[MRCA] Communications Associates, Inc. Radios

[scottjohnson1 at cox.net]

Robert-
I have several CAI receivers and HF radio systems, and I have never been able to find anything.  I have been looking for 15 years at least!  I have a 1000W shipboard HF radio that is in a 3' cabinet, and a synthesized HF receiver that is comprised of 4 3 or 4 U rack panels. Can't remember model numbers.  I think CAI equipment may be more prevalent in the northeast part of the country.
Scott W7SVJ

-----Original Message-----
From: mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net <mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Robert Nickels
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2022 5:02 PM
To: mrca at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [MRCA] Communications Associates, Inc. Radios

On 6/16/2022 4:32 PM, mstangelo at comcast.net wrote:
> Does anyone have any information or documentation on Communications Associates, Inc. (CAI) radios such as the CA-35 transceiver? They were manufactured at Huntington Station, NY.  One of my Elmers worked there and showed me a radio.

I've looked for information about CAI and haven't found much - but as the article you referenced suggests, the marine radio market was perhaps their strongest focus area.    I have a couple of the CAI-125 marine SSB radios and have converted them for amateur use, as described here:

https://tinyurl.com/yznvuak3

The design is interesting, some unanswered questions always remain when reverse-engineering a piece of equipment like this without schematics or documentation, but it was fairly simple to get going.   This was a crystal controlled radio and I've found nothing to suggest a synthesized version  was ever made, but my conversion remedied that.   Construction and component quality is good an they clearly put some emphasis on styling - they also spend some money on marketing as can be seen from the ads they ran.    However marine SSB was a crowded field and as reliance on HF diminished the smaller companies like CAI were the first to go.   If anyone has more information about CAI I'd like to add it to my website.

73, Bob W9RAN

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