[Milsurplus] More RAK/RAL/RBB/RBC

[Rob Flory]

My point about the RAK/RAL being ubiquitous meant that almost every vessel bigger than a PT boat seemed to have at least one pair, even if the rest of the receivers were RBB/RBC/RAO/RBH etc.  The Navy also kept going back for more even after the RBA/RBB/RBC were available.

RMC John Morris, SK, told me in an interview on MASSACHUSETTS that the RAK and RAL pair was the set of choice for copying FOX broadcasts because you could copy LF, HF, or both as fading and noise varied.  The remote control had a switch that let you run either or both to the phones.

Yes, the early RBB and RBC on MASSACHUSETTS(BB-59) are RBB(-0) as opposed to -1 or later.  To place MASSACHUSETTS in time, it was one of the fast battleships that came out at the beginning of the war and participated in TORCH in November 1942.

Of note is that NORTH CAROLINA (BB-55) was equipped with the 600(?)lb RAA/RABs and was probably among the last to get those.  I'll have to check docs to see what else they had.

RF