR helicopter. It saved the asses of a lot a people during the Vietnam war! A special receiver was developed by NCR to DF 3 UHF signals at the time.  It was only installed on few Jolly Green Giants!

The 1959 -1 for the KC-97(K)G shows the ARA-25. 

I believe that the ARA-25 was contemporary with the ARC-27.

Best, Francesco K5URG


Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 24, 2024, at 15:04, zakariya.abu at yandex.com wrote:
> 
> Jack,
> 
> I've just consulted with a 1956 SAC document on the KC-97E. This tanker only used an AN/APN-69 X-Band rendezvous beacon, an AN/APN-72 rendezvous radar, and an AN/APN-11 another radar beacon working in X-Band to facilitate the rendezvous. No transmitter which an ARA-25 could home in on was present.
> 
> An earlier manual for the KC-97E listed even an APN-2B Rebecca beacon and an APN-68 IFF beacon for the same purpose.
> 
> The KC-97F and KC-97G used an AN/APN-69 beacon, AN/APN-12 rendezvous radar and eventually an AN/APN-76.
> 
> The AN/APN-69 beacon saw use on the KC-97L in the 1960s/1970s.
> 
> So, it seems that rendezvous with a tanker was done through radar signals, not via the AN/ARA-25 or AN/ARA-50.
> 
> 73
> 
> Jan
> 
> W dniu 24.03.2024 o 20:32, zakariya.abu at yandex.com pisze:
>> Jack,
>> I think that TACAN has a dedicated A-to-A mode for finding air tankers. It was implemented starting from the AN/ARN-52 in ca. 1963.
>> Methinks that homing on a tanker using eg. an ARA-25 UHF DF would require constant transmission from the tanker to facilitate finding it. What kind of transmitter other than UHF COM radio would be used then unless there was an extra system using CW or MCW for identification? Maybe our experts and practitioners could share how this was done in the 1960s and 1970s?
>> 73,
>> Jan
>> W dniu 24.03.2024 o 20:12, Jack Antonio pisze:
>>> Maybe also used to home in on a tanker?
>>> 
>>> Jack Antonio
>>> WA7DIA
>>> 
>>>> On 3/24/2024 1:55 PM, scottjohnson1 at cox.net wrote:
>>>>> Since Francesco is busy yacking to me on the phone, I will answer. The ARA-25/50 are very effective, and are typically used LOS, and in the 225-400 MHz they are quite accurate.
>>>>> Many downed pilots and aircraft (as well as ELTs going off on the ramp) have bee located with these adapters.
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