[Boatanchors] Receiver Antenna Input Question

Mon Mar 2 11:49:10 EST 2009

And all these years I thought ARC stood for Aircraft Radio Corporation.

I led a sheltered childhood !!

73, Dick, W1KSZ

-----Original Message-----
>From: Carl <km1h at jeremy.mv.com>
>Sent: Mar 2, 2009 11:14 AM
>To: WA5CAB at cs.com, grimm at sbc.edu
>Cc: boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
>Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Receiver Antenna Input Question
>
>No one is saying that "ARC"  wasnt an early Navy designator. However 
>except for the purist it confused no one after the war.
>
>The rest of your post drifts too far off the original ARC-5 subject.
>
>Carl
>KM1H
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: <WA5CAB at cs.com>
>To: <grimm at sbc.edu>
>Cc: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
>Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 2:16 AM
>Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Receiver Antenna Input Question
>
>
>> No.  Technically it was a US military system.  Practically, most 
>> contracts
>> for components were from the Navy.  But in any case, AN/ARC-5 first 
>> appeared
>> about four years before USAF even existed.
>>
>> AN/ARC-5 (the nomenclature) is from the Joint Army-Navy Nomenclature 
>> System
>> (AKA the AN system or JAN system) for Communication and Associated 
>> Equipment.
>> The earliest  document I have listing the specifications of the system 
>> is
>> dated June, 1943 (six months older than I am) but I've seen 
>> indications it was
>> coming into use semi-officially as early as October or November 1942. 
>> There are
>> a few low-number sets whose official nomenclature is preceded by an 
>> asterisk
>> and one of the associated manuals explained that the asterisk means 
>> that the
>> nomenclature was assigned before the system was officially approved. 
>> I can't
>> turn up the reference quickly tonight but the official nomenclatures 
>> of AN/ARN-1
>> which was changed to AN/APN-1 are *AN/ARN-1 and *AN/APN-1.
>>
>> USAF didn't exist until 1948.
>>
>> I don't have documents to prove it but I'm sure that the reason that a 
>> lot of
>> Navy nomenclatured equipment was re-nomenclatured under the JAN system 
>> (with
>> no changes other than the nameplates) was that there were a lot of 
>> conflicts
>> or potential future conflicts between the two systems.  ARC versus 
>> AN/ARC is an
>> excellent bad example.  For the most part, this was not true of the 
>> Signal
>> Corps nomenclature system and many items first procurred under that 
>> nomenclature
>> system in the 30's or 40's continued to be procurred without change in
>> nomenclature into the early 80's at least.  I've had GC-7's made in 
>> the 70's and
>> BA-38's and BA-48's made in the 80's.  Which isn't to say that no 
>> Signal Corps
>> equipment was re-nomenclatured.  Quite a bit was.  But it didn't have 
>> to be, it
>> just was.
>>
>> In the Navy system, ARA was the first aircraft radio receiver system
>> procurred after the change from two-letter to three-letter 
>> nomenclature.  ARB was the
>> second.  ARC the third and ARD the fourth.  Suffix numbers (as in 
>> ARC-1 or
>> ARD-2) indicated modifications.  Under this system, the first two 
>> letters meant
>> Aircraft and Receiver.  The third was just the next unused letter in 
>> the
>> alphabet.  Suffix numbers (as in ARC-1 or ARD-2) indicated 
>> modifications.  AFAIK,
>> the three-letter system went up to ARK, a glide bomb receiver.  Under 
>> the AN or
>> JAN system, the three letters indicated where used (aircraft), type of
>> emission (radio) and function (communication).  The suffix number was 
>> assigned
>> sequentially for differing equipment types (AN/ARC-1, AN/ARC-2, 
>> ...AN/ARC-58, etc.).
>> Modifications were indicated by a suffix letter following the number. 
>> Such
>> as AN/ARC-5X or AN/ART-13B.  Use or not use of hyphens was also 
>> generally
>> specifically specified in the controlling documents for the 
>> nomenclature systems.
>> The JAN system has no hyphen in front of the mod letter.  The Signal 
>> Corps
>> system does.  The Navy system, which used suffix letters to indicate
>> modifications to components (not systems) is indeterminent.  Sometimes 
>> the hyphen is
>> there and sometimes it isn't.  Even in the same document.
>>
>> Anyway, probably more than you ever wanted to know about US Military 
>> radio
>> system nomenclature.  But as I said at the beginning and can support 
>> with
>> (literally) tons of documentation, there was never any US Military 
>> radio set or
>> receiver nomenclatured "ARC-5".  ARC-1 is as far as that set ever got. 
>> What
>> millions of lazy or simply misinformed people call "ARC-5" is actually 
>> AN/ARC-5,
>> SCR-274-N, ATA or ARA, RAV, RAT or RAT-1.
>>
>>
>> In a message dated 3/2/2009 12:03:20 AM Central Standard Time, 
>> grimm at sbc.edu
>> writes:
>>> WA5CAB at cs.com wrote:
>>> >It was never anyone's designation.  Never existed.  But ARC is from 
>>> >the
>>> Navy
>>> >system for aircraft electronics, not the later JAN, etc.
>>> >
>>> >In a message dated 3/1/2009 10:52:57 PM Central Standard Time,
>>> >km1h at jeremy.mv.com writes:
>>> >
>>> >>ARC-5 was not a Navy designation.
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> >Robert &Susan Downs - Houston
>>> >wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
>>> >MVPA 9480
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>> I thought AN/ARC-5 was an Air Force designation.
>>>
>>> 73,
>>>
>>
>> Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
>> wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
>> MVPA 9480
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Boatanchors mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/boatanchors
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html 
>
>______________________________________________________________
>Boatanchors mailing list
>Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/boatanchors
>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>Post: mailto:Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
>
>This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html