[Milsurplus] AN/ARC-10 Information, Combined Arms Research Library (CARL)

[Mike Morrow]

There's a fascinating resourse called the Combined Armes Research Library
(CARL) with free full digital (pdf) downloadable copies of many thousands
of US military documents to be found at:

 http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/contentdm/home.htm 

Caution...you can spend many months on this site without exhausting your
searches!

There are five documents (Sections 1 to 5) of a very interesting work
called "Graphic Survey of Radio and Radar Equipment Used by the Army
Air Force."  It dates from Febrary 1945, and was initially classified
SECRET (equivalent to today's TOP SECRET).

Section 2 (Communications Equipment) may be accessed for viewing or
download at: (Allow at least 30 seconds for the document's first page
to appear.)

 http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p4013coll8&CISOPTR=2695&CISOBOX=1&REC=15

(If for some reason that URL fails, just go to the home page URL given above
and enter in the search box: Graphic Survey of Radio and Radar Equipment
Used by the Army Air Force .  You'll still get many documents from which to
select, but it'll be easy to find the one you want.)

On page 20 and 21 of Section 2 of this work, you'll find a description of
the AN/ARC-10.  As Robert wrote, it is essentially two SCR-522 RT units
in relay service.  It uses a special system junction box J-75(XA-A)/ARC-10(XA-2)
control box C-132(XA)/ARC-10(XA-1), plus cords CX-230 and -233/ARC-10.
Everything else looks like standard SCR-522-A gear.  There's a diagram
showing an aircraft at 12000 feet extending aircraft VHF range to 270 miles.
All those EXPERIMENTAL (XA) designations, plus this statement "There were
no Army Supply Program requirements as of 1 December 1944" lead me to
believe that the AN/ARC-10 never saw active service.

The whole of Section 2 also describes other still-born sets:  AN/ARC-6
(UHF command set, 225 to 285 MHz), AN/ARC-7 (VHF command set for gliders).
Plus oddities that I've mentioned before, like the AN/CRR-1 (Setchell-Carlson
Model 591 dry battery powered beacon band receiver.  I've had one of
those for many years, with manual which said it was an AN/CRR-1.  But in
Section 2 I learned that it was intended for Arctic rescue work, with
the BC-778 Gibson Girl as the associated transmitter.)

It's well worthwhile to download all five sections of this work. (Each is 
typically about 10 MB in size):

Section 1 Countermeasures Equipment
Section 2 Communications Equipment
Section 3 Radio Navigation Equipment
Section 4 Radar Navigation Equipment
Section 5 Remote Control and Television Equipment

If you explore the CARL documents and find something interesting, let
us know.

Mike / KK5F