[Milsurplus] what "ARC-5" stuff is

[Mike Morrow]

>The BC-459-A is a natural-aluminum-finish crystal-controlled transmitter, part
>of WW2 Navy aircraft sets known as SCR-274-N.

Hi Eric,

I'm sure you've gotten responses that the SCR-274-N was the US Army Signal Corps' adaptation of the US Navy's ARA/ATA command set and that the AN/ARC-5 was the US Navy's advancement of the original ARA/ATA system.  The command set transmitters, be they ATA, SCR-274-N, or AN/ARC-5, are none of them crystal-controlled (except the VHF-AM T-23/ARC-5 and the similar but rare T-126/ARC-5 (or was that a T-125?)).

The the receivers of the ARA and the SCR-274-N are very similar and almost interchangable, except for different output impedances of the audio output transformers.  The same applies to the receivers of the AN/ARC-5, except that these receivers have AVC, the LF/MF and MF navigation receivers have a special audio output for use in a USN version of the old Air Track instrument landing system (ZA and AN/ARN-9??), and the MF/HF and HF communications receivers are usually "stabilized" for fixed-frequency operation.  The receivers all will function in the receiver racks of any of these three systems.

The ATA and SCR-274-N transmitter components will all interchange.  None of the AN/ARC-5 transmitter components will interchange with those of the ATA or SCR-274-N, except for the antenna relay RE-2/ARC-5.

In regard to WWII and into the early 1960s, the following aircraft sets are primarily US Navy systems:
RU/GF, ARA/ATA, AN/ARC-1, AN/ARC-2, AN/ARC-4, AN/ARC-5, AN/ARC-12, AN/ARC-25, AN/ARC-38 and 38A, AN/ARC-39.

USAAF/USAF systems in the same era are:
SCR-183/283, SCR-187/287, SCR-274-N, SCR-522, AN/ARC-3, AN/ARC-8 (also saw some USN use, for very good reason), AN/ARC-9 (Bendix RTA-1B), AN/ARC-21, AN/ARC-58, AN/ARC-59 (Collins 18S-4), AN/ARC-60 (also some USN use), 618S-1, AN/ARC-65.

Everybody used the AN/ARC-27!

73,
Mike / KK5F