BC-342
World War II U.S. Army radio equipment
The BC-342 was a World War II U.S. Army Signal Corps high frequency radio receiver. It was used primarily as part of field installations such as the SCR-188A, but could be used with mobile sets such as the 2+1⁄2-ton mounted SCR-399. First designed at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, it was built by various manufacturers including RCA. Many of the later units that are encountered today were manufactured by the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Variants include the low frequency coverage BC-344 receiver, and the battery or dynamotor powered BC-312 receiver.
01Specifications
The BC-342 could be operated from fixed and mobile positions.
- Power, An internal RA-20 AC rectifier power supply unit is fitted providing 250 volts DC and 12 volts AC for the receiver tube filaments (three pairs of the 6 volt tubes are wired in series and three in series / parallel).
- Manual Reference: TM 11-850
- Components: RA-20 Power Supply
- Weight: 58 lbs.
- Frequency Range: 1.5-18 MHz
- Power Input: 110 VAC 60 Hz
- Part of: SCR-197, SCR-237, SCR-277, SCR-299, SCR-399, MRC-1
10 vacuum tubes included:
- RF amplifiers, 6K7 (2)
- Mixer, 6L7
- Local oscillator, 6C5
- IF amplifiers, 6K7 (2)
- CW oscillator (BFO), 6C5
- Detector/1st AF, 6R7
- Audio output, 6F6
- Rectifier, 5W4
The BC-342 was similar to the BC-348. Heavy chassis design was employed to minimize drift and oscillator instability due to temperature changes and vibration.
02BC-312
The BC-312 was similar to the BC-342 but was designed to be directly powered by DC battery supply or dynamotor.
03BC-344
The BC-344 was similar to the BC-342 but was designed to cover low frequency bands.
- Power input: 110 VAC 60 Hz
- Frequency range: 150 kHz to 1.5 MHz
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “BC-342”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- BC-342radioreceiver.jpg by US Government, Public domain
- SCR188.jpg by Photograph was taken by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, photo number: GHQ SWPA SC 43 5901 by T/4 Harold Newman., Public domain
- SM-46 IMG 1551.JPG by Bunkerfunker, CC BY-SA 3.0
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