[Milsurplus] Fw: ARC 3 / T 67 questions

[Bruce Gentry]

Jim Whartenby wrote:
>
>
> When I was in USAF in 1969,  I was a 30434 Ground Radio Maintenance technician at Mactan AB, RPI.   AFCS (Air Force Communications Service) had operational and maintenance  responsibility  for an MPN-13 GCA radar van which used ARC-3s for VHF and ARC-27s for UHF communication with aircraft using the base. The VHF radios were used for instructing Philippine Air Force aircraft while US and some PAF aircraft used UHF exclusively.  When I went to Germany in 1970, and was by that time a "5 level" (30454), there was another MPN-13 radar but VHF was never used there to my knowledge.
>
> The ARC-3s worked well and had a much lower failure rate then the ARC-27s in part I think to running cooler due to a lower tube count and less dense packaging.  In fact I don't remember ever replacing an ARC-3 on my watch.  I realize that the UHF radios were used much more then the VHF sets but all were running 24/7 in the PI. 
>
> I always thought it strange that 304s maintain aircraft radios when we had an avionics shop on base.    
> Jim
>
>
>
>
>   
> It was used on practically every type of USAF aircraft very late
> WWII through to the late 1950s, and some places later.  It was
> **THE** USAF VHF-AM command set until the AN/ARC-73 came into
> service in the early 1960s.
>
> About the only place it would be wrong to see an AN/ARC-3/36/49
> set would be in a USN aircraft.
>
> Mike / KK5F
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>   
I was at Tainan,Taiwan in 1970 , with the same job number as you. 
Although I did work on the radios in the GCA from time to time, the 
ARC-3 had been replaced by  the  Wilcox 807.  The ARC-27 had a quirk 
setting it apart from most of the other rigs. Working on it was not all 
that difficult because it was a condensed version of the GRC-27, which 
we had in troublesome abundance. ARC-27's usually failed completely when 
they needed service,  or were right up to spec. GRC-27's were a major 
pain because they almost never failed completely. We would pull our hair 
out trying to get them up to inspection specs. The receiver would take 
just 1/2 microvolt more than it should or the transmitter would put out 
95 watts instead of 100.  But, they would operate perfectly well for 
months right at these slightly out of spec levels. Fortunately, when I 
got to Griffiss AFB,  they didn't have GRC-27's . Shortly after that, I 
was able to transfer to navaids, and enjoyed the work and people much 
more.  Bruce Gentry,   KA2IVY