[TenTec] OT (that is Off Topic and Old Timers) BC-610

[John McAlpine IV]

Further to Ken's excellent comments below we add the following:1)  During and shortly after World War 2  the original BC610A through the latest (till then) Model BC 610 E (which was a pre-war "Art-Deco" Design transmitter with "rounded edges" and cast iron "open-frame' transformers) was paired with the 120VAC-powered Model BC 342 iron chassis Army Version of the (RCA Designed) 28 VDC-powered BC348 aluminum chassis Army Air Corps receiver (used in all heavy bombers like the B17) in the mobile van SCR299 CW/AM/RTTY Set.  Because of the high output power capability (especially for the time) of 600 watts CW & 325 watts (1300 watts PEP) carrier AM--General George Patton praised the hard-to-jam BC610 as being on par with the M1 Garrand Rifle in helping to win the war.  Many BC610's were paired with the then "top of the line" Hallicrafters SX 28  Receiver at fixed "headquarters" locations.2) Well after WW 2 and during the Korean War the BC610 F,G & H Models with a new "clean" more modern "square cornered box" design, more modular internal construction and "potted" transformers were paired with sophisticated High (frequency) stability Collins R-388/51j1 receivers.  The BC610 was superseded after the Korean War by the similarly-powered Barker & Williamson T368 (Eimac 4-250 tetrode in final amp).  It was fully band-switched 80 thru 10 meters.  The T368 was paired with ever newer Collins receivers as they became available culminating in the R390A and 51j4 Models.  The T368 is a more modern tetrode vs triode amplifier design and is physically even more "robust" than the BC610--but in "stock" form has less AM fidelity (and some claim less electronic reliability)than the BC610.
John McAlpine/KZ4B
> Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 08:05:41 -1000
> From: ken.d.brown at hawaiiantel.net
> To: tentec at contesting.com
> Subject: [TenTec] OT (that is Off Topic and Old Timers) BC-610
> 
>  a complete mobile/portable RTTY
> station which consisted of a BC-610, a Hammarlund Super Pro
> receiver...  All
> of this equipment was mounted in a van on the rear of a 2 1/2 ton
> truck.  The truck towed a 10 kw generator and we had plenty of fuel in
> another trailer.  We also had a whip antenna mounted on the rear of
> the van for quick operation. 
> 
> There was a whole mobile setup called SCR-299. It is shown in an old 
> magazine ad or back section of an old Radio Amatuers Handbook that I 
> have somewhere. The receiver was not a Hammarlund Super-Pro though, it 
> was something that looked more like a BC-348. I don't doubt what you say 
> you actually used. I am just saying what I see in the magazine 
> advertisement by Hallicrafters.
> 
> The BC-610 did not use 304TLs. Perhaps someone modified one for them. 
> The normal tube compliment was a single 250TH in the PA, and a pair of 
> 100TH in the push-pull modulator. I still have a pair of brand new Eimac 
> 100TH in original boxes and packing material that were part of the 
> spares set for a BC-610 that Bill Barnhill WB6IWD cannibalized.
> 
> DE N6KB
> 
> >   
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