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These hugely heavy and incredibly sensitive sets were, rumour has it, produced for Lend-Lease agreements with England for service in World War II. They are quite common in the UK but scarce in the US. There appear to be two 'flavours' of AR88 - the 'D' version has a frequency coverage as per above whilst the 'LF' version goes down all the way to 75kHz.
The receiver consists of two RF stages, a mixer, local oscillator, three IF stages, a detector, noise limiter, BFO, AF amplifier, output stage and power supply system. The IF amplifiers incorporate variable selectivity and a crystal filter. The sets are normally housed in steel cases but can be rack mounted.
The receivers are designed for coupling to a 200 ohm transmission line, except on low frequency general broadcast bands. For these and general use a single wire 25 to 50 ft. long can be used.
General characteristics
- HAM bands
- ?
- Frequency stability
- ?
- Tuning steps
- ?
- Memories
- ?
Receiver
- RX-range
- 73-550 kHz / 1.48-30.5 MHz in six bands
- Modulations
- AM CW
- Sensitivity
- For 20dB S/N: 8µV at 1MHz, 4.5µV at 4.3MHz, 7µV at 16MHz, 7µV at 28MHz
- Selectivity
- 5 Settings: -3dB bandwidths 15kHz, 9kHz, 3.4kHz, 1.6kHz, 400Hz
- Filters
- ?
- Receiver system
- Single conversion, 14 valves
- IF-frequencies
- 735 kHz
- Image rejection
- 120dB at 1MHz 60dB at 16MHz 46dB at 28MHz
- Audio output
- 2.5 W (2.5 ohm external speaker or 600 ohm headphone)
Connections
- Antenna
- -
- Impedance
- 200Ω
- Other
- -
Electrical
- Power requirements
- 100-260 VAC mains or 6V DC vibrator pack
- Current drain RX
- ?
- TX
- -
Physical
- Dimensions (w×h×d)
- 488 × 280 × 488 mm (19.21 × 11.02 × 19.21 in)
- Weight
- 45.00 kg (99.3 lbs)
- Form factor
- Base Station
- Manufactured
- Between 1941 and 1945 in USA
Other features
- Usage
- Amateur / Ham radio operators
- Features + options
- Optional S-meter
- Accessories
- -
- RigReference ID
- 3700
- MPN
- RCA-AR000088LF
Manuals, diagrams and brochures
- RCA AR-88LF Instructions PDF - Unknown size, submitted by RigReference
- RCA AR-88LF Schematic diagram PDF - Unknown size, submitted by RigReference
- Upload relevant documents
New and second-hand prices
Estimating the value of a rig can be challenging. We collect prices paid by real hams over the years to help you estimate the value of a used RCA AR88LF. Just bought or sold this model? Let us know what you traded it for and help other ham operators!
Based on historic data, today's second-hand price of the RCA AR88LF is around:
- EUR 19.00 ~ EUR 8.00
These estimates are based on the following prices:
Links & tools
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