[Milsurplus] RAK/RAL Muting

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 31 Mar 2016 at 14:22, Hubert Miller wrote:

> How did you determine the first user of this RAL-6 ?
> tnx
> -Hue 

There was a dymo label affixed to the front panel. At the time, I was sure that whoever 
removed the receiver from the sub marked it, since I could not imagine that any Sparks 
would dare do such a thing.

I got that receiver in a batch of others from an estate of a former employer that was left to 
me. The fellow who bought it did so in the 1970s.

The label read "From the U.S.S. Pintado".

The former employer had bought many RAKs and RALs, SRR-11/12/13, RBL, R-389s for a 
VLF project he worked on for several years. I was his tech support for at least 2 of those 
years. When he died, he left me around 10,000 lbs of old radio gear. I sold off all the better 
stuff and am left with the dregs, which I am slowly refurbishing and disposing of.

The lot included 150 ARC-5 receivers, some NIB, but no transmitters.

He had the RAKs mounted in racks, all tuned to various VLF Navy stations, and recorded 
their output levels on chart recorders 24/7/365. He also had one of two "solar-prominence 
telescopes" in the U.S. He was correlating sun-spots with SES (Sudden Enhancement of 
Signals) at VLF.

Ken