[Milsurplus] 618S

[Jack Antonio]

Ray Fantini wrote: and I think all ARC-38 were converted to ARC-38A SSB




Not all of the AN/ARC-38 radios were converted to SSB.

The AM version is the RT-311/ARC-38, after conversion it
was renamed the RT-594/ARC-38A. Fair Radio had both in
their catalog for years, and ran out of the RT-311 about
4 or 5 years ago.  I know, I bought an RT-311 from them, and
wanted to buy another about 6 months later (for spares) and
they were out, did I get the last one?

The really difficult item to find is the original RT-1398/ARC-38
control head. As I remember, Fair only had them in their catalog
for a short period of time, but seemed to have the SSB version of
the head(IIRC, the C-3428/ARC-38A) forever.

And yes, I'm still looking for an original C-1398/ARC-38 head for my radio.

The SSB head is usable with the AM radio, the frequency selection
and basic on/off functions work, but the mode switching is a bit off.
Works ok for basic AM however. It should be possible to rewire
the SSB head back to the AM configuration, but I haven't got to
that point yet.

I've had my RT-311 on the air, it was a bit stubborn about
locking up on some frequencies, but when it did lock up, it
worked fine.

Jack Antonio WA7DIA
scr287 at sbcglobal.net