[Milsurplus] BC-654 numbers, FWIW

[Eric A. Jones]

de N4TGC Eric

My "shelf queen" copy of this antyque has case serial #37745, with tx & 
rx #53690.  It appears to have been a 'depot queen': never actually 
used, it just sat around and had stuff robbed out of it occasionally 
... it's missing the key, of course, a couple-three tubes, the crystal, 
the PE-104, the tx calib. chart (?!), and one cover latch, and is as 
badly scuffed as any rig I've ever seen - but it's not Ham-hacked, and 
has the rare pwr jack intact, which is why I've kept it ... that, and 
the fact that after trading two previous ones off, I decided God really 
wanted me to have one (?!)  And apparently the GN-54 as well ...

I recall it being said (ref. KJ4KV Walt Hutchens' article in ER #60, 
Apr '94, in which he guesses production being 150k - his copy was 
#54903) that the BC-654 is not a bad rig, just not 'state-of-the-art' 
even when issued - and chock full of 'Black Beauty' caps that were now 
acting as voltaic cells!  It's greatest claim to infamy seems to be the 
'odd' 307A PA tube, which wouldn't have been odd ca. 1935ff, and Sibley 
mentions it has the suppressor grid brought out separately for 
modulation, which is how the '654 uses it - and WECo may have had a 
supply contract with Crosley, or sometwo in the respective companies 
may have been friends or relatives, or Crosley got a good deal on 
leftovers ... my BC-654 does not have a contract number; did any?  Or 
was it produced 'on spec' after a contract ran out, knowing/assuming 
the gummint wouldn't be able to resist?

BTW, Walt is wrong that the American Imperium was "unprepared" for WW2; 
they'd been slapping the Japs around for over 20 years, trying to get 
them to retaliate ... you know the official v. of the rest of the story 
... (which bears only a resemblance to the truth).

Maybe that 1800 number was a typo for 18,000?
	e