[Boatanchors] Mackay 3010B

[Sandy]

Your assumptions are correct.  That version of the 3010B was very prevalent 
in the 35 odd plus installations on the old Lykes Lines ships.  Don't 
remember the "MRU-??" number!
They were in a special rack made by or for Mackay.  The later white or 
Cream/grey colored receivers were all mounted in a standard 19" rack that I 
think came from "Bud".   Anyway, those dark grey ones were in the last 
"special" racks, as were the 2010 and 2017 transmitters in which the front 
panels were changed for the wider standard racks.

The 3010 receiver was sort of bastardized clone of the RACAL RA-17 receiver. 
Circuitry pretty much the same except no "Wadley loop" for the "Megacycles" 
oscillator.  They decided to use a bank of crystals instead and a 16mm 
fibreglass "dial tape" instead of the plastic filmstrip the RA-17 used.  A 
case of basically the "same idea except different"!  The "dial tape" and the 
multitoothed drive belts are virtually "unobtainium" these days.  When I 
retired from Mackay back in around 1995, they were extremely difficult to 
find, unless some radio operator ordered a spare or two as "backups" in case 
the existing tape broke.  I'm sure they are surely "hen's teeth" now!!!

I had intended getting some of the old console books before they were thrown 
away shortly before all the Radio Officers were "fired".  Unfortunately a 
local flood where they New Orleans branch was inundated the lower book shelf 
(where ALL the old stuff was stored)  and Katrina took care of whatever was 
left behind in later years, so I never "got around" to getting it all and 
archiving it on CD/DVD!!!
The old factory in Raleigh, NC was shut down and the remaining engineer who 
I used to pick on for odd stuff passed away suddenly.  The chief 
publications guy in Edison, NJ office I'm sure retired and he was the main 
source and archive for the old stuff.  Getting information now would be 
difficult, I'm sure.

Does this help you any?

73,

Sandy W5TVW

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Nickels" <ranickel at comcast.net>
To: "boatanchor network" <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2008 12:11 PM
Subject: [Boatanchors] Mackay 3010B


>I have a question for anyone who might be familiar with the ITT Mackay
> 3010B receiver.    Evidently these were made with different front panel
> configurations, as the one I have is dark gray in color, less than the
> standard rack width, and only about 9" high.   My guess would be that it
> may have been customized as part of a maritime communications console,
> and I'd be interested in knowing more about what that may have been.
> I've attached L brackets to mount it in a standard rack, but there's no
> cabinet and I assume this version probably didn't come with one.
>
> Thanks and 73,
> Bob W9RAN
> _______________________________________________


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