[Milsurplus] ARB

[Kludge]

-----Original Message-----
From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of k2cby
> The core of this difference of opinion is the perspective of some 66 years
-
> which, coincidentally is not only the anniversary if the end of WWII but
> also my age.

Ah, another Spring Chicken like me.  (I'm also 66. :-) )

> To those of us who got our Novice licenses in the 1950s (in my case 1957),
> surplus gear - especially ARC-5 stuff - was not only an economical way to
> get on the air but also a laboratory to learn about tuned circuits,
receiver design, PA
> neutralization, and antenna matching circuits. 

I learned a slightly different way, by picking up junked radios and using
some small Gernsback publications from the 30s.  This was during the 50s
when I also acquired a collection of grumpy old mentors who'd gotten on the
air during the 20s and whose favorite phrase when I didn't have a part was
"Well, make the darned thing!"  Okay, so "darned" was the exact term they
used but that was the general drift.  After a few years of sweating and
getting pounded on most bodaciously through TRF and regen receivers using a
lot of homemade parts, one finally decided to have a little mercy and handed
over a command receiver.  It wasn't even in kit form although one of them
thought it should have been.  Like you, that was also when my education took
off.  

I got my ticket in 1961 (Okay, so I was a late bloomer.) and started hacking
away at command transmitters because, according to every article I found,
they needed to be hacked at to eliminate TVI and other bad habits.  That's
when a couple more gentlemen joined the party, WW II AAF radiomen who
straightened me out about how command equipment was supposed to work and
that if it was operated as intended it didn't have any bad habits to speak
of.  They allowed crystal control since that was required of Novices then,
after seeing how much a problem it was tuning the 40m Novice band with the
BC-455 receiver, a few more mods were added to the "permitted" list.  

As you said, surplus was cheap.  I made three trips to Radio Row (1959, 1960
and 1961) and brought back tons* of it to either sell or convert - or simply
tear down for parts.  Among the loads were crystals and pieces of them to
grind (which also later turned into a money maker) to the point that I could
cover all three HF Novice bands end to end without any major breaks using
fixed and rubber crystals.  While I had acquired a BC-348 and BC-312
(actually several of each), I liked the command equipment better.  It was
funner and Just So Cool, y'know?

>  (Ask your grandfather - or anyone who grew up in the '30s,
> '40s or '50s - what they learned about mechanics by tearing down and
> rebuilding a Model A or a '47 Ford.)

Again, different start but same idea.  In the late 50s during my early teens
I had a small engine repair "business" that I got into after fiddling around
with lawnmower engines, mostly the old cast iron Briggs & Stratton
horizontal shaft ones that still have a warm place in my heart.  I went from
them to cars & light trucks to airplanes to boats (where I got my intro to
diesel engines) back to cars & diesel trucks and now I'm playing around with
4-stroke lawn trimmer engines with my eyes on a 4-stroke moped engine
sitting kind of abandoned.

 > Am I embarrassed by what I did? Hell, no! 

No reason to be.  Then was then and now is now.  Apples and coconut.

> Would I do it again? Would I today "sacrifice" an ARB, a BC-348, an ARC-5
to
> stock my junk box? Just as emphatically NO! 

Something restorable, no.  Something not restorable comes under the "parts
or pervert" heading.  

> I'm not only radio buff but also an aviation enthusiast. Everybody whose
> attitude toward a WWII warbird is "Buy 'um and fly 'um" leaves me cold.

I won't go here.  As a pilot, A&P and ground instructor, I have issues with
how those aircraft are treated but that's a discussion I don't care to join.

> This isn't the 1950s. It's a new Century. Don't blame us because we knew
no
> better at the time. But do acknowledge us for having learned something in
> the interim.

Nah, if it does your ego good, blame us - well, me at least - all you want.
I'll just laugh at you.

Best regards,
 
Michael, WH7HG ex-K3MXO, ex-KN3MXO, WPE3ARS, BL01xh ex-Mensa A&P PP BGI 
I am me.  I’m the only one who’s qualified.
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/chapters/NTH/index.aspx
http://wh7hg.blogspot.com/
http://kludges-other-blog.blogspot.com
Hiki Nô!