[MRCA] WTB - Vintage Mil Aircraft Radio Components

[Mike Morrow]

> Still beings up the question what would you be using it for. I
> thought most KC-135 had been refitted with 618T transceivers
> as soon as they became available being the ARC-58 was hardly
> the most reliable radio. The MTBF of the ARC-58 was around
> 400 hours and the MTBF of the 618T was 4,000 hours.

I had some "connections" with people who manned the avionics repair shops at Blytheville AFB, a SAC base with B-52s and KC-135s as the principal aircraft.  I was able to tour through the shops in 1968, 1969, and 1970.  The countermeasures equipment shop was always off-limits, but the communications shop was always open.  The only HF set that I ever saw being serviced was the AN/ARC-58 (even though the base commander's C-131 carried the WWII-vintage AN/ARC-8)  I was interested in the AN/ARC-58 after it was mentioned in one of Gordon White's articles in CQ Magazine.  That indicates the AN/ARC-58 was in service in SAC aircraft at least ten years AFTER the AN/ARC-94 (618T-2) was available.  The AN/ARC-58 is a 1000-watt PEP set, while the AN/ARC-94 is 400 watts.

About 15 years ago it was pretty easy to buy the R-761/ARC-58 receiver-exciter and the T-605/ARC-58 amplifier on ebay each for about $100.  I bought one of each, just because I had always wanted one after seeing them work at Blytheville AFB.

> And if you decide that a 618T/ARC-94 would work may be
> able to help.

The 618T-series is likely the finest and longest service-life aircraft HF sets of all time.  It's an amazing set, especially for a late-1950s design...a real classic.

I've been looking many years for a PP-3702/ARC-102 mount with 400 Hz inverter for the RT-698/ARC-102 (618T-3).  I have a project of assembling the radio sets found on a late-Vietnam-era Army UH-1H, which includes:

AN/ARC-51BX UHF/AM
AN/ARC-102 HF (C&C aircraft)
AN/ARC-131 VHF/FM
AN/ARC-134 VHF/AM
AN/ARN-82 VOR/LOC
AN/ARN-83 ADF
AN/APX-72 IFF

...plus a few other things.  As usual, the actual radios are easy, the controls moderately difficult, and the mountings are damned difficult to find.

I believe that AN/ARC-58 mounts are likely almost extinct.  I've never seen a trace of even one of the several used.

Mike / KK5F