[Milsurplus] Speculations on ground radios and the GRC-14

[Jim Whartenby]

Mark
I think that Mr. A.I. Google is mistaken about the aircraft that used the R-224/ARR-36.  That list covers aircraft that used the AN/ARC-21 but I have no reason to believe that the R-224/ARR-36 was ever installed in the B-47.  Where would you put it?  There was no extra room in the aircraft since every available space was used for either payload or fuel storage.  Most of the communications gear was out in the cold in the tail of the aircraft, aft of the rear landing gear.  The Standard Flight Characteristics for the B-47 does not list a R-224 receiver. 

I agree that the radio receiver is rare.  The only R-224 I ever saw was at Fair Radio, it was on a pallet of radios that had just arrived.  Don't remember ever seeing an ARC-21 at Fair Radio but Phil had dozens of the IF modules from the ARC-21 or R-224 on a shelf.  The R-224 is mentioned in the ARC-21 manual found on BAMA.
Jim
Logic: Method used to arrive at the wrong conclusion, with confidence.  Murphy 

    On Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 11:40:31 PM CDT, Mark Meltzer via Milsurplus <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net> wrote:   

 Don’t forget the very rare ARR 36. As I recall it was the receiver of the ARC 65 in a stand alone box. Never saw one. Did once own the TO manual for it. 
AI says:   
   - The ARR-36 is listed as the R-224/ARR-36
   - Described as an HF Auxiliary Receiver
   - Associated with the AN/ARC-21
   - Installed in aircraft including the:      
      - B-47
      - B-52
      - KC-135
      - VC-137A  

Mark
AF6IM
On Wed, May 6, 2026 at 8:20 PM Hubert Miller via Milsurplus <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

One thing of several i was not thrilled about with the R-808: the 2:1 freq band ranges. 2 - 4, 4 - 8, 8 - 16, 16 to yes, 32 MHz. The SRR-13 has the top bands 16 - 24, 24 - 32. The R-392 has ~ kHz readout 0.5 to 32 MHz. The R-808 makes me think, "old school". Like Hammarlund old school, when Hammarlund HQ -180 two dialer was selling at the same time, same store as the Drake SPR-4. If there's shortcuts on the R-808 to aligning it without extension cables, i'm all ears. I also thought about jiggering the B+ to get a couple more volts on the RF and IF plates. I also thought about removing the useless RYTY converter section. Would that be advantageous or just dumb ? Probably what i really should do is remove the R-808 from my life.
Re big receivers, story #1436: I bought this big rec. that had come off an Italian WW2 navy cruiser. This was the story Art Corbus was told by H-- L-- who was the ARRL section manager who sold it to him. So i bought it from Art, not his kind of thing. A 2&1/2 man lift on a wheeled table. I determined in not too long a time that the tubes were all postwar. When i told Art, he said, "That lying son of a ....".  I could not get a schematic for it and the size and weight were a killer. I ended up just junking it. I later found an old CQ mag with a pix of the thing in someone's shack; a Siemens receiver. So it was one huge mistake for me to acquire. Not the worst mistake of my life, but a mistake. 
I still have a German KWEa rec which tunes only 1 to 10 MHz but weighs a ton. It is highly rated as a CW rec by that Norwegian fellow who does the Youtube videos, but it may have to go. I draw the line at about 65 lbs. Below that, i don't have to worry about doing damage to myself, and i don't have to dread moving the thing.-Hue Miller


Sent from my Galaxy

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