[Milsurplus] ARB

[Michael A. Bittner]

Having started this ARB thread, I suppose I owe it to the group to respond to the various comments.  First of all I am grateful for anything that adds to my knowledge on military surplus items, be it the history of these items, personal experiences with them, the intricacies of their designs or the trials and tribulations of buying/selling same on eBay or at swap meets.  So, thanks to all who responded.

 

Probably the reason I noticed this ARB rebuild on eBay is because I am into an ARB project myself starting with a complete set of ARB front-end coils that I scrounged out of a seller's junk box at a swap meet.  Could not find any other parts, but these coils were enough to get me started on my own homebrew version of the ARB. 

 

My own original ARB was purchased at the El Cajon swap meet along with a DU-2 loop for a total of 12 bucks.  Both items are in mint condition.  This ARB can be seen in one of the photos at http://www.ebay.com/itm/300592090883?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649.

(Shameless plug for the ARR-1 I am trying to sell there)

 

IMHO it is blasphemous to refer to anything that helped win the war as "junk".  Bless those who restore, conserve and use these historic items in their original form.

 

>From the end of the war through 60s none of the electronics oriented magazines, including QST said anything about restoring surplus items.  It was all about converting or stripping for parts.  Witness the ARB coils I found and the half ARC-5s converted to VFOs one sees from time to time at swap meets.  One can hardly blame all those who fell in with this trend given the plethora of surplus available in those times.  And, I have no problem with taking an unrestorable item and rebuilding it in a more useable form.  The ARB was designed for remote control while most ham and SWL use requires hands-on local control.

 

Hope everyone survived the hurricane OK.  With regard to the recent earthquake, here on the left coast, we figured it was just Gov. Chris Christie jumping into to race.  But alas, no such luck. (grin)   Mike, W6MAB

 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: mac 
  To: MillerKE6F at aol.com 
  Cc: arc5 at ix.netcom.com ; milsurplus at mailman.qth.net 
  Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 12:14 PM
  Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] ARB


  Gotta stand with Bob on this one.

  Dennis D.  W7QHO
  Glendale, CA