[Milsurplus] Re: aircraft transmitter & dynamotor

[Hue Miller]

I have some questions on how WW2 aircraft transmitters and dynamotors
worked together. I have to admit i've never really followed out the full
system schematics in the manuals to see the big picture. Maybe some of
you who have replicated full system setups can help me out.

1. When does the transmitter dynamotor kick in? It cannot be spun up
every time the talk button is pressed, right? And it would be a waste of
power and longevity to have it run fulltime. But i don't recall any switch
on the control boxes for receive/ transmit. Maybe when switched to "A1"
the transmitter dynamotor goes on fulltime for cw.

I am talking about medium high power HF equipment. I mean like SCR-287,
Bendix RTA-1, etc.  
 I can see how in some vhf set with only a few watts, like the ARC-4, you could 
run the transmit B+ all the time, no trouble.

2. How about sending distress messages, cw, via the push to talk button on the
pilot's mic?  That would be real hard, right? From my limited trials trying this,
the rate would be extremely slow, and rife with errors. I think also you really
have to exagerate the dah length to distinguish the dits and dahs. I mean a 
mic like the RS-38.

Tnx, Hue Miller
 (Jack Antonio, if you're out there, you know what this is about:-)