REQ: Narco Superhomer Photo

[RST Engineering]

Does anybody have a digital photo in fairly high res of an old Narco
Superhomer that they would be willing to copy to me for an article I'm doing
for both Oshkosh forum and a Kitplanes column? A VC-27Z would do just as
well. If you've got a good photo and can upload it to your web page FTP
server, I'd be happy to do the download.

What I'm really after is to show the little "transmit" light just under the
receiver dial.

For those of you who came into this game too late to "enjoy" this little
rascal, it gave you your choice of four (count 'em again, FOUR) transmit
channels and a slide-rule type tuner that would go all the way from 108-126
MHz. in one continuous band. That little "transmit" light was really
neat -- it actually stole a little power directly from the transmit antenna
port so that you knew for a fact that the transmitter was mitting. It also
flickered in time with your voice so you knew that the microphone was doing
its job also -- so far as I know, this was the last device to have both a
positive RF and audio indication of transmit.

Those were the REAL days of voice-over-VOR, because once you dialed the VOR
in, there was no way to switch back and forth between the COM and NAV bands.
At some point, one of the smarter troops at Narco put in a little switch
called "whistle-stop tuning" that turned the transmitter on at micropower
and let you zero-beat the receiver to the crystal so that you were on the
correct channel.

I went from San Diego to Boston in a C-120 behind one of these boxes and
didn't know any better.

Jim

[john smith]

Jim, what years was it produced?
(I may have some old magazines with an ad.)

[Gene Seibel]

Search for Superhomer on Ebay. 23 hours left.
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.


RST Engineering wrote:
> Does anybody have a digital photo in fairly high res of an old Narco
> Superhomer that they would be willing to copy to me for an article I'm doing
> for both Oshkosh forum and a Kitplanes column? A VC-27Z would do just as
> well. If you've got a good photo and can upload it to your web page FTP
> server, I'd be happy to do the download.
>
> What I'm really after is to show the little "transmit" light just under the
> receiver dial.
>
> For those of you who came into this game too late to "enjoy" this little
> rascal, it gave you your choice of four (count 'em again, FOUR) transmit
> channels and a slide-rule type tuner that would go all the way from 108-126
> MHz. in one continuous band. That little "transmit" light was really
> neat -- it actually stole a little power directly from the transmit antenna
> port so that you knew for a fact that the transmitter was mitting. It also
> flickered in time with your voice so you knew that the microphone was doing
> its job also -- so far as I know, this was the last device to have both a
> positive RF and audio indication of transmit.
>
> Those were the REAL days of voice-over-VOR, because once you dialed the VOR
> in, there was no way to switch back and forth between the COM and NAV bands.
> At some point, one of the smarter troops at Narco put in a little switch
> called "whistle-stop tuning" that turned the transmitter on at micropower
> and let you zero-beat the receiver to the crystal so that you were on the
> correct channel.
>
> I went from San Diego to Boston in a C-120 behind one of these boxes and
> didn't know any better.
>
> Jim

[Orval Fairbairn]

In article >,
"RST Engineering" > wrote:

> Does anybody have a digital photo in fairly high res of an old Narco
> Superhomer that they would be willing to copy to me for an article I'm doing
> for both Oshkosh forum and a Kitplanes column? A VC-27Z would do just as
> well. If you've got a good photo and can upload it to your web page FTP
> server, I'd be happy to do the download.

Yes, I remember the "Stupidhomer" and spent a few hours behind some of
them back in the late 50s-early 60s.

I also remember the joy of actually having 90 comm channels that you
could reliably pull up, as well as discrete nav channels, a la KX-100s
and Mk 12s.

--
Remove _'s from email address to talk to me.

[Franklin Newton]

No NARCO photo, but I have a Nova-Tech with power supply (no vor head) for
your collection.

"RST Engineering" > wrote in message
...
> Does anybody have a digital photo in fairly high res of an old Narco
> Superhomer that they would be willing to copy to me for an article I'm
doing
> for both Oshkosh forum and a Kitplanes column? A VC-27Z would do just as
> well. If you've got a good photo and can upload it to your web page FTP
> server, I'd be happy to do the download.
>
> What I'm really after is to show the little "transmit" light just under
the
> receiver dial.
>
> For those of you who came into this game too late to "enjoy" this little
> rascal, it gave you your choice of four (count 'em again, FOUR) transmit
> channels and a slide-rule type tuner that would go all the way from
108-126
> MHz. in one continuous band. That little "transmit" light was really
> neat -- it actually stole a little power directly from the transmit
antenna
> port so that you knew for a fact that the transmitter was mitting. It
also
> flickered in time with your voice so you knew that the microphone was
doing
> its job also -- so far as I know, this was the last device to have both a
> positive RF and audio indication of transmit.
>
> Those were the REAL days of voice-over-VOR, because once you dialed the
VOR
> in, there was no way to switch back and forth between the COM and NAV
bands.
> At some point, one of the smarter troops at Narco put in a little switch
> called "whistle-stop tuning" that turned the transmitter on at micropower
> and let you zero-beat the receiver to the crystal so that you were on the
> correct channel.
>
> I went from San Diego to Boston in a C-120 behind one of these boxes and
> didn't know any better.
>
> Jim
>
>

[Montblack]

("Gene Seibel" wrote)
> Search for Superhomer on Ebay. 23 hours left.


http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q6694323B
E-Bay Narco Superhomer, Radio, Vintage Aircraft, NR


Montblack
High bidder :-)

[Scott]

Jim,
I'll take a look at my dad's house. We removed the Superhomer from the
family Cessna 140 back in the 80s and replaced it with an RST-572 from
some place that sold radio kits in California. ;)

Seems to me, the Superhomer was more like 10 or 12 channels. The
receiver dial indicator was circular. The designation on ours was
VHT-3. Is this the same model you are looking for? I do remember the
incandescent light bulb for transmit...

Scott
N0EDV


RST Engineering wrote:
> Does anybody have a digital photo in fairly high res of an old Narco
> Superhomer that they would be willing to copy to me for an article I'm doing
> for both Oshkosh forum and a Kitplanes column? A VC-27Z would do just as
> well. If you've got a good photo and can upload it to your web page FTP
> server, I'd be happy to do the download.
>
> What I'm really after is to show the little "transmit" light just under the
> receiver dial.
>
> For those of you who came into this game too late to "enjoy" this little
> rascal, it gave you your choice of four (count 'em again, FOUR) transmit
> channels and a slide-rule type tuner that would go all the way from 108-126
> MHz. in one continuous band. That little "transmit" light was really
> neat -- it actually stole a little power directly from the transmit antenna
> port so that you knew for a fact that the transmitter was mitting. It also
> flickered in time with your voice so you knew that the microphone was doing
> its job also -- so far as I know, this was the last device to have both a
> positive RF and audio indication of transmit.
>
> Those were the REAL days of voice-over-VOR, because once you dialed the VOR
> in, there was no way to switch back and forth between the COM and NAV bands.
> At some point, one of the smarter troops at Narco put in a little switch
> called "whistle-stop tuning" that turned the transmitter on at micropower
> and let you zero-beat the receiver to the crystal so that you were on the
> correct channel.
>
> I went from San Diego to Boston in a C-120 behind one of these boxes and
> didn't know any better.
>
> Jim
>
>

[RST Engineering]

Late '50s through mid '60s.

Jim


"john smith" > wrote in message
. ..
> Jim, what years was it produced?
> (I may have some old magazines with an ad.)

[nrp]

The VHT-1 had only 4 channel transmit, the VHT-3 (pre-solo for me) was
the 10-12 channel. Remember the funky OBS system with the 12 position
switch etc? or asking for a short count from the tower for tuning with
the coffee grinder knob?

There was a later Narco (Mark II?) with "whistle stop tuning" and a
continuous edge mounted OBS. I recall it had 27 channels of transmit &
was legal for IFR. It was really big time.

Jim - I thought I had a manual for the VHT-3 but can't find it. How
times have changed.