[MRCA] Pondering the conversion of the BC-620 radio for eithet Ham or CB use.

Wed May 30 22:38:09 EDT 2018

Hello Tim,
 Check on exemptions for radios made before 1972.  The BC-659 most definitely qualifies, and is legal to operate unmodified on the upper end of the 10 meter band.

Mark D.
WW2RDO

In a message dated 5/30/2018 7:38:36 PM Eastern Standard Time, timsamm at gmail.com writes:

Hi Jim  - points well taken.  An attempt to modify a 620 to operate the transmitter and receiver in AM mode (and illegally on CB channels) would certainly destroy the relic equally badly as putting a dreaded "CB" inside.  I certainly would not do that.. It would probably also not work and then be relegated to visual display/scrap..  It would be akin to modifying a stock M38 jeep to meet today's emission and safety mandates in California...  Freakinstein but not illegal.....Also, seems that few care about "FCC legalities" these days..

True, you do need at least a General class to operate on the 10 meters FM segment.  Also, a stock BC-659 is not "legal" on 10 meters anyway unless the transmitter deviation is significantly reduced..(Modulation index must be < 1....)

Maybe the thing for a purist with a General class license is to put a BC-659 "Infantry" radio with reduced deviation into their vehicle assigned to "Armor/Art'y" and then challenge anyone to prove that that was never done in WWII.  Bam!  LOL  Never say never....

Tim
N6CC

On Wed, May 30, 2018 at 2:25 PM, J Mcvey via MRCA <mrca at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

The easy solution is to use radios that are in the Ham bands, and get a general ham license, which is pretty easy to get.

The BC659 FM is legal on the upper end of the 10 meter band . 29.6 Mhz is the FM simplex calling frequency.

The thought of hacking up a decent WWII relic to put a CB inside makes me cringe...

The original radios (BC620,659) that will work in the 11 meter CB band are FM modulated which is not allowed there. 
CB is AM/SSB only.
Then again, who follows the rules on CB?

On Wednesday, May 30, 2018, 1:47:22 PM EDT, Robert Nickels <ranickel at comcast.net> wrote:

An old time Chicago ham told me an interesting story about the BC-603 
which is the receiver component of the SCR-508 that tuned from 20-28 Mhz 
- FM of course.   The important feature to him was that it used a 
pushbutton-controlled local oscillator rather than crystals for the 
channel frequency.    He'd just finished high school in the Chicago area 
where Motorola was located, and thanks to their influence, the local 
police were among the first to abandon medium wave AM for the newfangled 
VHF FM band, leaving many frustrated police-radio listeners behind.

This fellow saw opportunity and purchased custom converters from 
Vanguard Electronics in Hollis NY to bring the new police frequencies 
down to the range of the BC-603.   Then it was just a matter of setting 
the needed frequencies into the pushbuttons and wiring everything up.   
The BC-603 "tank radio" was plentiful and cheap at local surplus stores 
because most hams had little use for them,  but that it could run from 
12 volts and had squelch made it nearly ideal for his needs.    He says 
he had no problem selling enough of these "mobile police receivers" to 
pay for college.

73, Bob W9RAN

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