I have just finished going page by page through both
NAVAER 08-5Q-261 dated 1 May 1944 (Handbook of Operating
Instructions for Aircraft Radio Receiving Equipments AN/ARR-2,
AN-ARR-2X, AN-ARR-2A, and AN-ARR-2AX), and
NAVAER CO-AN-08-25E-1 dated 30 Sept 1943 (Handbook of Maintenance
Instructions for Aircraft Radio Receiving Equipments AN/ARR-2 and
AN-ARR-2X).
In neither of them is there mention of a ZBX. Here is the
description of the X suffix in the later manual:
As I understand Jan's question, he has a F6F-3/-5 Hellcat manual,
which lists the ZB as an "adapter", and the ZBX as a stand-alone
installation involving a receiver:
It refers to a figure 41, which picture has no navigation receiver
in it whatsoever - just control boxes. The only box remotely
related is a C-27/ARC-5. I have a feeling that this mention was
perhaps a artifact of local Grumman shorthand left over from the old
ZB-* days. The F6F-3 had a 24 volt 11 amp battery, so using the -X
suffix to reflect a 14 volt AN/ARR-2 doesn't make any sense.
- Mike KC4TOS
On 3/22/2024 3:06 PM, MARK DORNEY via
ARC5 wrote:
The electronics pictured are not quite in the process of being restored yet, and are minus any accessories. On the left is an AN/ARR-2 (ZBX) navigation radio with the ZB homing device built into it. On the right is a ZB-1 homing device. The AN/ARR-1, ZB, ZB-2 and ZB-3 are almost identical to the ZB-1, with the ZB and the ZB-1 having different coaxial connectors on the rear of the device (not pictured). The ARR-1 /ZB “Adapters” are better described as a “demodulators” in that they demodulated a scrambled signal hidden inside the carrier wave of another frequency into CW that (normally) the pilot of the USN receiving aircraft would hear, and using a decode card issued to him just before flight, giving him the code letters for and the bearing to the sending transmitter ( an aircraft carrier or NAS ). The ARR-2 was a receiver coupled with a ZB demodulator coupled with a demodulator and switching gear all together in one electronic device.
73
Mark D.
WW2RDO