{{Short description|American military communications receiver}} {{Use American English|date=October 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}} The '''BC-348''' is an American-made communications receiver, which was mass-produced during World War II for the U.S. Army Air Force. Under the joint Army-Navy nomenclature system, the receiver system became known as the '''AN/ARR-11'''. thumb|230px|BC-348 Liaison radio receiver thumb|right|230px|BC 348 radio receiver ==History== The BC-348 is the 28 vdc powered version of the 14 vdc powered BC-224. The first version, the BC-224-A, was produced in 1936.<ref>{{cite journal |journal = Shortwave Magazine |volume = 59 |issue = 5 |issn = 0037-4261 |last = Wilson |first=John |title = Glenn Miller, the Andrews Sisters and the BC-348 |pages = 22–26 |date = May 2001 |publisher = PW Publishing Ltd |location = Broadstone, UK }}</ref> Installed in almost all USAAF multi-engined transports and bombers used during the fifteen-year period from before World War II through the Korean War, BC-348 radio receivers were easy to operate and reliable. They were also installed in some similar USN, British, and Canadian aircraft. Designed as LF/MF/HF receivers for use in larger aircraft (B-17, B-24, B-25, B-26, B-29, C-47, etc.), they were initially paired with a BC-375 transmitter in the ''SCR-287-A'' system. Late in World War II, the AN/ARR-11 (BC-348) was the receiver and the AN/ART-13A was the transmitter in the AN/ARC-8 system. They were also used in some ground and mobile installations such as the AN/MRC-20.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BC 348 Receiver |url=http://www.vmarsmanuals.co.uk/new/bc348.htm |access-date=2024-10-20 |website=www.vmarsmanuals.co.uk}}</ref> The BC-348 series ran through several variations during its long production history, which included the BC-224. More than 100,000 of these receivers were produced, 80 percent by Belmont Radio and Wells-Gardner and the balance by RCA and Stromberg-Carlson.
[[File:Ilyushin Il-14 radio controls.JPG|thumb|230px|Russian version in an Il-14 aircraft]]
BC-348 receivers were copied and manufactured by the U.S.S.R. following War II, by the Russian Vefon Works and labeled УС-9 (US-9 in English) The УС-9 continued to be produced in the Soviet Union through the 1970s, with such improvements as a solid state inverter to replace the dynamotor.<ref name="nj7p.org">{{Cite web |date= |title=BC-224 AND BC-348 AIRCRAFT RADIO RECEIVERS |url=http://nj7p.org/history/bc-348.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205020028/http://nj7p.org/history/bc-348.html |archive-date=2006-12-05 |access-date= |website=nj7p.org}}</ref>
Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped "Little Boy", the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, was equipped with a BC-348 receiver as part of the aircraft's AN/ARC-8 system.<ref>{{Cite web |title=B-29 Corner |url=https://aafradio.org/flightdeck/b29.htm |access-date=2024-10-20 |website=aafradio.org}}</ref> Today, many examples of the BC-348 are restored and operated by vintage and military amateur radio enthusiasts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=VMARSmanuals |url=http://www.vmarsmanuals.co.uk/ |access-date=2024-10-20 |website=www.vmarsmanuals.co.uk}}</ref>
The AN/ARC-8 system was still in service in older USAF aircraft in the early 1970s. At that time, military surplus dealers near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, had stacks of the BC-348, that had been removed from aircraft, for sale to the public.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}
==Specifications== thumb|right|230px|BC 224 version The BC-224-A, -B, -C, and -D, and the BC-348-B, and -C, tuned 1.5-18 MHz in six bands. The Signal Corps had the receiver design modified to add a 200-500 kHz band and compress the 1.5-18 MHz coverage into the remaining five bands. This modified design became the BC-224-E and the BC-348-E. The 200–500 kHz and 1.5-18 MHz tuning range remained constant for subsequent production of all models.<ref name="nj7p.org"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==General references== *U. S. Army Signal Corps Technical Order No. 08-10-24, 12 June 1936, ''Instruction Book for Radio Receiver BC-224-A manufactured by RCA Manufacturing Co., Inc., Camden, N.J., U.S.A., Order No. SC-132373'' *Army Air Forces Technical Order No. 08-10-119, 15 December 1942; ''Instruction Book for Operation and Maintenance of Radio Receiver BC-348-E Radio Receiver BC-348-M Radio Receiver BC-348-P'' *U.S. Air Force Technical Order 12R2-3BC348-2, revised 15 April 1957; was AN 16-40BC-348-3, 21 June 1948; was AN 08-10-112, 17 July 1943, revised 18 December 1943, revised 30 July 1945; ''Handbook Maintenance Instructions Radio Receivers BC-348-J BC-348-N BC-348-Q'' *U.S. Air Force Technical Order 12R2-3BC-112, revised 15 April 1957; was AN 16-40BC224-2, 20 July 1945, revised 11 May 1948; ''Handbook Maintenance Instructions Radio Receivers BC-224-F BC-224-K BC-348-H BC-348-K BC-348-L BC-348-R''
==See also== {{Portal|Electronics|Aviation}} *ARC-5 *ART 13 transmitter *BC-610 *BC-654 *Collins Radio *Hammarlund super pro *National HRO *R-390A *List of military electronics of the United States
{{DEFAULTSORT:BC 348}} Category:Military radio systems of the United States Category:World War II American electronics Category:Equipment of the United States Air Force Category:Telecommunications equipment Category:Radiofrequency receivers Category:Military equipment introduced in the 1930s Category:Military electronics of the United States