$3.

50
Cat. No. EE-31 1

SURPLUS RADIO
CONVERSION MANUAL

VOLUME I

Third Edition

by
R. C. Evenson and 0. R. Beach

Digitally signed by Andy (James A.) Moorer

DN: CN = Andy (James A.) Moorer, O =
Adobe Systems Incorporated, OU =
Enterprise Services
Reason: I am the author of this document
Location: Panacea, Florida, USA
Date: 2004.07.28 10:58:33 -04'00'

I Published and distributed to the electronics trade by

- New Augusta, Indiana

Copyright 1948 by Techno-Graphic Publications. Printed in U.S.A.

I
 CONVERTING THE BC-348 RECEIVER
Introduction:
The BC-348 series of receivers was manufactured for the Armed
Forces and was designed to operate from a 28-volt d-c supply. As these
sets were used in aircraft, they a r e extremely compact and much smaller
than their equivalent in present commercial cummunications receivers.
The following conversion data will cover the changes necessary to adapt
the unit to 115-volt a-c operation. Various circuit improvements will
also be elaborated on a s applicable to amateur radio use.
Many models of the BC-348 were built but, with the exception of the
BC-348J, Q and N, they a r e electrically and mechanically similar. It i s
of special note that the B minus of the 348Q is not grounded. The BC-224
series is identical except for the heater circuits.
The receiver covers the frequency range of 1500 to 18,000 kc. and 200
to 500 kc. by means of a directly-calibrated vernier dial. It will be noted
that the 10-meter amateur band a s well a s the standard broadcast band is
neatly skipped. Converters will be necessary if these bands a r e desired.
The receiver has two r-f stages and three i-f stages. The intermediate
frequency is 915 kc. A crystal filter is included in the circuit also.
The tube line up is a s follows:

1st RF
2nd RF
RF Osc.
1st Det.
1st I F
2nd IF and CW Osc.
3rd IF and 2nd Det.
Audio
It is assumedthat the reader would not attempt this conversionwithout
enough technical knowledge to make unnecessary the tedious ' b i r e by wire"
descriptions generally encountered and, with the suggestions and conver-
sions given here, satisfactory results should be easily obtained. It is
important to bear in mind that, due to the numerous models, and circuit
differences, common sense will be required in many of the operations a s
exact component symbols and wire movements have been eliminated in
this article.
The following sections of the conversion procedure will be covered in
detail:
(a) Power supply
(b) Filament circuit
( c ) Speaker matching
(d) Operation
(e) Additional audio stage
( f ) Noise silencer
(g) General notes
 addinl
(a) Power Supply: circu
chang
As the receiver was designed for operation from a 28-volt d-c source, corne
it will be necessary to build a 115-volt a-c supply. able I
Since an external speaker and matching transformer will be required, the fr
and in order to keep heat out of the receiver compartment, it is advised "S" un
that the power supply be built into the speaker cabinet along with the opera
speaker matching transformer, and connections be brought out through a amatc
cable and plug system.
It should be possible to obtain, on the surplus market, the plug for (4 A
power connections that was intended for use with the receiver. But i f not,
the present socket can be replaced with a standard octal tube socket by 'I
removing the present socket and filing the retaining bracket to take the stage
octal tube socket. sistil
The circuit shown in Fig. 1 will work nicely and, by referring to the direc
plug connections given at the end of this article, the connecting cable can gain
be made up. I
chas:
(b) Filaments: strip
will
For 6.3-volt a-c operation, it will be necessary to rewire all tube
filaments in parallel and to remove the balancing resistor which was used
in the d-c system. Fortunately, all tubes a r e of the 6.3-volt type and no (f) 1
substitutions a r e required. The fixed and variable dimming controls as-
sociated with the pilot lamp circuit should be removed a s this feature is freqi
not essential. impc
Fig. 2 is self-explanatory for the filament conversion, and careful crys
examination will show the few actual wire changes necessary. The 6.3- ceivl
volt lead should be brought out to pin 3 or pin 4 of the power plug. (These caus
two terminals originally were the 28-volt input connections.) ignit
nect
(c) Speaker Matching: whe~
The output of the receiver was originally designed for headphone junc
operation and consisted of two output connections, for 500 ohms or 4500 the
ohms, depending upon the tap used on the output transformer. As most ing 1
permanent magnet dynamic speakers a r e around 8 ohms, a matching
transformer will be required to match one of the original outputs to the the :
speaker. This transformer can be mounted in the speaker cabinet a s dis-
cussed in the paragraph dealing with the power supply. An alternative is
the replacement of the original output transformer with one designed to
k)
match the output tube to a PM dynamic speaker. However, the former is
to be preferred a s it does not necessitate circuit changes. corn
sita
(d) Operation: con1
After completion of the previous steps, the receiver will function by the
merely applying power and connecting together terminals 2 and 6 of the
output plug. TerminalAis the B plus connection and$- is the screen-grid ly r
lead to the i-f's. These two terminals provide a very simple method of
 adding an "S" meter to the set. Examination of Fig. 3 will show that this
circuit can be inserted between terminals 2 and 6 with no other circuit
changes being required. The meter can be mountedin the upper right hand
I source, corner of the front panel, providing a very small one i s used. The adjust-
able pot should be of the screwdriver adjusting type and also mounted on
'equired, the front panel for zero setting the "s" meter. Calibration of the meter in
advised "S" units o r in %DB's"
will be necessary. This addition is not necessary for
with the operation but will add considerably to the versatility of the receiver for
lrough a amateur use.
plug for (e) Additional Audio Stage:
ut if not,
ocket by The audio gain of the receiver is not quite adequate, and an additional
take the stage i s required for satisfactory results. Fig. 4 is a proven circuit con-
sisting of a 6J5 tube in a simple resistance coupled stage to be inserted
ig to the directly ahead of the 41 power amplifier. With this additional stage the
able can gain will be sufficient.
It is suggested that this added stage be built onto the small removable
chassis upon which the dynamotor was originally mounted. The terminal
strip on the chassis can be used to bring out allnecessary connections and
will make a neat and compact unit.
all tube
vas used (f) Noise Silencer:
? and no
rols as- On the higher frequency band of the receiver, and especially if higher
tture i s frequency converters a r e to be used, the noise problem becomes one of
importance. A shunt-type noise silencer circuit employing a small IN34
careful crystal i s shown in Fig. 3A. This circuit can be added easily to the re-
'he 6.3- ceiver schematic. Addition of any noise silencer circuit will normally
(These cause some distortionin the output and therefore should be used only when
ignition noise, fluorescent lighting, etc. gives trouble. If properly con-
nected, the silencer should have very little effect on the receiver gain
when connected in the circuit and no effect when out of the circuit.
Difficulty may be encountered in using the added audio stage in con-
adphone junction with the noise silencer due to the common cathode resistor on
or 4500 the second detector and third i-f stages. This may be remedied by remov-
As most ing the wire between the two cathodes and shorting out "R105".
natching Note: In 3483, M and P this is not possible a s the two stages a r e in
s to the the same tube.
as dis-
iative is (g) General Notes:
igned to
rmer i s If desired, the audio and RF gain controls, which a r e originally on a
common shaft, may be separated, especially for CW use. This will neces-
sitate disconnecting one of the controls and running the leads to an added
control of the same value but mounted elsewhere on the front panel.
The antenna and ground connections may be extended to the rear of
:tion by the set and terminals added for convenience.
6 of the The AVC-OFF-MVC switch has several contacts which were original-
!en-grid ly used in the 28-volt d-c circuit and which a r e now useless. These
2thod of
contacts may be used a s a standby switch breaking the B minus lead when
the switch is in the OFF position and applying it again when in AVC o r
MVC positions. Careful circuit tracing will be necessary here in order not
to disconnect the wrong wires on the switch. An alternative is the use of a
simple SPST toggle switch mounted on the front panel and wired in accord-
ance with Fig. 1.
Connections to the output plug (original) a r e a s follows:

1- Output (phones or speaker)

2- B plus
3- 28 volts plus
4- 28 volts plus
5- Output
6- Screen grid voltage to I F
7- Ground (B minus, filament common)
' lead when
in AVC or
n order not
he use of a
in accord-
5-METER CIRCUIT

0 AMP
Cathode not grounded i n models where
B- i s not normally grounded.
New stage i s inserted between points
indicated by X9s
 E
VT-I

iCHEMAT I C DIAGR
ind w i l l apply
SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM FOR BC-348 J
- 36 - and w i l l apply t o N, and Q m o d e l :
 CHEMAT I C DUGRAM FOR BC-348 J
md will a p ~ l yt o N , and Q models.
.
FOR BC-348J,
N, and Q mode - 37 -
 Cwox

SCREU'
FOR BC
( and w
C ,KyL,
 VOLTAGE
RLGULATOR
R C A 991

ATIC DIAGRAM
C'
. -

1, RE LAY
NOTE : Capacitors 66-1 and 66-2
1st and second r-f stages
are used on Radio Receiv-
er HC-3-18-P ONLY.

Z-348E,1d,P9
nil1 apply t o ,
, R A 1. SCREMAT I C DIAGRAM
FOR BC-348E,l!,Py
(and will apply t o ,
C,K,L,R.H, I
 $3.50
Cat. NO. EE-333

SURPLUS RADIO
CONVERSION M A N U A L
VOLUME I l l

WILLIAM I. ORR
Editor

Copyright, 1960 by

Editors a n d Engineers, Ltd.

New Augusta, Indiana

Copyright under Pan-American Convention

All rights resewed

Printed in U.S.A.

Published and distributed to the electronics trade by

New Augusta, Indiana

 Figure 81.
BC-348P RECEIVER, SPEAKER
AND POWER SUPPLY
The power supply is mounted in the
speaker housing.

Noise The noise silencer shown in Figure 80 has SEND-RECEIVE switch. The a.v.c. position of the
Silencer been found to be very effective on the 14- switch will still short out the r.f. gain control in the
Mc. band, and on the 28-Mc. and 50-Mc. conventional manner.
bands when a converter is used ahead of the receiver.
One half of a 7A6 tube has been used, and since this Control In the case of the BC-312 receiver as shown
tube draws only 150 ma. of heater current the heater Circuits the 9-terminal power-connection strip was
may be fed with a balance to ground by means of two removed and the somewhat unsightly multi-
22-ohm 2-watt carbon resistors from the 12.6-volt connection receptacle on the front panel was removed
heater line. Or, if desired, the heater may be placed and replaced by the "if. output" coaxial receptacle.
in parallel with the 6V6-GT heater as discussed in the Power and control connections were brought out to a
previous paragraph. One half of a 6H6 or 6AL5 tube 12-contact Jones P-312-RP connector which was
could also be used for the noise limiter, but these lat- mounted by means of a bracket to the rear of the
ter tubes require 300 ma. of heater current. It is chassis. The receptacle was aligned with the hole
possible that a 12H6 could also have been used, but which already exists on the rear of the cabinet hous-
one has not been tried. Make sure that the return for ing. The connector on the end of the power cable is a
the noise limiter (the bottom end of C1, Rg and Rq) Jones S-312-FHT. The key, shorting relay, and switch
is made to the cathode of the 6B8 and not to ground- inside the receiver were then rewired to connections
if the return is made to ground proper noise-limiting on the connector on the rear of the cabinet as shown
action will not be obtained. A switch S1 has been pro- on Figure 80. The switch is connected so that it is in
vided to take the noise silencer out of the circuit, since series with the center tap of the power transformer.
the circuit does introduce a detectable amount of dis- Since a 12-volt keying relay is used on the transmitter,
tortion on a short-wave broadcast program. the antenna-shorting relay inside the receiver was
wired so that it closed every time the transmitter key-
Gain Control It is a convenience in a communi- ing relay closed.
Changes cations receiver to have a separate
control for audio and r.f. gain. To In modifying the BC-342 series of receivers the
accomplish this in the series of receivers under dis- external control circuit connections for the transmitter
cussion it is suggested that the dual control at the top can be brought out of the front panel by replacing
of the panel be replaced by a single %-megohmaudio- the connector which is installed on the front panel by
taper potentionmeter. C81 and R32 are removed, and an Amphenol MIP-8 octal socket, which fits the same
the low-potential end of the audio gain control is mounting holes.
returned to ground. The r.f. gain control leads can be Hints on the BC-348 Series Receivers
pulled down to the underside of the chassis and con-
nected to a separate 15,000-ohm r.f. gain taper rheostat The BC-348 series of receivers are quite satisfac-
which can be placed either in the position formerly tory for communications use in the amateur station,
occupied by the MIKE jack or just to the right of the but as in the case >f the BC-312/BC-342 series, there
 Figure 82.
REAR VIEW OF THE BC348P
ASSEMBLY.
Showing t h e power supply mounted
in t h e speaker housing and t h e
octal power plug on t h e receiver.

are several minor modifications which may be made circuits of the 6K6-GT audio stage and the 6SA7 con-
to improve the performance and flexibility of the verter to accomplish this. The first step is to ground
equipments. the B minus and remove connections to choke 155-B
and resistor 108-2. This leaves both the above stages
BC-348Q General The BC-348 series of receivers unbiased. A 470-ohm 2-watt resistor should be placed
Information may be operated with the heater in series with the cathode terminal of the 6K6-GT
circuits unchanged from a 26- audio stage. A 25-volt 25+fd. electrolytic capacitor
volt a.c. supplv. But a power transformer with such a should be placed across this cathode resistor.
filament winding is not readily available (although the
C-228 transformer mentioned in connection with the About 1.8 volts of bias is used on the grid of the
BC-312 may be used with the filament windings in 6SA7 converter stage. To obtain this, resistor 108-1
series) so it is in most cases best to rewire the heat- in the ~scillatorcan should be clipped out of the re-
ers for operation from 6.3 volts. This means that one ceiver. The contact at the junction of this resistor and
side of the heater of each tube should be grounded resistor 87-2 is available as a projecting lug. Upon this
and the other side should be brought out as a com- lug may be mounted a standard miniature bias cell
mon for feeding from the 6.3-volt line. In many cases with the positive side grounded and the negative side
the original "seriesing" wires between tube sockets to the lug.
may be used either for the grounded side or the hot Audio Addition of a noise-limiter (see
side of the heater circuit, requiring addition of fewer Considerations Radio Handbook) will improve
wires and a solution to the problem of working in in the BC-3484 operation in the presence of igni-
cramped spaces. tion interference on the 14-Mc.
The a.c. power supply for the receiver may be band and is almost a necessity for use of the receiver
mounted in the space formerlv occupied by the dyna- with a converter on the 28-Mc. or 50-Mc. bands. The
motor if space considerations and portability are very addition of an extra stage of audio is also desirable,
important. However, this procedure is not desirable especially for use with the crystal filter on 14-Mc. C.W.
from the standpoint of ventilation since an a.c. power The added tube may be a 6SF5 triode with conven-
supply dissipates a great deal more heat than the dy- tional circuit values (see any standard reference), or
namotor originally installed. The space is more useful a 6SJ7 stage with feedback may be added.
for additions to the receiver such as a noise limiter,
an extra audio stage, or a broad-band converter. Difficulty may be encountered with the audio sys-
The external a.c. operated power supply may be tem of the receiver after the addition of the audio
made somewhat oversize for operation of a frequency stage and the noise limiter due to the common cathode
meter or a converter or an additional station accessory. resistor on the second detector and the third i.f. stage.
In this event it is desirable to be able to ground the This trouble may be avoided by isolating these two
negative lead of the plate supply, which is not done cathode circuits. The lead between the two cathodes
on the BC-348Q. It is necessary to change the bias is removed and resistor 105 is either removed or short-
 ed. This leaves the third i.f. stage with resistor 102
and capacitor 61-4 in its cathode circuit to ground.
The cathode of the second-detector tube is now
grounded to the chassis. The large capacitor can 70-A
and 70-B may now be removed to make additional
room inside the equipment. The 6 - ~ f dsection
. is ideal
as a portion of the filter capacitance in the external
power supply. The lead at the low-potential side of
the third i.f. transformer should be opened and the
noise limiter inserted at this point. Capacitor 27-3
should be left to by-pass the secondary of the trans-
former. The on-off switch for the noise silencer may be
placed in a panel position in place of one of the head-
phone jacks.
Mechanical If a plug to fit the rear connector
Considerations block cannot be secured, an octal
socket may be fitted into the set by
liberal use of a round file and then by drilling and
tapping mounting holes for the socket. If the cast
aluminum guide box is removed from the case it will
not be necessary to enlarge the rectangular hole in
the case to pass an octal power plug.
A socket punch may be used to make two holes in
the back of the case. One hole is used to pass the plug
for the speaker connection, and the other hole to reach
a two-post terminal strip which is wired to the receiv-
er silencing circuit (terminals 2 and 6 in the circuit
diagram). These two terminals may then be shorted
or wired into the transmitter control circuit in such a
manner that the receiver is disabled whenever the
transmitter is on the air.
The seriesed dial lamps should be par'del and
connected to the 6.3-volt heater circuit with the dial Figure 83.
, light control resistors 111 and 81 out of the circuit. MODULATOR AS MADE FROM A BC-375E.
The front cover has been removed t o show the plocement of
BC-348E, M, Changes in this series of receivers components on the new chassis.
and P Receivers are generally the same as in the
( J ) , ( N ) , and ( Q ) series of 348's, All components on the upper deck were removed,
except that only the power audio stage must be modi- including the chassis, and a new chassis was bent from
fied when grounding the negative lead of the power sheet aluminum to hold the components shown in
supply. Also, the second detector and third i.f. stage Figure 85. The end of the main housing which held
cannot be isolated since they are in the same tube the antenna tuner was sawed off as unnecessary, but
envelope. it might be retained to house the power supply for the
Figures 81 and 82 show a convenient method modulator if components of the proper dimensions
whereby the power supply for a BC-348 series re- should be obtainable. The components mounted on the
ceiver may be mounted in the housing for the loud- upper deck of the chassis include the power supply
speaker. for the speech amplifier, a simple regulated bias cir-
cuit for the negative 100 volts on the 211 grids, and
A 120 to 140 W a t t Modulator from the the audio transformers.
BC-375 or BC-191 The clipper-filter audio amplifier and driver is
One way in which to solve the problem of making mounted in the housing for one of the tuning drawers
good use of the BC-375E or the BC-191 is to dis- after all the r.f. components had been removed. The
assemble the tuning drawers for components, use the circuit for the speech amplifier is shown in Figure 86.
housings for the tuning drawers as cabinets for ac- An additional panel was placed in front of the original
cessory pieces of test equipment, and use the main panel to cover the multitude of holes that had been
housing of the transmitter along with the audio trans- left by removal of the r.f. components. The clipper-
formers and miscellaneous other components to as- filter speech amplifier is quite conventional, ending
semble a modulator. Figures 83 and 84 show one such in a single-ended 6B4G which acts as driver for the
assembly which operates quite satisfactorily. 211's. Provision has been made in the input circuit of