[Milsurplus] [ARC5] DAG HFDF Sense Antenna.

[Hubert Miller]

Probably correct that rather few were built.  The ONLY history reference I have ever seen was one photo showing someone in the Navy SACO organization teaching 
some Chinese how to use it. I suspect this training was, training for the sake of training, so you could say "training of our Allies was done". There no doubt was some
imagined application of this receiver but I think the need or use never was never actually found. The antenna looks to me rather like an old car radio antenna. 
'Instability' I would assume to be the result of using 1.5 volt battery tubes. I would expect Ebay prices to be high-ish, as its #1 WWII and #2 neat looking, and #3 
compact and easy to display on a shelf. 
-Hue Miller 

>Dave: Many years ago, I received a brand new DAG-1, with all accessories, from the MARS program. That receiver was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed using it. It was very quiet and sensitive. It was beautifully made.

I gave it away along with a lot of other stuff, when I left Missoula, Montana. As is usually the case, I wish I still had it.

As I remember it, the sense antenna was simply one of those extendable whip-type antennas with a large male "pin" soldered into the end of it. The pin was a larger version of those "compressible" types which fit into a socket.

It wasn't all that hard to make one, if you didn't have the original one.

The 180 degree ambiguity is impossible to resolve without that sense antenna, BTW. I found that the DAG-1 worked very, very well for DFing.

Frequency coverage, as I remember it, was somewhat below the BC band to 18 MHz.

It had a BFO which exhibited good injection, but the receiver was somewhat susceptible to instability by mechanical shock.

I have watched for one to show up on that auction place, but so far, have never yet seen one.

I suspect that not too many were built.

Ken W7EKB