[Boatanchors] RCA CR-88

[Robert Nickels]

On 5/7/2012 10:37 PM, w8au at sssnet.com wrote:
> RCA did make Amateur transmitters, but not many.
Perry's statement made me curious about something.   We know that many 
AR-88 receivers were sent to England, Russia,  and other allied 
countries under the Lend-Lease program starting in 1941.    So I 
wondered - were RCA transmitters like those designed for amateur service 
in the 30's also sent over?

Since the records of Lend-Lease shipments are readily available, it was 
easy to check.Of the 1,778 transmitters supplied under Lend-Lease, 946 
were BC-610s, and no designations that are recognizable as RCA amateur 
transmitters are on the list of over 6,000 RCA transmitters.      
Topping the list is the RCA ET-4336,  which was known as the "89" in the 
Royal Navy, and according to the specs that can be viewed here:

http://www.godfreydykes.info/A%20NAVAL%20TRANSMITTER%20OF%20THE%201940%20AND%201950%20PERIOD.htm

it ran a pair of 813s modulated by a pair of 805s, for 250 watts AM 
output, or 350 for CW.   Over 3,500 were supplied to the UK, but I 
suspect most of them can now be found in Davey Jones locker!    This 
would sure be a great catch for a UK AMer however.

The complete list of Lend-Lease shipments can be found here:  
http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/documents/index.htm
Select "Section 5, pg. 39-51" for the radio-related shipment 
information, it's all pretty interesting reading.

Anyone with an 88-series receiver has probably spent hours drooling over 
this excellent webpage, but for anyone who isn't aware:

http://www.radioblvd.com/ar88.htm

My AR-88 came directly from a boys school in the UK, so I am pretty sure 
it's one of the Lend-Lease survivors.   (Fantasies that it saw service 
at Station X are purely my own!)  I still like it better than my newer 
CR-91A that bears the Montreal badge.    I know that Ken WØHRO had his 
pair of AR-88s set up for diversity reception last winter - how cool is 
that?

73 Bob W9RAN