[Milsurplus] AN/ARC-8(?) (ART-13B + ARR-15)

[Mike]

After I wrote:

>> The USN had no receiver comparable to the BC-348 in WWII.

William Donzelli wrote,
 
> RAXes (RAXen?).

Wouldn't that be more appropriate for the likes of the GO and GP
transmitters?

As a collector, I'd love to have a complete RAX set.  But were I a
contemporary radio operator, I'd much prefer the BC-348.  IMO, the
BC-348 was the best LF/MF/HF aircraft receiver used anywhere in WWII.

IMO, the USN's ATC (or AN/ART-13) was also the best LF/MF/HF aircraft
transmitter used anywhere in WWII.  But I think it's odd that the USN
did not have a receiver with comparable frequency coverage to go along
(paired up similar to the RU/GF, the ARA/ATA, and in theory the ARB/ATB
sets).  It's also odd that the USAAF's BC-348 that paired up with the
BC-375 transmitter in the SCR-287 covered significantly more HF spectrum
than the BC-375, but almost exactly the same spectrum as the USN's ATC
transmitter.  Perhaps the the USN had an "ARC" receiver that never saw
daylight under development for the "ATC" transmitter.  I wonder how long
after ATC development began, the development of the AN/ARR-15 started.

In any event, the USAAF's AN/ARC-8 (with AN/ART-13 and BC-348) had to be
overall about the best aircraft LF/MF/HF installation of WWII.  I do
have a BC-348-Q with USN markings painted on it.  I don't know where it
would have been used.  Did USN PB4Y aircraft generally have the SCR-287
in them like their B-24 equivalents?

Mike / KK5F