Comments on: Coil in a can

By: mrmeval

mrmeval — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:54:52 +0000

That is a common method of preservation. I’ve used parts that had been preserved in cans to repair the F/A18 fighters radar. When parts have to be stored for decades, the F/A18 parts were made in some cases in the late 70s, you need that level of protection.

They use a heat sealed ESD bag for some of the newer stuff. The problem with those is that the plastic will vaporize both inside and outside the bag. The plastic will then coat the part making it expensive to remove either manually or chemically.

One of the parts I used was a 4,000 dollar VLSI integrated circuit. It was about 4″x2″. It has two grams of gold wire and if done on a circuit board would have been three feet square using the highest density PC board technology available in the late 70′s early 80s.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:16:28 +0000

Mike – Your site is excellent! Thanks again for the info, and if you’re interested I still have a couple more unopened cans, let me know if you’d like one. It would make a nice paperweight at least.

By: Mike Hanz

Mike Hanz — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:41:32 +0000

Happy to help, Jeff, but I’m not “one of the guys” at aafradio.org…I’m the *only* guy. This is just a hobby for me. Sorry to give you the impression there are armies of folks behind the curtain…heh.

– Mike

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:29:45 +0000

Initial suspicions were correct, I just got an e-mail from one of the guys at aafradio.org:

Hi Jeff,

These are the IF transformers that are components of the Navy ARA, USAAF BC-946, and AN R-24/ARC-5 broadcast band (520-1500kHz) receivers. They may be some spares that were produced in large quantities during the war. Nice find! These were less common than the other receivers of the period, primarily being for localizer systems that were not deployed in large quantities.

Best wishes,
Mike

So it looks like it’s not just an inductor but an IF transformer – I guess it still qualifies as a “coil”.

The can has already become a pencil holder, not sure what I am going to do with the transformer yet.

By: Windell Oskay

Windell Oskay — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 07:31:18 +0000

From the same page where you got that photo: “Aircraft Radio Corporation.”

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 23:39:50 +0000

What if Digikey packaged all their shipments this way?

By: nuzz

nuzz — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:47:57 +0000

Can you imagine the disappointment of a person stranded on an island in the pacific ocean, when this can washes up on the shore

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:20:18 +0000

Windell - The knob does turn. It's hard to tell if it's actually doing anything or just spinning in place. A clever reader points out that this might be part of an ARC command set, like the ARC-5 There is a photo of something very similar on a page about the original ARC type K here: and lots more photos of this monstrous transceiver station on this page.

By: Windell Oskay

Windell Oskay — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:18:07 +0000

Neat.

Looks like preservation method 2D means “Waterproof bag, sealed”:
http://www.dscc.dla.mil/Offices/Packaging/presmthdconvert.html

I would agree that 239 KC means 239 kHz– that was a fairly common abbreviation.

Does the knob on the top turn?