[Premium-Rx] ITT Mackay 5050 receiver

[Geoff Fors]

Apparently Mackay Communications didn't think there was any difference
between the 5050 and 5050A (!) because some years ago I specifically ordered
a 5050 manual from them for a customer, and what they sent was a 5050-A
manual (and a bound photocopy at that,) marked "5050" and with a part number
the same as that of the ITT Mackay 5050A manual we already had, but one
revision level higher!  The cover and front page said 5050, but everything
else was an exact page for page copy of the older 5050A manual.

Every ship which used these receivers should have had the manuals in a file
cabinet in the radio room.  But...what's happening is that the ships are
being sent to scrapyards in Alang, India and Bangladesh with everything
still intact inside, right down to the coffee cups and paperwork, and these
manuals are probably bobbing in the surf of the Indian Ocean somewhere by
now.

I know the two versions are not exactly the same, but just wanted to relate
what happened.  This reminds me of the skit on Monty Python's Flying Circus
about the cat license which was actually just a dog license with the word
"dog" scratched out and "cat" written in, in crayon....

Geoff
WB6NVH
Monterey CA