TS-164 Version of the BC-221

The TS-164 was a repackaging of the BC-221 to achieve some of the in-flight benefits enjoyed by Navy operators with their permanently mounted LM series frequency meters. It eliminated dragging the BC-221 out from its storage location, the risk of sagging internal batteries on long flights, and made for a visually clean installation - the top of the TS-164 is at the same height as the BC-348. It sits on a shock mount that looks very much like the one for the AN/ARC-5 (and related) command set modulators, but the spacing is slightly different.



It was primarily intended to be used with the BC-224/348 receivers, but wasn't restricted to those particular sets. The TS-164 case had a unique filament current sensing relay that responded to the main power switch of the BC-221, simultaneously applying B+ from the receiver dynamotor without requiring any rewiring of the BC-221 installed in the CY-182/AR shell. In that sense, it was a clever exercise in minimalism. There is a curious use of a 6S6 145 volt light bulb to drop the B+ from the ~210 volt dynamotor B+ in the BC-348, but the lamp is not operated anywhere full brilliance. It only drops the voltage to the VR-105 by about 30 volts DC. I suspect that a standard 6S6 130 volt lamp would do just as well.


Components in rear compartment needed to provide power when BC-221 power switch is turned on.
Unfortunately, these components were often stripped out to convert the set to 115vac.


Power was provided by soldering this cable onto three of the pins in the BC-348 rear power plug.

There was apparently an official Tech Order - AN 16-25TS164-2 May 1945 (33 pages) - produced at the end of the war, but I have never run across one. Below is the preliminary "manual" enclosed with each TS-164.

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