A version of vacuum arc ion source has been developed and constructed at the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow, for use with a heavy ion radio frequency quadrupole linac. The source is operated in a pulsed mode with a pulse length from 5 to 120 &mgr;s and a repetition rate of from 1/8 to 1 pps. The injection voltage is up to 90 kV depending on the kind of ions being used, and the beam current at the injector output is up to 500 mA. The results described in this article were made at a beam current of from 10 to 100 mA. In order to obtain ions having a charge‐to‐mass ratio of about 1/60, metals such as Cu, Mo, Ta, W, and Pb were used as the cathode material. Volt‐ampere characteristics and charge state distributions were measured. The charge state spectral variation was investigated throughout the arc current pulse duration as well as the dependence of the mean charge state of the beam ions on the melting point of the cathode material.