[Milsurplus] bc-348 design question

[John Hutchins]

When receiving SSB signals, with the BFO on, seems that strong signals 
swamp the injected BFO signal.

I wish I had an opportunity to  talk, read, about the design 
considerations  made by the RCA designers on the BC-348.   After some 
time looking at the circuit and playing with the restored R version; 
Questions formed -

Why was the 2 IF not set to some predefined gain ,  with the cathode 
resistor to ground,  and with and AGC-AVC directly applied to the grid 
of the second IF; regardless of the MVC-AVC switch position ?

IMO this would have stabilized the BFO circuit since I can hear a slight 
pitch change when adjusting the MVC when listening to SSB transmissions?

The military wen to the trouble of adding in  a squelch circuit.  Why 
was there not a mod for the BFO  / 2 IF circuit to make SSB reception a 
bit better?

Hutch