[Milsurplus] 618S and ARC -38

[Steve Harrison]

At 02:19 PM 3/18/2002 +1100, you wrote:
>Then in May 62, RCA produces the 618S-1/MC which is identical to all
>the preceeding ARC-38A except they substituted their own
>"channeliser" in lieu of the  SMO, used by Collins. Seems this radio
>adopted by the  Air Force
>I'd be interested  to know how RCA got into the act with their later
>version--- the S-1/.MC

I'd think that since Collins owned all the patents on the SMO design, that
RCA had to design their own version when they won a contract to be a
second-source of the ARC-38A. Likely, that's why there's often variations
between different contractor's versions of the same equipment. A primary
contractor that incorporates one of their proprietary subassembly designs,
such as Collins throwing the SMO into a design for a specific contract (for
example, the ARC-38A), is not obligated to sign away their SMO patent
rights to the government although the rest of the radio's design may
subsequently belong to the government. Instead, the Bill Of Materials might
simply stipulate, for that component or subassembly, "Collins P/N xxxxxx or
equivalent". So RCA designs their own "equivalent" to avoid buying the
subassembly from Collins.

This is all a guess but it was explained to me that way when I worked at
King Radio long ago.

Steve, K0XP