[Premium-Rx] Communication Electronics, Inc data sheets now available

[Terry O']

Data sheets for Communication Electronics, Inc VHF radios built in their 
Bethesda and Rockville plants are now available for download. They cover 
a big chunk of their VHF receiver line, including the 901A, 901B, 903B, 
904, 904A, 905, 905A, 906, 906A, 907, 952, 960B, 960B-2, 965 and 977. 
These data sheets can be viewed or downloaded for free from 
http://Watkins-Johnson.terryo.org 
<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2FWatkins-Johnson.terryo.org%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2F_TYjcnc_zI55dRRWPitKaZzZrcltlyehIYec9KjnBw4cX80_rwavFkM&h=AT2Vrl-79ON6CiC-2RhcuiEomliFUXuDMIPYktGFkL7fd0-EGnyKgCAnhA6Xg-e0j3h2c_RTxUpbQhDHGb_AF5KyAN_OYRclplrt94d7DL-ZsUiMsLvRabHh2CtXBMWDeusm&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT2lUHkDOViLWFepYkfLtirTc9RxMYA4UOIBszekc4t3WQXGTOy6E_kqz24q5Ks9FDmiIiqIUOokt14E76YPMWNdxSiamsxgqp_xXfwv_fMgGRwntZ6hDTGvNCuX-PaAhczDeBVGz8NqP2ntY6h8Eyp50Eeda7A0ZkRhbFQ44t2kgCS4c3pgNlbk-CBhG9-s5RTlEZvardPr3igdlA>

These radios predate the Watkins-Johnson acquisition of CEI. They are 
predominantly vacuum tube designs, using nuvistors and ceramic planar 
triodes. Their performance is remarkable for radios designed over 50 
years ago. Many of the same engineers, technicians, machinists, 
assemblers... worked in all three plants. The DNA of Watkins-Johnson 
Gaithersburg was created in these Bethesda and Rockville plants and 
lives on inside these early radios.

These radios were full premium units for their time despite the lack of 
bells, whistles, memories and synthesizers some expect.  CEI also built 
signal monitors and frequency displays that worked well with the 900 
series of radios.  The combination of the three; radio, signal monitor 
and frequency display yields performance and ease of use that can often 
go toe to toe with the best radios of today.

But the most attractive part for me has been the ease of repair.  I am 
more comfortable and skilled at analog repairs than digital, having 
started college when RTL was hot and TTL was just being introduced.

Data sheets from the Bethesda plant are very rare as the company was 
only in the rented space above Community Auto Service for a little over 
three years starting in 1960. By 1963, they had broken ground on the new 
Rockville plant, which they outgrew in a few years but weren't able to 
expand until after Watkins-Johnson absorbed them in 1967 and built the 
Gaithersburg plant starting in 1972.

Prior to the acquisition of CEI by WJ, most CEI RF and IF circuits were 
built inside gold plated sub-chasses.  Real gold.  Plated inside the 
Bethesda and Rockville facilities and briefly at Gaithersburg. This 
practice persisted for a few years after the acquisition until Dick 
Johnson personally ordered CEI founder Ralph Grimm to stop it.

These data sheets are scans from full color originals.  Some of them 
have been on my website as part part of catalogs for a while.  Those 
documents were scans of low quality, black and white, photocopies.

73,
Terry O'
WB9GVB