I have an RAS receiver also, with all the coils.
Re the SW-3 in military use, have you any proof ? I am inclined to think, "Not so."
Last year, i picked up at an estate sale an SW-3 with some Pan Am markings. I got it for a fellow member of the email group 'Milsurplus'. Of 2 SW-3 there, this one had less bid competition, because it "had modifications". I believe this particular
SW-3 was the same one i heard about in 1977 A.D., when a customer at our store in Seattle, who had worked for Pan Am, told me he was going over to buy it.
OH - one more story. J.N. and i had this deal where we were invited occasionally to west Seattle to unearth items left over from an estate. We got a ton of stuff. Finally, late 1995, i had to leave Seattle for Omaha to keep my job with Pacific
NW Bell.
At the PSARA August swapmeet some few years later i was talking to someone else who had followed up this trove when the widow passed away. He said, "In the loft above the garage we found 4 SW-3's in boxes". That was one place i hadn't looked.
I wasn't in the least jealous; i got a good share. I donated a lot of nice paper items to the 'Pacific Northwest Theater Organ Society', which occasionally puts on silent - film movie showings in Seattle.
-Hue Miller
-------- Original message --------
From: William Cromwell via Milsurplus
Date: 10/18/26 11:05 (GMT-08:00)
Subject: [Milsurplus] RAS receiver in the shop
Hi,
In the recent past I acquired a National RAS-?. It was damaged in
shipment such that the dial got pressed back against the front panel. I
have found the instructions to get it apart. I have been searching
things National on the web trying to find the exact model and probable
manufacturing date. It looks like maybe 1938 or 39. It has an added
"S-Meter" that has a zero to 100 mA scale. Obviously only good to
compare whether a signal is stronger or weaker. Also obviously not put
there by National. It has seven coil sets in a metal case. The dial
appears black but that may be an illusion in my somewhat dimly lit shop.
I have more data to help pin it down closer.
I also have an SW-3! (yes the military used those too) I have only one
coil set and that covers the 160 meter ham band, I have one bare coil
form. I have seen that the coil forms - with or without windings - are
scarce and pricey. Ford Motor Company, General Motors, The US Navy, and
both grandfathers taught me how to make things and then gave me decades
of practice:) I intend to make more coils for the SW-3.
I intend to pair both both receivers (and another old receiver or two
with my oldest transmitters (1955 and 1956) in the CX (classic exchange)
that is run a couple of times per year. As I learn more about my
individual RAS I will post progress. I am delayed by major construction
in my shop/shack/garage. Things there are progressing nicely so...soon.
73, Bill