Equipment

rchamble

rchamble

Pre-Flight
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Mississippi
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Display name:
rschamblee
I was visiting with my grandfather the other day who was a pilot but has not flown in probably 20 years. He has owned several airplanes and even built one from ground up. While at his house we got to talking airplanes and he told me he had some old radios out in the garage and wanted to give them to me. I myself have yet to start my pilot training other than reading forums, I have read the first few chapters of Rod Machados book (thanks Pierce), AOPA member and read all their info so I am limited on the knowledge of the equipment he gave me. If someone could help me out I would like to post pictures of them and yall tell me what I have!!
 
/Users/stevechamblee/Desktop/IMG_6693.JPG
/Users/stevechamblee/Desktop/IMG_6695.JPG
/Users/stevechamblee/Desktop/IMG_6692.JPG
/Users/stevechamblee/Desktop/IMG_6694.JPG
/Users/stevechamblee/Desktop/IMG_6697.JPG
/Users/stevechamblee/Desktop/IMG_6696.JPG
/Users/stevechamblee/Desktop/IMG_6698.JPG
 
What you have there is stuff to list on eBay in hopes that someone with a lot of money just "has to have" one for his restoration and will give you enough money for it to pay for your PPL... :D
 
yea, it is very old. He was describing how to use it and I was thinking that doesn't sound like anything we do this day in time. Something about making the beeps come closer together when dialing in to get your frequency. I thought it was pretty interesting listening to how they use to do it though.


Can anybody tell me exactly what the 2 boxes are and were used for??

the name brand on them is Narco
 
rchamble said:
I was visiting with my grandfather the other day who was a pilot but has not flown in probably 20 years. He has owned several airplanes and even built one from ground up. While at his house we got to talking airplanes and he told me he had some old radios out in the garage and wanted to give them to me. I myself have yet to start my pilot training other than reading forums, I have read the first few chapters of Rod Machados book (thanks Pierce), AOPA member and read all their info so I am limited on the knowledge of the equipment he gave me. If someone could help me out I would like to post pictures of them and yall tell me what I have!!
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It's been way more than 20 years since those were in use. Probably 1950's???

Narco Superhomer - top of the line navigation / communication radio for it's day. But it's day was a long time ago. I ain't never used one and I am a geezer.

The shorter one is a VOR reciever for navigation.
 
The left unit is a VOR receiver, an omnigator. The right unit, a superhomer, is I think both a VHF comm radio and perhaps an ADF as well.
 
rchamble said:
yea, it is very old. He was describing how to use it and I was thinking that doesn't sound like anything we do this day in time. Something about making the beeps come closer together when dialing in to get your frequency. I thought it was pretty interesting listening to how they use to do it though.


Can anybody tell me exactly what the 2 boxes are and were used for??

the name brand on them is Narco
Click to expand...


They are both VOR Nav, a system still in use.
 
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I think I recognize (in order) a Narco Mark III Omnigator circa 1965 and a Narco VHT-2 Mark II Superhomer circa 1955 (the later Mark III VHT-3 was more common). The VHT-2 may be one from the military -- slightly different knobs and faceplate. And no ADF in the Superhomer.
 
Henning said:
What you have there is stuff to list on eBay in hopes that someone with a lot of money just "has to have" one for his restoration and will give you enough money for it to pay for your PPL... :D
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You'd probably do better to donate it to some aviation museum for a tax write off at some inflated value.
 
rchamble said:
Not really sure what plane this stuff come out of. I think it is a radio of some sort??? I have put the pics in photo bucket so you should be able to click the link below and see it.
http://s831.photobucket.com/albums/zz235/merlebo05/Aviation equipment/
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Here.. :)

IMG_6698.jpg


IMG_6697.jpg


IMG_6696.jpg


IMG_6696.jpg


IMG_6694.jpg


IMG_6693.jpg


IMG_6692.jpg


If you look underneath each pic, it will give you code to link, post, etc.

Generally, you can take an link to an image and wrap it with
and it will show up as a picture in the post.
 
junk junk and more junk, absolutely useless in todays aircraft.
 
From a practical standpoint, yes. Absolutely useless in a modern aircraft. Even if they could be restored to serviceable condition, you wouldn't want the weight or space penalty.

BUT... there are people who delight in restoring old gear, especially old radio gear. Ask a ham radio operator how many other hams he knows who collect and restore what we lovingly refer to as "boat anchors". I don't personally know of any who are into old avionics, but those rigs would at least be a good source of parts for restorations. They'll probably sell on eBay, just probably not for a whole lot.

Steve, if you don't want to sell them, you could clean them up -- or just clean up and semi-restore the front panels. They'd make really interesting wall hangers (just the panels, especially with some LEDs for lighting) or look good sitting on the bookshelf. Like a wooden prop from a WWI Sopwith, that gear may have no practical value but it could be a neat conversation piece and memento of your grandfather's earlier flying days.
 
DaleB said:
From a practical standpoint, yes. Absolutely useless in a modern aircraft. Even if they could be restored to serviceable condition, you wouldn't want the weight or space penalty.

BUT... there are people who delight in restoring old gear, especially old radio gear. Ask a ham radio operator how many other hams he knows who collect and restore what we lovingly refer to as "boat anchors". I don't personally know of any who are into old avionics, but those rigs would at least be a good source of parts for restorations. They'll probably sell on eBay, just probably not for a whole lot.

Steve, if you don't want to sell them, you could clean them up -- or just clean up and semi-restore the front panels. They'd make really interesting wall hangers (just the panels, especially with some LEDs for lighting) or look good sitting on the bookshelf. Like a wooden prop from a WWI Sopwith, that gear may have no practical value but it could be a neat conversation piece and memento of your grandfather's earlier flying days.
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they are 90 channel radios, in new condition they are illegal to use.
 
thanks for all the input. I did not expect them to be of any value, I was just curious to exactly what they were. I had planned on putting them up in my son's room for a little extra decor :D. I like the idea of putting a LED light behind them, I may have to work on that one
 
I perused this thread quickly, so if someone has already mentioned the following I apologize:

What everyone seems to be missing is the fact that the PO's GRAND DAD gave him these radios. I was VERY close to my Grand Dad and have a few items that he gave me that most people would consider junk. If my Grand Dad had given me these I would probably sell most of them if I could, but then clean up one cosmetically and build a panel of some sort to mount it in. I would make something to hang on my hangar wall. What a great and sentimental conversation piece.

I loved my Grand Dad and would give almost anything to have him with me today.

My $0.02,
Doc
 
rchamble said:
yea, it is very old. He was describing how to use it and I was thinking that doesn't sound like anything we do this day in time. Something about making the beeps come closer together when dialing in to get your frequency. I thought it was pretty interesting listening to how they use to do it though.
Click to expand...

I believe he's referring to "whistle stop tuning", introduced by NARCO, I believe, in the late forties or early fifties. You'd transmit on one of a handful of crystal-selected frequencies but select the receiver frequency on a dial tuner that covered both nav and voice bands. Activating "whistle-stop tuning" turned the transmitter on at very low power, when the tuner reached the transmitter frequency you heard a whistle and knew you were on the right frequency.

These radios are obsolete, their only value is for display purposes. Possibly in a non-flying aircraft in a museum or as a false-front to cover modern radios for a flyable restoration while it's on the ground.
 
MBDiagMan said:
I perused this thread quickly, so if someone has already mentioned the following I apologize:

What everyone seems to be missing is the fact that the PO's GRAND DAD gave him these radios. I was VERY close to my Grand Dad and have a few items that he gave me that most people would consider junk. If my Grand Dad had given me these I would probably sell most of them if I could, but then clean up one cosmetically and build a panel of some sort to mount it in. I would make something to hang on my hangar wall. What a great and sentimental conversation piece.

I loved my Grand Dad and would give almost anything to have him with me today.

My $0.02,
Doc
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and your grandpa would love to see you take that useless old gear and get some value out of it to fly.
 
Henning said:
and your grandpa would love to see you take that useless old gear and get some value out of it to fly.
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... or maybe the value of the item itself is worth more than anyone is going to pay for something like that?

I've got several things that for all practical purposes are junk. Worth less than $0.00, but to me they are priceless or at least worth more than any sane man would ever pay me..
 
BellyUpFish said:
... or maybe the value of the item itself is worth more than anyone is going to pay for something like that?

I've got several things that for all practical purposes are junk. Worth less than $0.00, but to me they are priceless or at least worth more than any sane man would ever pay me..
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Maybe, I just can't see gramps having "loved and cherished" those radios....:rolleyes2:
 
Henning said:
Maybe, I just can't see gramps having "loved and cherished" those radios....:rolleyes2:
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So, the previous owner has to love and cherish an item for it to be of some worth to the one it was passed down to?

I've got an old anvil that was my grandfathers, a man I never met, the anvil was something my mother took after he died, who then gave it to me.

As far as I know, the anvil was just another tool in a mans garage. It held no more value to him than any anvil would to a metal worker, yet it means something to both myself and my mother.

I've got a remote control airplane that has a pretty cool story that means very little to my father. It was the first he built and years later, I wound up with it. It's not worth anything, to anyone, other than me.

I just thought it was a little bold for you to tell him what his grandfather would have wanted him to do with it, is all. You may be right, the grandfather might say "Ahh, go sell it, get $10 and buy 1.8 gallons of avgas with it!" but the OP may find that having something from the past, which cannot be replaced is worth more than a paltry $10, $20, $1,000 bucks.

Different strokes for different folks.
 
BellyUpFish said:
So, the previous owner has to love and cherish an item for it to be of some worth to the one it was passed down to?

I've got an old anvil that was my grandfathers, a man I never met, the anvil was something my mother took after he died, who then gave it to me.
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I've got a steel ball bearing from grandpa's old shed/workshop -- it had no specific value to him but he knew I played with it as a little kid while he worked, and later I would always pick it up and roll it around in my hand while we worked on projects together. (No Captain Queeg jokes! ;) )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Caine_Mutiny_(film) - for the Queeg reference, if you haven't seen the movie.

I think he kept it in the jar there at the front of the work shed, just because he knew I always messed with it. Hard to say.

Anyway, it rides around in the Yukon with me. Sometimes it gets taken out and rolled around in my hand while I'm thinking through something grandpa would have certainly given good advice about.

Being sentimental about a 1" steel ball bearing is kinda silly, but there you have it.
 
Being sentimental about a steel ball is awesome.
 
Yea, not really interested in selling any of it. I was just wanting some information on the equipment in that it had been along time since my grandfather had used it and could not exactly remember what it was used for or when. As you say, it was worthless to him, but for me it is something I would like to keep in honor of my grandfather from his flying days. He says he is also planning on giving me his log book when he finds it lol :eek:. I enjoy listening to all his stories about flying and building airplanes. One day he will be dead and gone but when I look up on my sons wall at that old worthless equipment, it will spark a memory of the time he gave me the old radio's and all the conversations we had about flying!!!! Thanks for all the replies!!!
 
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