Surplus conversion handbook, including "command sets"

196 Pages·1967·37.391 MB·English

by  Kneitel, Tom

Cat. No, 122
--
by
- . Tom Kneltel, KSFLL/WBRAAI

$3
SURPLUS
CONVERSION
HANDBOOK
Including "Command Sets"
Ed/led by
Tom Kneitel, K3.FLL/WB2AAI
COWAN PUBLISHING CORP.
14 VANDERVENTER AVE. PORT WASHINGTON, N. Y.
Jn memory of my father.
First Printing December 1964
Second Printing May 1967
© 1964 by Cowan Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
This book or ony parts thereof may not be re·
produced in ony form or any language without
permission of the publisher.
library of Congress Catalog Card Number 64 · 8936
Printed in the United Stoles of America
by ELGIN PRESS, INC., NEW YORK
The past two decades have seen such national institutions as the 11111mu, the hula hoop,
and the Edsel come i111.o being and then sink into oblivion. There are 011/,y two thin.gs left from
the past, Ed Sullivan aml milila1'y sm·fJlus ratlio gear. Yes, even after 20 years it is still possible
to work ufJ complete (and good) ham station from this equipment-and do it. for jar less loot
tha1i putting a commercial£,• man11/ac/11rc1l ham station on the air. Ami. the real/,y best part of
it all is the fact that the equipment lends itself lo giving lazy 11011-equipme11t comtructing
goof-offs some man hours behind a u1a,..m .wlilering g1111.
Surplus p1·ices a1·e11!t too dif]crcnt than they were right .after the war. You ctm still buy
ARC-5 and 274N t.rammitters for $.5 and receivers fo1· $7, the ART-13 (a 100 watt /one/CW
transmitter for 20, 40 and 75 meters) is aflailable for a&out. $40, and the great BC-342 receiver
can still be picked up /01· less them $50. The reason why these pieces of gear are so relatively
i1iexpensive is that ''OU a.re going to h11ve to a.dtl some elhow grease and solder to get them in
operation. Not that they at·e defective, it's just that they run on mch improbable things as
400 CPS or 24 volts, 01· sometimes the frequencies cove1·ed d01lt inclttde a ham band, or the
crazy thing <Vas designed for ,.emote controlled operation. W'hatever it is, ')'Otf. are1lt going to
take very much surf1l11.s gca1· home, /Jltt.g it right in, and be the hit of the band.
Jr/bile it is true tlwt there have been ·11111nerous articles n:garYling how t'O convert various
pieces of surplus gear for ham o{wration, mo.ft of them seem to ha·ve beett buried away in old
and rmlocatable ismes of ham magt1zi'lles. lf you'11e alreatly &011ght a piece of mrplus equipment
only to find that the conversion inst·mction.f can't be obtained yo11 kn.ow the feeling of horror
and /rusu·ation as you decide ·whetlnr to me the thing as a 1/.oorstop or to give as a birthday
gift foryo11r ne{Jhcw (a. CB' er).
JV' e ho{)(J tht1t this Jim-dandy, lnmly, 11ol111ne will be the arm11e1· to your fJroblems. It
contains cotnplete conversion tlt1/.tt on all of the ARC-5 1md SCR-274N Command Sets, antl on
aU mamie1· of other t·rtmsmitter.<a nd rccei-ve·rs ·which are w01·th the tro11&le to convert f01-ham
ttSc. The hearty souls who originally de·11isod the co1wersiom in tbis manual did their good
work many ye11rs ttgo-most ha.ve mo'/Jctl since latt heard f.-om, some a1·e silent keys, others
have lo·11g since fo1·gotte'IL any 1letails of the co.,,.-11enions they engineered. In other ·words, if you
a-re stumped by a descrifJ(.ion of something ·in this hook, lots of luck; be.came we have no more
idea of the answer thttn you. \Y/ e have gone 01Jar these conversions as carefully as possible,
however, ac11d have attempted to eliminate any con/ming {Joints.
On page 5 you wilt fi11d a lengthy a/1pe1ul-ix of equifnnent described.;., this volume. Becattse
many pieces of sur(Jltts gear have ahnost identical circuits, althottgh haVitJg di/]e1·ent •tames,
<Ve have also listed the various "first co11.sin.s" of the eq11ipments tlescribc1l in the conversions.
Thanks for the .p,roduction 111ork 011 this book go to Solomon Nussbaum, ivho rues the
day the govemme~•t i'llvented mr/Jlm; and lo Oa·vid Saltman of The Elgin P·ress, who warned
me that the photographs in this book (which wcra re/n·inted ./,·om ancient magazine a•rticlcs)
were going to come out lousy.
Other volumes of i11terast to anyone working ·fl)ith surplus arc "Surplus Schematics Ha·,ifl·
book," by Ken Grayson, W2HDM, available for $2.50 from Cotllall Publishing, 14 Vander
venter Ave., Port l'r/ashington, N. Y. 11050; aml "Index To Sur.plus," by Roy Pafenberg,
W4\V'KM, $1.50, from 73, f.nc., Peterborough, N. H. 7he fint book contains schematics of some
116 pieces of surplus gear. The second book is a bihiiography of c01wersion articles appearing
i11hammagazi11es from 1945 to 1961.
Tom Kneitel, K3FLL/WB2AAI
3
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
Complete Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
CHAPTER II.
Transmitters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
CHAPTER Ill.
Frequency Control . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
CHAPTER IV.
Mobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
CHAPTER V.
Modulation .. . . .. .. . .. . . . . . . . . 125
CHAPTER VI.
Interference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
CHAPTER VII.
Receivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
CHAPTER VIII.
Power .......... ... ..... ..... .. 186
CHAPTER IX.
Miscellaneous .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. 191
4
I
S*WARLOO
~
CONVERSIONS IN THIS BOOK
Note: Equipments shown with one asterisk (*) ore covered under "Command Rcvrs.",
those with two asterisks (**) ore listed under "Command Trans."
ARA ..................................* BC-779 .................. 157, 166 RAX-1
ARC-1 .............................. 28 BC-794 ..................1 57, 166 RBO ..................................*
ARC-3 ..............................3 7 BC-942 .......................... 185 RT-18/A RC-1 .................. 28
ARC-4 ........... .43, 47, 48, 50 BC-946 .............................. • SCR-177 ....9 4, 96, 171, 176
ARC·5 ...................... * &. ** BC-1004 ................ 157, 166 SCR-188 ....9 4, 96, 171, 176
ARC-36 ............................3 7 BC-1068A ...................... 179 SCR-193 .... 94,96,171, 176
ARC-49 ............................3 7 CBY·52232 .............. ** SCR-274N ................ * &. **
ART-13 ................ 81, 86, 91 Command Rcvr$. ........9 , 16, SCR-399 ................ 171, 176
ATA ................................ ** 21, 104, 109, 111, 137, SCR-499 ................ 171, 176
ATC-1 .................. 81, 86, 91 140, 144, 145, 146, 147, SCR-508 ..................7 7, 151
BC-191 ......................9 4, 96 148, 181, 182, 133, 192 SCR-509 ..........................2 3
BC-224 .................. 171, 176 Command Trons .........9 , 16, SCR-510 .......................... 23
BC-312 .................. 171, 176 21, 61, 64, 65, 70, 72, 73, SCR-522 ........ 43, 47, 48, SO
BC-314 ................. 171, 176 74, 75, 76, 80, 96, 98, SCR-528 ..................7 7, 151
BC-342 .................. 171, 176 104, 111, 125, 127, 131, SCR-542 ....... .43, 47, 48, 50
BC-344 .................. 171, 176 133 SCR-608 ..................7 7, 151
BC-348 .................. 171, 176 HQ-120 .................. 157, 166 SCR-609 ................... ..... 23
BC-37 5 ......................9 4, 96 HQ-129X ................ 157, 166 SCR-610 .......................2 3
BC-453 ............................. . PE-73 ............................ 186 SCR-628 ................ 77, 151
BC-454 .................... * PE-103 ....................... 111 SP-200 .................. 157, 166
BC-455 ........................... . RlOA ................................ * SP-210 .................. 157, 166
BC-457 ........................... ** R11A/ARC-5 ....... * SP-400 .................. 157, 166
BC-458 ............................ •• R22/ ARC-5 .......... * TlS/ARC·5 ....... .
BC-459 ............................ ** R23/ ARC-5 ............ * T16/ARC-5 .................... .
BC-603 .......................... 151 R24/ARC-5 ........................ • T17/ARC-5 ......................* *
BC-604 ............................7 7 R25/ARC-5 ........................ • T18/ARC-5 ...................... ..
BC-620 ............................ 23 R26/ARC-5 ........................ * T18/ARC·5 ...................... **
BC-624 ..................... .43, 50 R27/ARC-5 ........................ • T19/ARC-5 ...................... **
BC·625 ......... .43, 47, 48, 50 R28/ ARC-5 .................... 185 T20/ ARC-5 ...................... **
BC-659 ...........................2 3 Rl 12/ARC-5 .................. 185 T21/ARC-5 ...................... "'*
BC-669 ............................ 54 R129/U .................. 157, 166 T22/ ARC-5 ...................... **
BC-683 .......................... 151 Rl 48/A RC-5 .... ... . • T47/ART·13 ........ 81, 86, 91
BC-684 .......................... ..77 RAT .................................... * Type 11K11 ................... * & **
BC-696 ............................ ** RAV .................................. • Crystofs .......................... 97
5
General
SURPLUS LINGO
KNOWING WHAT YOU BOUGHT
One of the biggest problems confronting the knew i1. Of course you can also find out the
surplus addict is how to convert when no in power supply requirements and the tuning
formation is available. It seems a shame that range as well as other feature which will allow
you might have a perfectly good piece of you to modify with a lot less effort. Once
equipment and find that you don't know how operating, you can modify the equipment by
to get it on the air. This is the general case sections and check each change as you go along
or so our mailbag leads us to believe. Convert by turning on the power-unless an extensive
ing surplus equipment is not difficult providing alteration is underway.
certain procedures are followed. For the most The third step in any conversion is to decide
part, test equipment is simple and not expen exactly what it is that you want to convert.
sive. A good voll-ohm-milliammeter and per You can refer to handbooks, magazines, your
haps a grid-dip oscillator are the basic instru own experience or other hams to find out how
ments. Occasionally a signal generator and an to do it. Perhaps one article showed a conver
oscilloscope may be required, but these are sion, some secti0n of which you want to use.
usually easy to borrow. Well then disregard all but the section that you
01' course the first step in converting any want and do just what has to be done.
surplus is to select the equipment. This may The fourth step is to verify your conversions.
sound silly, buL I have often seen someone Check ihe circuit for shorts and correct wiring
select a piece of equipment just to convert and and apply the rated voltage. Tuning and many
then find that the job just cannot be done ... other adjuscments may be made by means of
as a matter of fact J've done it myself. Other the grid-dip oscillator. Once the circuit is
times it may prove actually cheaper to go out
working try and optimize your work. Perhaps
and buy a commercial item and save quite a a resistor somewhere can be slightly changed
bit of money . . . not to mention time and to increase the gain and perhaps some feedback
headaches. Some gear just doesn't lend icsell' will help out in stabilizing the operation of
to surplus conversion. But in any case, having another stage. Don't be afraid of making these
decided that you want to convert a piece of changes but always have some mean value to
equipment obtain it in the best possible con start with.
dition you can afford. Try to get a schematic
The fifth seep is the one that is usually over
with it-unless you like to circuit trace. Quite a
looked. Keep a log. You would be surprised
few sources exisc for obtaining d-iagrams and
how often you may want to refer back to that
manuals just in case- but that is an additional
change that you made and find that you have
effort you have to go through. Make sure too.
no information except in your head. This is
that you get all tubes and plugs that you might
especially true if you want to swap some day
need-trying to find that crazy power plug late
and you suddenly need the circuit, but lo and
some Sunday evening just to let you get on the
behold it doesn'c exist.
air isn't conducive to happiness.
Selecting the right piece of surplus for what
The second step in surplus conversion is 10 you want lo do is not difficult now-a-days.
get the equipment working. The usual answer More equipment seems to be hitting the market
to this is that, "I'm not using it for the orioinal every day. Of course some gear will function
purpose," well so much rno;e the reason. i\:1uy right in our ham bands without modification
be some critical part is faulty and you never of any kind. but will it do it with any degree
6
Set or equipment indicator letters
typ• of lnstollorion lype of oquipmttnl purpot•
I
A Airborne 1Jns1olled and operated A lnvUib11;1 lighl, hoot rodiu1ion A Au.t:lllcuy om:in1bllos (root comploto
in oircrofll oparo1in9 sou usod wllh or poll ol
1wo or mora •ell or •eH sotlos)
Undr:rwat~r mobile,. 1ubrni;;rinc 1--P-u;-eon- --------l---B-o1-n_bln_u_ ______ _
C Air ltonspotlob!e linocllvoh:d, do C Coulct C Communico1lon1 lrccoMng end
not use) hons,111iujn9I
D Pilotless carrier 0 Rodloc 0 Oirocrion finder ond/or rccon
rioiuor.cc
Nupoc Eiocr:on ond/or rcleo1c
Photogroph.ic
G Ground, general ground UH! (in· G Tc legroph Or rclclyPC G fire con11ol or 1eo1chlioht direct•
eludes two or more ground type Ing
ins1oilorionsJ
H Recording end/or tcproduclng
tgrophic mc1crologlcol ond so1.md)
ll'lfcn::>hone ond publicoddrcn
floctro-m.cchonicol lnol other·
"'he coveredl
K An'lphibious l T ~femcletin.g
Covniermeosvr~, Secrchli~~I control liriocllvoted,
vso"C"t
M Ground, mobile fins1olfedosopero1. M Mcierologkol M t-.'.oin1eno11.ce end lclf om:mbliei
in9 unil in o vehicle which hos no Ur.duding rooh>
fur.c1ion other than transporting
tha equipme-nll
N Sound in olr N Nov;g.orlonol oidl tlncludin9 olri·
meters. bcoconi, compoucJ. ro·
((Hu. d .. p1h sounding opprooch.
e..n d k>ndiog1
Re.;,), fOdvcing bnoc1ivctcd, do nOI
------------'~.Sonar and undcr"WOtcr sound 0 Speclo1~ or combinorlon of purpose1
I
t R:idio R. .e efving. oouiva deie-ctlng
Weter surfcce c:cff S:i~<i.cl 1vp-c"l, mo;;ncilc. elc., Dc1cc1ing end/or roni:e ond beer·
or cc.mbmo1ions_o_1_,_v•_•_• __ ___1_ no_ ____ _____
1
G:ound, trcnspor:cblc lelephone lwirel l1onunll1ing
U General \l'lihly (includes 1wo 01
rnOfe gencrol iru1ollctiOn clouel,.
airborne. shioboord, ond ground>
Grol:nd, vehicvlor Cinsrclled in V Vhuol ond vh1ble Ughr
vehicle de~ign~d- fot lunc1ion5
01her lhon ctirrying elecuonic
cqt.1ipm~n1, e-lc,, s1.1ch 01 fof\lsl
\V Wotot surface ond 1.1nd~1wolet W Armomenl (pcculiot 10 ormo· \'I/ Cont1ol
~enl, not othctwlie cove1adJ
X Fonimllc Or 1olovhion X ldon1ificotlori ond 1ccoonition
of efficiency. Is it worth spending a couple of for parts. One look at the schematic will tell
hundred dollars on a fifty watt transmitter for you that it is a supcrhet and requires a separate
220 Mc when the input will be almost a kilo local oscillator (from some other gear) to
watt and you have to supply all of that power? make it work. On top of that it gives only 150
Sometimes it definitely pays to buy a piece Jf and 90 cycles output, no1 exactly suited for
gear just to use some section of it. Perhaps a voice. I don't mean to be discouraging, just
power supply may lend itself to something prnclical.
you have. Much 400 cycle equipment is avail On the other hancl the BC-3 12 and the BC-
able today which cannot be used on standard 348 receivers once so popular arc hardly heard
60 cycle power lines. As a result a new power ol' yet still around. They offer so much per
supply will be required before any other con dollar with the least effort thal i1 seems amaz
version is starte d. ing that more has not been done with them.
Much thought should be given to surplus We hope to correct that too.
which performs one special function only. For Designations
example one beautiful VHF receiver has been One of the things which is highly misunder
around for several years and at a good price ... stood by most hams land surplus dealers too)
7
1s t11e system of designating equipments in the tive of a transmitter, R for a receiver, D for
Armed Forces. Several systems are currently direction finder and S was used for Radars.
employed, but only one is being continued. The The letter "O" was for test equipment and L
modern method sometimes called the AN sys for frequency measuring or generating equip
tem follows a standard pattern lets the name ment. The "M" was applied to special equip
of the equipment denote its usage. The ARC- ments. For Aircraft the lcucr A was used as
5's are in this category. Officially they arc a prefix to any of the above.
known as the AN/ARC-5 (Some were known The second system used by the Navy has
under the SCR-274N number). The AN desig caused much confusion. At one time all equip
nated it as military and the ARC-5 means ment in the Navy was designated by a two,
Aircraft, Radio, Communications, fifth system. three or four letter symbol and five digits. The
Table I is a complete breakdown on this nom first letter always being "C", and stood for the
enclature. Individual subdivisions of equipment word contractor. The following letters identi
are given titles as T-21/ ARC for a transmitter fied the particlar contractor. CUT, for example
and R-28/ ARC for a receiver, for specific meant that the United Transformer Company
identifications. made that particular piece of equipment, while
Until the advent of this system the Signal CRC stood for RCA and CG for General Elec
Corps used a serial system such as SCR-522 tric. The first 1wo numbers, in the following
(Signal Corps Radio model 522), which had five digits, identified a particular equipment
basic components such as the BC-624, BC-625 class such as 46 for a receiver and 30 for ao
(transmitter and receiver) and control box and electron tube. The following three numbers
a power supply each with their own number. were serial numbers. thus several manufac
The Navy used two systems simultaneously turers may have made an identical part, the
one for identification and one for accounting identity number would be the same for all but
purposes. Both have been supplanted by the the "C"· symbol would be different_. Thus CRC
AN system. Navy equipment could be iden 46136 would be an RCA manufactured re
tified as to usage by the first letter of the two ceiver. To this day the Navy still identifies all
or three letter identification. T would be indici- manufacturers and contractors by this syst«'..!!1.
·--·-
~
... u....,,t•
:~. .
.. .......,
.
..... __
,, tMU 1wn
-a.a .."... ... - ·, .-...-. .,.. ... .,. ........1. .4.1 t."U.iW"l(T'I. O...' O( .'..~.".... .0. '.. .c. " ..o...o ...o . ,w_e;
Cl>o"Wn IC & Qt I• .t._c.t .·..·..-...t.•.
........ -·>-21r .. .......
f~\ .. .. ~..,f·'W-·(W· 1:.:':':c-1"
..
,. . =·
···~ ,,.•.J.. U,. .. .. -.-....." ' .w.t.l .. • .,. ......... .. _., 1., .. . ,. UVllll:
-·- ,.... _."
W.o•IH.,• :;.::··· 110 ..,11 H tDC
""~· -"'wit )0 H llC ~~.:~;r,•·
tJ..oO..t~.•ot t016W .....u ,..w1r •
11,¥0( ............... ..
':IP::Of•: ,'_ .
... ._. .
uc ..\'.t'.O.. ... .... .., ..." '" ,,... "··oc ~r~·
flV((; vJtt•0l1nj-(0I1.WW111A1('1•1J1'1n '• •lh•• .11,1.• , .-C..,1,.1O11l1lt1!1"1' f \,(Ill JI \'IJC .ol."lr.•'.O ,1 .r•l.1n •..1 •l.o..u K..1 .•1•,,,.I . .,P·_
v1.)rMCo<WeIWr ).l<!."..t" l . '•'"...w"..."..n._'. 'l"b. "e"
aw_..,._ _.,.;:a.,.u ........ ~
......, .
11t.-•f,..*"°lffKJt·Ulf. ._ .... 1•011/1( ..~... ... ....:....-.~ ·. ...... · . · ."..'.".'.".".".u~ . o.oo
hl'~llt -qCr.' "•.", • •.0.•.•. •..l1 o • 10 \1"11"t'H lft,' lloiM(llt, .L.n..w .111
:::::_, 1'11_,._,,..,,,,. !_ll lC.·.l.l..l. ... 1. .... ..,. •
•·•-"' R....,..,.........,......H. /6 •oc•:•• :. •.•.o• •• -cn -... .·...
.. ,_, ..." . . IJIC••lllll~
flol!o!t f>""'"IH''-ll Jt,(IU,. IOW •V••1nt+·o1•1~0.~-,. 1t,l1llw•hr t
8