[Milsurplus] RCH Receiver

[Robert Nickels]

I picked up this RCH from a buddy who used to collect Navy stuff, but he 
said he'd never had it powered up.  It incubated in my garage until I 
got around to lugging the 69 pounds (of 109 total) chassis down to the 
bench, but to my surprise the caps reformed nicely and it came up 
working like a champ.  It's an 11 tube superhet built by EH Scott, for 
Navships and based on the blank "placed in service" nameplate I'm 
guessing this one may have spent its career in a warehouse.

What was the RCH used for?  I know Scott made "entertainment" receivers 
that could operate from AC or DC mains but the RCH is a really heavy, 
very ruggedly constructed set with a 120VAC power supply and BFO.   
Since it has both LF and HF coverage, skipping the BC band I'm assuming 
it was a communications receiver,  but the geared flywheel tuning sure 
makes it a great SWL band-scanner.   And it's hot from the longwave 
beacon band all the way up to the 17meter shortwave band.

Another question - the "Gain" control is a ganged pot that adjusts RF/IF 
and Audio gain, but even at minimum position audio is still quite loud.  
Was this by intent?

73, Bob W9RAN