The SCR-54 was a tunable, portable crystal radio receiver used by the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

for fire control in conjunction with airplanes.

History

French radio equipment was more advanced than that of the U.S. Army when the United States entered

. The U.S. Army therefore adopted French sets early on, and developed improved sets of their own, some based on French design. Several of the French A-1 artillery receiving set were sent to the American radio laboratory in the summer of 1917 and copied with minor modifications. It was first released as the AR-4 in limited numbers for field tests, supervised by Captain Edwin Armstrong. Several changes were made based on his suggestions. The receiver was redesigned and reissued as the SCR-54 (Set, Complete, Radio). Since there was high demand, several companies produced these sets or components, including DeForest Radio Telephone and Telegraph, Liberty Electric, Wireless Specialty Apparatus, Marconi, and

General Radio General Radio Company (later, GenRad) was a broad-line manufacturer of electronic test equipment in Massachusetts, U.S. from 1915 to 2001. During the middle of 20th century, they were a major competitor to Hewlett-Packard and Tektronix. Hist ...

Specifications

Its primary (antenna) and secondary circuits were both tunable by variable

capacitance Capacitance is the ability of an object to store electric charge. It is measured by the change in charge in response to a difference in electric potential, expressed as the ratio of those quantities. Commonly recognized are two closely related ...

and

inductance Inductance is the tendency of an electrical conductor to oppose a change in the electric current flowing through it. The electric current produces a magnetic field around the conductor. The magnetic field strength depends on the magnitude of the ...

. A

crystal detector A crystal detector is an obsolete electronic component used in some early 20th century radio receivers. It consists of a piece of crystalline mineral that rectifies an alternating current radio signal. It was employed as a detector ( demod ...

(Type DC-1) and telephone circuit were connected to the secondary circuit. It could receive wavelengths from 150–650 meters (460 to 2000 kHz). The receiver included two crystal (galena) detectors, one sealed in glass, and the other not, which were attached on the surface of the receiver. A buzzer circuit, powered by a BA-4 battery, was mounted in the box cover and used to adjust the crystal. The set was compact and mounted in a wooden box, type BC-14. The lid of the box held the buzzer circuit, detectors, a screwdriver, two P-11 telephone headsets, spare parts, extra crystals, and an operating manual, “Radio Pamphlet No. 3”. The receiver was intended to be used with antenna type A-2 or A-2-B.

Vacuum Tube Detector

There was an optional vacuum tube detector, type DT-3-A, available for the SCR-54. It used a VT-1 vacuum tube powered by a BA-2 battery. The type number was originally SCR-55, later changed to DT-3, then DT-3-A. The crystal proved more popular in field use.

SCR-54-A

The SCR-54-A featured electrical and mechanical improvements over the SCR-54. Most notably, the buzzer circuit was removed from the lid and incorporated into the chassis of the receiver proper. Signal Corps SCR-54A crystal radio

Use

The SCR-54 was intended to be used at artillery stations to receive messages from fire control aircraft. Many were produced but relatively few reached the field before the war ended. Some were retained by the Signal Corps, but the bulk, most never used, were sold as surplus to the public, becoming a favorite of amateurs.

References

{{reflist Military radio systems of the United States Military electronics of the United States