Military Collector Post,Oct.10/97 Index; HT-1 ON 6 METERS; TONKIN HEATHKIT?? REASONS FOR POST! I GOT REAL INTERNET COMMIN!! MEMBER PROFILE #1, GET THE BALL ROLLING;Me MEMBER PROFILE; Kevin Hough MEMBER PROFILE; Mark Blair MEMBER PROFILE; John Mackesy **************************************************** HT-1 ON 6 METERS; Hi Dennis, I'll take some exception to your comments regarding the "Village Radio" as only good for looking at. I've converted a pair of HT-1's to six meters and they are a kick to use at hamfests. And when the band opens - DX! (I hope). For those who are offended by ham-band mods, I guess you are probably right, they're a shelf-item (unless you crystal up the HT-2 so you can call in air strikes!). 73, Bob W9RAN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I once tried to get one of my HT-1's to work on 46.85mc(cordless phone freq) for the kids to play with. Out of the box, it wouldn't work there. I do have one on 10mtrs. I would think however that some coil cuttin would need be done to make one work on 6mtrs. If this is the case, please don't do it to one of the set's that has the foreign language label(most likely Vietnamese) or the early sets that have cast aluminum bezels, as these are pretty rare. If one of the resent Florida dumps, no big deal. I've never seen the actual specs for the HT-2's VHF coverage, the Lowband is the same as the HT-1. It might be possible to make one work on 2mtrs. I haven't had the time to mess with mine. Besides the HT-1 on 10mtrs, I also have an FM-1 on 2mtrs, FM-2 on 6mtrs, FM-5 on 2mtrs & an FM-7 in 6mtrs. I'd like to know what you had to do to make your HT-1 work on 6. Your not gonna do much air strike callin on the Cival VHF Aircraft band anymore, use of that band by fighters has been overwith for over 25 years. Dennis *************************************************************** TONKIN HEATHKIT?? Last April the oneth I got involved in a post about a $1200 HeathKit "Tonkin Gulf lunchbox" used in Vietnam. Well.....we did have something similar.... but I didn't realize the post was an April fools joke. Hell, every damn deployment was a mean joke. Recently during work in a nasty, dirty, hot and sandy place I met a guy who was in country at approx the the same time but flying in P5 Marlin seaplanes over us water types. He remembered the set too! PRC-33! Anyone else recall the set?? Ed Zeranski This is a private opinion or statement. home email: ezeran@cris.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed, Bill Howard is in a better possition to comment, as this is his area of expertize. But the Vietcong were known to assemble Heathkits into 50 caliber ammo cans, as well as a number of home brew rigs. There were several radios you could have seen that might at a distance be taken for a heathkit, & some were nerely as simple. The PRC-39 or PRC-40 would fall right into this category. The PRC-33 however was quite large & was never entended to be operated while in motion. It would have made about 4 lunchboxes. If indeed the set was any of those mentioned here, I'd like to know in what capacity they were being used. Below is a complete description of the PRC-33. Dennis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRC-33/RT-339;Handcarried VHF,FM portable transceiver.Adoption of a militarized commercial radio set Type PS-40 Model HC by Industrial Radio. System designed as a complete portable station.It can be used as a hand carried or pack set,& as a semifixed ground station.Provided with a weatherproof canvas bag for protection under extreme weather conditions.It was widely sold for Civil Defence use and even military examples may display the CD emblem. Ops on any one xtal control channel between 30-42mc,with an RF output power of 750mw.Requires 1.5v(Burgess 8F),45v,& 135v(both B voltages supplied by multiple Burgess M-39 batteries),a 110vac and various DC vibrator supplies are also known to have been made. Accessories include AT-673(antenna),CY-1916(case),& microphone.Size 4.5 x 10 x 11.5",15lbs.US Navy order date 14 Sept.1955. Ref.#3 ************************************************************* REASONS FOR POST! The reasoning behind posting such items as the above two, are to promote further input such as that provided by Bob & his HT-1 ON 6 METERS. It is not to show off my vast intellect. We all want to know more about the equipment in our collection, & in most cases their history is of the utmost importance. If you have additional input or wish to rebut anything I've written on any subject presented, please contribute. This is the purpose of our group. Dennis ************************************************************* I GOT REAL INTERNET COMMIN!! I just paid the big bucks, got a real internet server. Software should be here in a feu day's. Along with it I'll get a 5meg home page. Don't know what to do with it, but I'm sure somthin will be figgure out. The new Email address will be milradio@*&%$#.net(I firget) but Juno will be maintained for some time to come. I hope this one don't fall through like GTE did. Dennis Starks; MILITARY RADIO COLLECTOR/HISTORIAN military-radio-guy@juno.com ************************************************************** MEMBER PROFILE #1, GET THE BALL ROLLING; Something about myself to get the ball rolling. As you all know, my birthday was a couple days ago, just turned 40, didn't get a cash consolation one! Just a bunch of sympathy & BS philosophy. I entered service with the US Navy in 1976, graduating as a Radioman 2nd in 1980, with final discharge from service in 1982. For the most part I was stationed aboard USS John F. Kennedy,( the ass kickenist aircraft carrier in service), with TAD duties in Iran, Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula, & a few places I didn't know the name of. For the most part, these TAD duties involved baby sitting Marines that were to dumb to find the On/Off switch on a radio. Carry equipment in this capacity was a PRC-25 or 41, & a 30M1 Carbine(yes a 30 M1 carb), was either this an M14,BAR or M60. These were the only things in the ships armory other than 1911's & Smith 38 Aircrewman, & I wasn't pistol qualified. I came home from the Navy one major mal-contented SOB. Having learned one thing, If your good at anything, Don't Let Anybody Know It! Good, Competent, Proficient, Intelligent, can all be translated to SHIT FUNNEL. I tried to start collecting military gear before my returning home from the service, but I kept getting caught. So it all really started after my return in 1980. I once collected about everything that would glow in the dark, with or without power applied. I had walls in the house made from old tube type CB's, Ham ,& commercial rigs of every description. One day an old & very dear friend(the late N0RB) gave me an RT-70 & the stage was set. One day, about ten years ago, I could no longer get the door open on my house for all the radios piled inside, my bed was a mattress draped over two B&W 5100's with a half sheet of plywood. The next day, my mother informed me of her resent purchase of one of those tents on wheels(pop top camper), I barrowed it & it was my home for the next couple months. I had to make a decision! Live in the camper untill it too was full of radios & my mother's threat's became reality, or consolidate my collecting interest to one type of equipment. The answer was clear, MILITARY PORTABLE!!! This for several reasons as follows in order of importance. #1. They all were part of our history & had a story to tell. No other such piece of radio equipment could boast this. #2. They weren't very big, so a bunch of them could be horded into the limited space available. #3. I already had a fixation on the things because of my personal experience with them. #4. They were cheap! Nobody wanted them. I cleaned out many a garage, closet, shed, barn, & drug home tons of equipment that had been taken to a hamfest but wouldn't sell. All with pennies, or nothin spent. We all know this has changed now!! I've been an electronic technician sense the age of 14 when I went to work a rip off radio & TV service shop in Independence Mo. After working at more than just a few of these type shops I came to the realization that they were all crooked as hell, & went into business for myself in 1981. In the last 5 years or so STARKS ELECTRONICS has been my sole business. You may have seen my adds in ART for used business band radio equipment. There are now well over 300 6mtr repeaters built from GE Mastr II's or Motorola Micor's strung all over the US, built from radios supplied by me. From 1982 untill 1992 I also had a gun shop here on 65 hwy, but two things put a stop to that. First & foremost was Billy's suggestion that we all supply finger prints, & mug shot's along with the floor plans, & all security systems in place at our place of business, & if your home joined it, it too. Second, the strange people that a GUNS sign on a major highway began to attract. Enough for now. Dennis Starks; MILITARY RADIO COLLECTOR/HISTORIAN military-radio-guy@juno.com ************************************************************** MEMBER PROFILE; Well, here it is I am interseted in collecting handheld and backpack portable radios of Korean and Vietnam war eras. I am also interested in mobile radios of the same vintage, especially RT 67, 68 series and components. One reason I collect military radios is for use in "living history " displays that the museum group to which I belong puts on. I began my collecting with a PRC-25 which I use as part of a Vietnam war RTO uniform display. This display was well received, and I have begun to look for other pieces to display. Although I may be the only one at these events who knows it, I strive to display, whenever feasible, working units. Also this past summer I purchased a Dodge M-37 3/4 ton weapons carrier which came with a RT-67 transceiver and rack. It is my hope to display this truck with a working mobile radio installation. I believe that it is imporatnt to include radio equipment in our displays because of the degree of design and technology that these peices represent for the era. I also believe that we should try and show as many peices of historic equipment as possible as a tribute to the people who both used and designed them. Lastly, I collect military radios because my long standing obsession with military gear has mingeled with my interest in radio in general and Ham radio as a hobby. MY ADDRESS Kevin Hough 3360 200th St. W Farmington MN. 55024-9707 MY PHONE (612) 460-8458 MY E-MAIL KG0QE@juno.com Kevin Hough KG0QE Farmington, MN. KG0QE@juno.com ************************************************************ MEMBER PROFILE; Mark Blair military-radio-guy@juno.com (Dennis R Starks) done wrote: > So EVERYBODY send me a completely new Want/trade list. Hope to be > able to post all by Sunday night/Monday morning. I just recently bought a house (I outgrew the old apartment, partly because of the large deposits of green electronics behind every chair, sofa, table and closet door!), and I am busy painting things, moving walls around, and pulling new dedicated power circuits into the future radio room. For now, my radio-related hobbies are on hold and in storage until their new radio room/workshop is done (probably a few more months of weekends), so my have/want list is temporarily "empty". I think I'll need to get a T-195 to match my R-392 sometime (I'm pulling 240V into the radio room to help feed the power supply...), but it'll be a few months before I'm ready to start accumulating the heavy green stuff again. I'm hoping to get my workshop up and running in time to get some gear ready for next year's military radio collector's group (MRCG) meeting. > Member profiles; I'd like to compile a member profile, it should > include the following. > #1), your interest in collecting, what? > #2), your full name & email address(at least) > #3),why you collect? 1) My collection is currently mostly 1950's ground-pounder FM gear around 50 MHz (like the RT-68 and other similar gear). I'm potentially interested in anything I can use on a Ham band. I'm currently a no-code tech, but I eventually plan to upgrade so I have an excuse to get more HF gear. I'm interested in newer gear, too, but just haven't managed to afford too much of it yet. Test equipment that helps me work on my green radios interests me, too. I'm less interested in older gear than in the 1950's and later stuff. My oldest piece of gear is a 1943 BC-221M, and my newest piece of gear is a Trimpack GPS receiver (I think I got one of the last ones Fair sold out of last year's catalog). Both work great; a lot of the in-between stuff needs a lot of fixin', though! 2) Mark J. Blair 3) Why do I like the green stuff? I'm an engineer. With most non-military stuff, you can't engineer it very much before it gets too expensive; most civvy gear seems pretty flimsy to me. Most of the military gear was obviously designed with much more emphasis on function than on cost (for example, look at the amazing workmanship of the R-392, and compare it to most civilian gear from the same era). That appeals to me. Oh, and there are all of the other usual reasons, too: They're big, they're heavy, they're smelly, they're green! -- Mark J. Blair KE6MYK e-mail: mblair@gruumsh.irv.ca.us ************************************************************* MEMBER PROFILE; John Mackesy John Mackesy PO Box 87 Mt. 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