[Milsurplus] AN/ARC-3

[Mike Morrow]

Jack wrote:

>An AN/ARC-3 set made it on the air tonight.

Congratulations, Jack!  One doesn't hear much about anyone playing with the
AN/ARC-3 anymore.

> The set is just about complete, T-67, R-77, J-68, C-117 and an
> AN-104 antenna leaning up in the window.

The three shock mounts and the control box seem to the the hardest items to
find.  I've been able to find most items except the shock mounts for my T-67
and R-77.  BTW, the shock mount (MT-236/ARC-3) for the J-68 also fits the
SCR-274-N and AN/ARC-5 modulator.  I've found two MT-236 mounts, but I'm
using them for my SCR-274 and ARC-5 sets.  I seem to recall the the
two-transmitter command set shock mount will also work for the R-77.


> Only discrepancy is the use of a BC-631 jack box from an SCR-522
> for the volume control.

The later C-404A/A panel-style control seems to show up more often than the
original boxes.  I like it better than the original design AN/ARC-3 controls
because it has a rotary (vs. pushbutton) channel selector, on-off toggle
switch, tone button, *and* the volume control all on one small back-lit
panel, but no audio jacks, of course.

>Anyone notice that the receive dynamotor is
>quite a bit louder than say a DM-32 or DM-28?


I haven't powered up my set.

>Lastly, it seems that just about all the ARC-3 units
>I have seen are well used. My speculation is that
>most of the ARC-3 units procured actually saw service,
>very few were procured only to sit in a warehouse till
>surplused.


I have one T-67 that looks like it was made yesterday.  But my other
examples from this set appear well used, especially the T-67, R-77, and J-68
that came out of an old C-47 aircraft.  At least all eight channels on that
set still have all of the original military crystals still installed.

I think the AN/ARC-3 likely had close to 30 years in-service time in some
corners of the USAAF/USAF, especially when one considers the AN/ARC-36
and -49 variants.  But personally, I like the USN's AN/ARC-1 design much
better (ten channels, guard receiver, and all one needs is the RT unit,
mount, and control box for a complete installation).

73,
Mike / KK5F