[Milsurplus] SAC SSB

[Mike Morrow]

Mike wrote:

>Would anyone know the models of the SSB radios deployed by
>SAC after their initial test in 1956 until the end of the cold war
>in the 1980's?

Most SAC aircraft from the late 1950s through the 1970s would have used the RCA AN/ARC-65 (RT-400) or the Collins AN/ARC-58 (R-761 and T-605).  The AN/ARC-58 was the more modern design.  I know that the B-52s and KC-135s at Blytheville AFB in the late 1960s and early 1970s carried the AN/ARC-58.  The AN/ARC-65 system was good for 400 watts PEP, but weighed considerably more and took up more space than the 1000 watt PEP AN/ARC-58.  I don't know if there's ever been, to this day, a commonly-used HF SSB aircraft radio that matched or exceeded the AN/ARC-58's 1000 PEP output.  It was amazingly light and compact for its capabilities and its era.

I suspect some SAC support aircraft may have used a military version (AN/ARC-94, -102, -105) of the most popular HF SSB aircraft radio of all time, the Collins 618T, and **perhaps** before that, a stock commercial crystal-controlled Collins 618S.  The 618T first appeared in 1963, I think.  Total system weight was about 70 lbs. not including coupler system, but it was good for 400 watts PEP output.  Contrast that to about 230 lbs. for the AN/ARC-65 system for the same power output.  I have most of a 1971 USAF contract AN/ARC-102 set.  Like all 618Ts, it is a beautiful unit.

Mike / KK5F