[Milsurplus] FW: re ATR-11

Fri Feb 3 23:04:30 EST 2017

( also forwarded to milsurplus group for the one or two aircraft radio enthusiasts in 6 billion people who might find this interesting. )

I wonder if the one in the transit case is from Quebec. Some time back, like a year or so, someone pointed out to me a Canadian site, something like maybe "Craigs List", but if i recall,
it was in French language. I made a big offer on it, and i also made a big offer on the owner just copying the manual. But looking at the photos of the set, i realized he had no more than
i had, which is an ETCO poor-resolution schematic photocopy. Also, i am now so glad he did not accept my big $$ offer for the radio.

I have one in storage up 7 hours drive away. I have some accessories but i can't recall exactly what, in control boxes, etc. I think i have the dynamotor. I had to pack this stuff away in a
real hurry so i didn't get a time to list everything.

One thing i don't get is the receiver tuning scale. It is a single band set but there seems to be 2 slightly different tuning scales.

I wondered about the 1945 or later installation. Perhaps the aircraft had some more simple commercial light plane radio which was not multichannel or did CW. The planes it was installed
in were training aircraft, maybe only training aircraft?

Was it possible the training aircraft had NO radio before this?
-Hue

Sent: Friday, February 3, 2017 6:35 PM
To: 'Hubert Miller'
Subject: RE: re ATR-11

RCAF RCA ATR-11 Transceiver
________________________________
Anyone familiar with this airborne wireless set? A friend has run across one in it's wooden transit chest but information regarding it is next to non-existent it seems.

A series of ATR-1 to ATR-7 radios were apparently built for the RCAF in the early part of the war by Canadian Marconi. This ATR-11 was built in 1940's by RCA's Montreal facility.

The only thing we can find so far on the internet is several RCAF Harvard sites documenting these training aircraft. Quite a number of the RCAF postwar Harvard fleet surplussed out in the 1960's appear with a notation the aircraft in question was upgraded to an ATR-11 radio system sometime post war.

We are trying to wrap our heads around why a radio designed and built in the first half of the war would have been a preferred upgrade to Harvard Mk IV's after the war.

David

Here are a couple of photos of an ATR 11A for reference. This one is a 1944 product from RCA. The four dials are for tuning the Receiver, Transmitter, Antenna Coupling and Antenna Tuner and each has provision for locking in two complete sets of frequencies. Frequency range was 2.5 to 6.0 MCycles.

Power came from it's stand alone 24V Remote Dynamotor and a Remote Control Box was typically installed in the Pilot's location.

These may have been the sets the RCAF Harvard fleet was upgraded to after the war.

David
[RCAF ATR 11A a copy.jpg]<http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/attachment.php?s=35c3cbff62f95192a2ba5fd6e4a0691a&attachmentid=87171&d=1481585070>

>From the info above, it appears that it can be tuned for 2 frequencies with a quick (???) switch between them. The dials are motor driven so I guess it was state of the art at the time. I got the receiver working with a home brew power supply and a bit of work on the front panel connector. That was in the early 1960's - I have hauled it around ever since but never powered it up. If I recall it was a lot like the #19 set - not exactly a hot receiver but then that is not what it was designed for.

At the time I already has 2 MKII and a MKIII #19 set with dynamotor supplies, an AC supply, with Crystal Calibrators  and a linear so the arrival of a NEW radio was OK by me. It appeared to have never been used - sealed in the original wood shipper with shock mount base - cost around $15.00 plus $6.00 freight. By the early 1960s surplus in Canada was getting scarce. Many dealers had closed and the ETCO catalogue got smaller every year - many items I ordered were no longer available.  I remember buying the metal spared kit for the #19 - fill set of tubes in custom metal box - $2.50.

I suspect they ran out of #19 sets and just shipped anything that was sort of the same. I ended up with a BC454 Command receiver the same way - order was for parts. I still don't see them in a Harvard but maybe they fit. Come to think of it, flying most current commercial carries provides about the same level of comfort.

From: Hubert Miller [mailto:<mailto:Kargo_cult at msn.com> ]
Sent: Friday, February 3, 2017 8:56 PM
To: Jim Kitchen <jim_<mailto:jim_kitchen at sympatico.ca>>
Subject: RE: re ATR-11

Hey Jim - cleaning up my old emails i came across your note again.
I wanted to ask you - why does the receiver tuning have 2 bands, and they look a little different too - like in the area from 2.5  to 3 MHz.

I wonder if you ever got yours working?

I also wanted to ask you about what happened when you got the radio that you didn't order.  Did you just figure, well, we'll call it even?
I think the Mk3 No.19 would have been easier to get going, as there's a lot more literature available for it.

Do you think ETCO just honestly screwed up, or do you think they just palmed it off on you, thinking you wouldn't know better?
It actually strikes me as pretty funny.

I noticed the production date is 1945. Just in time to become instant surplus!
-Hue Miller
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