[Milsurplus] WWII-era USN headphone question

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

Mike,

I don't have paper to prove it but would assume that since the Navy did much 
the same as the Signal Corps and AAF with microphones (handheld RS-38 and T-17 
used with both ground and aircraft sets), they did the same thing with 
headsets.  Postwar, the CCN-49507-B is the same except for color (black versus 
green) and presence of lip mic snaps as H-113/U (600 ohm with PJ-054B).  CW-49507-A 
was issued with TBX-8, along with the Navy version of the Signal Corps T-45 
lip mic (CW-51071 which differs from T-45 in having snaps instead of ear 
loops).  I have one CW-49507 with leather instead of plastic covered headband which 
must be a little earlier.  These are all Lo-Z and would be my pick for a late 
war aircraft headset.  The matching bailout cord is CW-49534.  The Navy match 
to the CD-318 microphone extension cord is CW-49561.  Note that the contractor 
codes indicate only examples I've found.

However, throughout the entire 49xxx listing that I have, I don't see 
anything but 300 or 345 ohm receivers and 600 ohm headsets.  So if Naval Air used a 
Hi-Z headset, they either used HS-23 or something whose number I've never come 
across.

In a message dated 7/16/2005 11:29:15 AM Central Daylight Time, 
kk5f at earthlink.net writes: 
> I've been unable to find listings of the "official" headphone sets that
> would typically be employed with WWII USN sets, other than the late WWII
> H-1/AR helmet and the H-4/AR headband units, which I believe are 300 ohm.
> There must have been earlier (pre-JAN) USN headphones, possibly of higher
> impedance.
> 
> So my questions are:
> 
> (0)  Did the USN go through a high-z to low-z headphone transition the way
> the Signal Corps did?  The ARA and the early SCR-274-N receivers likely must
> have both had high-z AF output.
> (1)  What was the nomenclature and impedance of the most common WWII USN
> headphones?
> (2)  How do they compare to the Signal Corps' HS-23 or -33 units (are they
> the same, but under a USN nomenclature)?
> (3)  Do they (and the H-1/AR and H-4/AR) use a PL-354 that connects to an
> extension that is equivalent to the CD-307?
> 
> I'd like to someday find an authentic USN headphone to accompany my AN/ARC-5
> with AN/ARR-2 set, but I've about given up on finding an H-4/AR.
> 

Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
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