[Boatanchors] ID'ing an AR-88 Variant

[Richard Knoppow]

-----Original Message-----
>From: Rob Atkinson <ranchorobbo at gmail.com>
>Sent: Nov 19, 2013 11:15 AM
>To: Doug Hensley <w5jv at hotmail.com>
>Cc: "boatanchors mailman.qth.net" <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>, "rca at mailman.qth.net" <rca at mailman.qth.net>
>Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] ID'ing an AR-88 Variant
>
>They are beautiful receivers, the one you ask about is the CR-88.   I
>just bought one at the Ft. Wayne hamfest on Saturday and paid $425 for
>mine.
>
>The build quality and performance to me are breath taking.  But, I had
>to have help moving it.  MIne was in very good condition.  I have
>wanted one for a long time but always before they were for sale at a
>distant location.  Shipping it would practically demand a crate.
>That's how they were originally shipped.  It could well be the
>heaviest receiver out there at 98 lbs.  The cabinet weighs almost 20
>pounds alone.  The SP400 may beat it if you count the set and separate
>power supply together.
>
>More here:  http://www.radioblvd.com/ar88.htm
>
>73
>
>Rob
>K5UJ
      The above is about the best source of info on the AR-88 and its variations.  As far as I can find out no AR-88s or versions of it were sold commercially although the DR-89 is shown in RCA catalogues.  There was also no published price.  Estimates are that they must of cost on the order of $500 to $1000.  The most expensive receiver c.1940 was the Hammarlund Super-Pro although an HRO in a rack with all accessories was close.  This was still under about $500.  
      There are some puzzles about the AR-88: one is the lack of a dial band indicator but I think that may have been due to getting them into production in war-time.  Another is the type of crystal filter that was used but here I think it was the patent situation.  The best of all of the single crystal filters was the Hammarlund patented one introduced in the HQ-120-X and used in the Super-Pro 200 and later series.  The RCA filter stays in tune when changing bandwidths but the phasing control does not do a good job of nulling interference.  It was meant for compensating for the crystal mount capacitance and is not balanced the way the Hammerlund filter is.  I suspect that if the AR-88 had been released as a normal commercial product it would have gone through some additional refinement before production. Of course, it might never have been made due to the cost.