[Milsurplus] ARC 65 control boxes

[Mike Morrow]

> Always wondered why the only really versatile control box for the ARC 65
> was found on the test set. This box allows direct dialing of frequency, no
> codes needed as on ARC 38.

That would be the C-1210/ARC, one of which is shown on the website of Mike Hanz:

 http://aafradio.org/flightdeck/arc-65.htm

I do NOT believe the C-1210/ARC was ever intended solely for use in the test equipment...hence the ARC (rather than ARM) in the nomenclature.  And your report shows that to be true.

> The control box for planes had  20 channels, set by movable pins on a
> rotating drum. No way to directly dial up a new freq.

The RT-128A/ARC-21 and the RT-400/ARC-65 used the C-451A/ARC-21 master contol panel.  The auxiliary channel-select control panel was the C-455/ARC-21.

The auxiliary receiver in these systems was the R-224/ARR-36, which also could not be easily tuned because it used a C-451A/ARC-21 as its control as well, and through that a C-455 as well.

I like the approach used by the USN sets of that era...the RT-311/ARC-38 and the RT-594/ARC-38A.  Those used the continuously dial-tunable R-648/ARR-41 as the auxiliary receiver.

> Some of the "good" boxes were in USAF/ANG  planes.

Yes.

> Here is a pic from  KC 97L showing the test set control box mounted above
> the window at the NAV station. 
>
> http://www.flyian.net/cockpit/pits/kc97/kc97nav.jpg
>
> The APN 70 LORAN set marks this as a late serving KC 97, probably late 60s
> early 70s. APN 9 preceded the APN 70.

Could be...but not because of the R-277/APN-70 LORAN.  The AN/APN-70 is referenced in the connection diagrams of the AN/ARC-21 at least as far back as the 15 July 1958 field maintenance manual.

FWIW, a Royal Netherlands Navy destroyer (D819) on which I was stationed in 1973 still carried a R-65/APN-9 LORAN A.  It was not used in the north Atlantic...the Decca Navigator system was far easier to use.

Mike / KK5F