AR88 Serial Number Tag

[thoyer454]

I was recently able to find and bring home the first AR88 I ever used. I was probably 11 or 12 and local ham had one. I'd play with it for hours. He passed away many years ago and I lost track of that radio. A couple weeks ago I found out another ham form the old neighborhood ended up with that radio and he graciously gave it to me. So all that being said.........

This is an earlier AR88 with the non textured, engraved front panel. The serial number is 005112 but is not stamped on the chassis as I usually see but is imprinted on a tag that is screwed to the chassis.

This is not my first RCA radio - I have several - but the first with this type of tag. I have been in contact with Henry Rogers (Radio Blvd) and he does not recall this type of tag either.

It'll make a nice edition to the collection. May not be the best looking one of the bunch (yet) but it is the most important one.

Thoughts?

Tom
W3TA

[Radio Wrangler]

Interesting! That screw-mounted tag is right over where the serial is usually stamped. Have you ever unscrewed it to look underneath?

There may also be mod/rebuild record stickers applied to the outside faces of the front panel bracing gussets. My early one records a rebuild in the early fifties UK when it seems it acquired the R1556 mods and a PVC wiring harness.It predates the D and LF suffixes and has the D frequency coverage and 455kHz IF. This implies that the AR88LF was a later development, and that before it there was no need of model differentiation before that.

You've got the original S-meter which was common only in early sets. Later supplies of AR88 to the UK were configured for diversity racks with external meters, and there was a general wartime shortage of meter movements, so even stand-alone sets were meterless.

What I didn't expect to see were the alternating bands on the tuning scale. I've always associated the early sets with the all-yellow background scales. I did come across an NOS all-yellow scale bagged-up as military spares at a rally in Rochdale. It'll go into my old one when I have a session and fix the leaky bathtubs. A previous owner had tried cleaning the existing all-yellow scale. He sketched in the missing area with blue ballpoint pen!

You're in the US, so I assume that's a real CRM-R6A? The chap with the ballpoint pen later bought an AR8516L. A gorgeous looker, but for 115v AC/DC ship supplies.

David

[ms660]

Mine was a later one but with the same smooth Black finish on the front panel.

Lawrence.

[thoyer454]

It is an AR8516 - I put many hours into it and it now works well. Some pics are here: https://www.thdesignsinc.com/AR-8516.html

I removed the serial number tag form the AR88 and there is nothing under it. I can not find any other serial number markings / stampings on the chassis.

Last night I poked around the parts and there are some way out of spec resistors and a few caps (most caps had been replaced) that need to be replaced. I'll work on it this week and hope to have it running shortly.

It also has a non original audio trans former but I believe I have a spare left in one of my parts radios that I can swap in.

I also spent some time last night cleaning more of the years of cigar residue from the front panel. Lots more to go but it should come out nice when I'm done.

Not too many of the mild solvents or waxes I tried would remove the residue. Alcohol would take off some of the top layer but not do much beyond that. I found a metal polish I have actually works very well removing the residue and does not harm the paint. I gently rub it on the residue and go slowly so I don't harm the paint. After removing it I follow up with some of my favourite automotive car wax and it looks great. I've been working a small area at a time. Should take a couple evenings but it should come back to looking good again.

Tom
W3TA