[R-390] Collins ARR-41/R-648 HELP????

Sun Dec 13 14:32:34 EST 2015

Hi Don, Meir and group,

I appreciate the info you sent Don and the feedback from Meir. If only 2207, R648's were built, they must be among the rarest of reasonably high performance, at the time, receivers. 

***<<<NOTE TO GROUP>>>***
Don is looking for a set of handles for an R648 if anyone has a set from another device they can spare, Don's R648 will be complete.. Afterall, parting out am R648 is probably punishable by a quick walk on a short plank over waters GREATLY infested with ravenous and irritable sharks.  Just saying!!

I can't imagine it would be too difficult to have a correct set of handles fabricated by someone on this list who has access to a machine brake or pipe bender and a steady drill press.  I will be happy to provide accurate measurements of one of the handles from my R648.  I will also look through my boxes of miscellaneous parts and pieces to see if I happen to have something close or better.

It is now also apparent why there is so little chatter on this list regarding this excellent receiver close cousin of the Collins R390 series receivers. If only 2207 were built, I suspect, probably, less than half still remain making them about as rare as the proverbial HENs TEETH...  

73,
Glenn WA4AOS
DSM Labs
www.dsmlabs.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Reaves <donreaves at gmail.com>
To: Glenn Scott <wa4aos at aol.com>; R-390 List <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sun, Dec 13, 2015 1:19 am
Subject: Re: [R-390] Collins ARR-41/R-648 HELP????

Glenn, here are some notes I collected over the years regarding the R-648/ARR-41.  I have had one for years, but it hasn't made it to the top of my project pile.  My particular receiver has one of the handles snapped off and missing.   I have yet to find an exact match to the intact one.

I made some formatting edits to the R-390 archive contract excerpt below to make it a little easier to read.  Hope your email client or mine doesn't foul it up.

http://k4che.com/ARR-41/ARR-41%20pg1.htm
image of Collins ad for initial ARR-41 Navy contract
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A bit of anecdotal info on the ARR-41 from an ebay seller, circa 2013:   
http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Navy-Collins-ARR-41-R-648-Military-Aircraft-HF-Receiver-and-PS-R-390-/251242726530
(** copied below just in case ebay zaps the completed sale details or the long URL gets hammered)

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My list of downloadable manuals for ARR-41:  
http://militaryradio.com/manuals/ARR-41/
If you examine the 1974 P3V Installation manual excerpt, it pretty much validates what the ebay seller was describing as to how they may have used the ARR-41.
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from the R-390 archives:  

>From courir26 at yahoo.com Mon Oct 3 15:40:43 2005 Subject: [R-390] R-648 contracts I dug into my bar napkins and found these contract notes on the 648. I'm still a little fuzzy on the freq coverage. Did only some of them cover medium wave? Tom R

648/ARR-41                     Highest Serial# 
-------------------------------------------------------------
NOas55-821r                               150
NOas57-438                                1045
NOas60-0164(medium wave)      MW-897
N383(19-383)74432A                 YY-125

Total Production:                       2,207

Don's note:  I've not seen any info on number of units produced on the initial contract, NOas52-670c.  

My unit is part of the 60-0164 contract, serial 150, and is not a medium wave only receiver. 

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** 2013 ebay description copy  (Don:  apply grains of salt as needed)

US Navy Collins ARR-41 R-648 Military Aircraft HF Receiver with AC Power Supply and Speaker. This radio was called the flying R-390 and if you’re here looking at this you already know what it is. I flew with these on the P-3B Orion on many deployments during my US Navy career in the early 70’s. That is why I have this one but it is time to pass on all the stuff I have collected to a new home. We used these at the time to tune in news and music from home as they were not used for more than that back then. The Navy was phasing them out as the ARC-94 HF Receiver on the aircraft at the time was used for any real communications work. I think the Navy and Lockheed just had so many of these left over from the EC-121 Constellation and the P2V Neptune programs that they put them in the P-3A and B to use them up. There was no other real use for the radio as the TT-264 Teletype was tied into the ARC-94 and not the ARR-41.  
 This one has a Military AIMD supplied AC power supply mounted in a nice Hallicrafters Speaker cabinet. The supply gives the radio all the needed voltages and has an audio section (impedance and output transformer) to supply the 8 ohm speaker from the line level as was used to supply the ICS system in the aircraft. I had the cabinets over spayed with Collins St. James Gray and used a nice undercoat of Truck Bed Coating to give it a very tough textured finish. It looks perfect. The front of the Speaker Grill is painted Collins S-Line speaker grill grey. The high low filter switch on the speaker works well. This is an earlier version of the ARR-41 as it has the chrome metal handles. Later versions had the handles pained black and were offset. This radio plays as well as it looks. This is the 3rd one I have owned and the last. Some of these were just plain deaf and no matter what you did with them they never got much better. This one is hot and the reason I kept it. I have not spec’d it out and if you think you’re going to be getting R-390 performance from this radio think again. With everything there is a compromise and this is not an R-390 or R-390A. But these did the job for Uncle Sam at the time and are light weight and easy to move about. It has been a pleasure using it and remembering the times I would tune in the BBC, VOA or AFRN and feed it through the ICS for everyone to listen to on those long flights.  
 As of right now it needs a mechanical fix. The Veeder Root counter is off by 10mhz. The manual will take you through the calibration procedure. It is well written and easy to follow. I’m just tired of fixing things and so I’m leaving that up to you. I also have a couple of hand wired in replacement bulbs (not soldered) but you can get the peanut bulbs on eBay here and put in the correct ones. All the functions of the radio work well. The audio gain pot is scratchy though and no matter how much deoxit 5 I put in there it is permanent. I would recommend replacing if it bothers you. I even think I have an exact replacement pot for it someplace and if I find it, it will be included with the sale. The front panel has some blotchy spots to the upper right of the counter and below it where AIMD stickers and placards once were. The Navy used a glue that would hold an elephant to the bomb racks and so the residue stuck. It only shows in certain light. I dabbed some St. James Grey over the spots so it is the correct color and does not detract from the look of the panel. The rest of the panel and the lettering are in excellent shape for the use these got.  

  [shipping details deleted] 

On Mar-13-13 at 13:37:15 PDT, seller added the following information:

To answer a few more questions: The ARC-94 HF Radio set consisted of 2 control panels, 2 Collins 618T Transceivers and an antenna coupler with a tandem dipole/long wire antenna from the tail of the aircraft to the center of the fuselage. The ARR-41/R-648 could be tied to the Teletype through the HF1 ICS  Monitor Selection Switch but during the early 70’ we did not use it that way. WWV @ 5, 10 or 15 MHz was the first thing we set the ARR-41 on during preflight and that was all the tactical use it got. This one does not have a dynamotor. It is plug_and_play with the AC supply. This one works on all bands and all modes. It covers from 190-550 kHz, 2.0-25 MHz

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Don again:  AIMD is Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department? 