ART-13 TCZ shipboard/base station transmitter w/power supply

[Opcom]

interesting.. for ART-13 owners, keep an eye out for the special power supply..

[The Slab Bacon]

that is way kool!! But I bet it's quite rare.

You know the old saying: Wish in one hand and .............in the other!!

[W3SLK]

Yep, I knew a fellow that had one and I was slow on the draw for it!  They ran on 110 V AC & DC! The reason was that not all the ships in the fleet generated AC but some generated DC. So it had a MG to create the HV needed for the ART-13

[Bill, KD0HG]

interesting.. for ART-13 owners, keep an eye out for the special power supply..

Nice find, that power supply was extremely rare. I have never seen or heard of one for sale. Another thing that strikes me, the TCZ version of the ART-13 were often painted Navy gray, while the Army Air ART-13s were black wrinkle.

The ART-13 was designed for aircraft use and intuitively, I feel that not very many were used on ships, which could easily carry heavier and more QRO radio equipment.

The inside of the ART-13 shows that it was primarily designed for use in the thin air of high-altitude bombers..The conductors carrying high voltage are all large diameter to prevent corona.

My own TCZ version came from a Navy aircraft, and yes, it's painted gray.

I have a quite the pile of ART-13 literature and a very rare Army bench test and alignment manual. Also a nice hand written letter from Roy Olson, WA6THD (SK), the ART-13 designer (also the 75A-1) dated 1991 saying that he owned an ART-13, "...but I doubt that I shall ever put on the air...at age 80+ it may be problematical."

I probably should scan all of this stuff and share it online somewhere.

[W2PFY]

I seen one of those PS on board a ship in Boston or in Fall River. I can't remember which but I do recall that is was painted black.

AJ1G Chris is usually heard on the Military Net on Saturday mornings might reflect something on this. Is he a member of the board?

[wb1aij]

Almost 600 lbs for 100 watts of R.F. output. It could probably run forever & then some. That is real "heavy metal"  I love it.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

They do exist....

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

But unless you're a hard-core collector or restoring the radio room of a ship, few, if anyone will appreciate it enough to warrant the hassles involved. You could much more easily build one with a similar period look that would work better and cost less. And as Bill pointed out - they are quite scarce since they were an exception to the normal ART-13 use. More of an after thought to adapt the transmitter for other uses. While the Navy did use a lot of ART-13s, the Navy nomenclature was ATC.

[AJ1G]

To W2PFY - yep, I am here!  The TCZ is a very interesting radio.  I believe the TCZ power supply design is similar to what I do to run my ART13/ATC - AC  power converted to  high current 28VDC which then drives a dynamotor to make the high voltages for the set. Lately I have been using a relatively modern PP-7333 60 Amp 28 VDC supply, which has a pair of series upped deep cycle marine batteries floating on the output to supply the dyno starting surge load.  Same basic setup has kept my 13 set running for many years now with a DY17a dyno.

I'm pretty sure Brown, W1NZR has a TCZ, and there may be some in the radio rooms over at the Battleship Cove ships in  New Bedford.

Not a very efficient design, but on a ship you have lots of room and lots of power.  Compared to other sets of the era, the TCZ's ability to quickly change frequencies with the Autotune system was probably considered a tactical plus.