[Milsurplus] Re: GP-x Transmitter, RAX Rcvr? + TU Wanted

[William Donzelli]

> As a rule, the pilots had a minimum of fiddling to do with the control
> boxes in flight.  All the needful things were done on the ground
> (including tuning the receivers, setting the mode and all that other
> cool stuff) so all he had to do was turn the radios on and select
> which ones he wanted.  Oh, and adjust the volume to something comfy.

And you just pinpointed the two big control box sins...

On the transmitter control box, the transmitter selection switch is
too small for anyone with big fingers, or wearing flight gloves. The
thing is even too small for regular people as well, really.  In
addition to being hard to turn, it does not make it obvious which
transmitter is selected with a quick glance.

On the receiver control box, the volume knob is too close to the
cranks. In certain positions, if you are not careful, you will bump
the crank on either side. Even with the cranks sticking up or down, so
the knob and crank tip are furthest apart, it is still a bit of a
tight squeeze.

We all know that the pilots and radiomen were not really supposed to
fiddle with the radios in flight. But we also know that it did happen,
officially or not. If the guys were not to have the ability to retune
either the transmitter or the receiver - they should have stuck with
the black box approach of the SCR-240. To retune, they needed the
special tools assigned to the ground crews. With the ARA receiver box,
if the ground crews were the only ones that should be tuning the
things, ARC could have ditched the expensive crank knob in place of a
normal knob, making the box cheaper and more ergonomic. Additionally,
those little switches at the top for receiver selection are even
smaller and worse to use than that on the transmitter.

The thing that is amazing is that some really minor and inexpensive
engineering changes could have solved these problems.

Also, remember that the ground crews were important as well. Lousy
ergonomics effects them, and their performance, as well.

--
Will