MILITARY
COLLECTOR GROUP POST, July 15/98Index:
US MILITARY
PORTABLE RADIOS; PART III, By Alan D. Tasker
WA1NYR
MEMBERS WRITE;
Obit, General Peter C. Hains III,
Functional Web Sites,
PRC-14 Picture,
Dave's a Dumb Shit!
NON-MEMBER STUFF;
Free BC-640,
Pogo Stick Manual Needed,
HUMOR;
***********************************************
US MILITARY
PORTABLE RADIOS; PART III,
By
Alan D. Tasker WA1NYR
<atasker@ix.netcom.com>
Multi Band
Portables
There has been a
trend to develop, for some applications, tactical portable
radios that cover
more than one tactical band. The list is
as follows.
1. The first was
the AN/PRC-70, chart 4. It covers the HF
spectrum as well
as the Tactical
VHF frequencies. Harris' PRC-138, chart
4 also, is a more
modern type
covering these same two bands. It is in
use by U.N. Land Force
Elements.
2. The already
mentioned AN/PRC-113, chart 3, covers both the VHF and UHF
aircraft bands.
3. The Scope
Shield Program developed PRC-128 and PRC-139, chart 6.
4. Harris
developed the PRC-117D, which covers the Tactical VHF (low) band,
VHF high band
(aircraft and mobile) as well as Tactical UHF (including
SATCOM), chart
2. Note: SATCOM is effected using FM
within the 225-400 MHz
military aircraft
(generally AM) band. The Marines and the
Seals are
apparently using
some number of these radios.
5. The Motorola
developed AN/URC-1xx series, chart 7.
These are two band
radios, all of
which include the tactical UHF (AM) frequencies, including
SATCOM (FM) as
the first band. The second band can be
tactical VHF, or high VHF, or
??? The Army is apparently using some
number of the URC-100
for voice and the
URC-110 for data. The Navy Seals
apparently have some
number of URC-110
sets also.
Unknowns
There are a lot
of AN/PRC-XYZ numbers unaccounted for.
Some of these were
concepts that
never made it further, while other programs may have made it
to the prototype
stage. Still others may have been
limited fielding trials
of a particular
device to test it out. The following
numbers have appeared
on real hardware,
but the story behind why remains a mystery to me.
Surely, somebody
out there knows the story.
Although the PRC-117 and URC-1xx units are
described above, this is only
the
"what". The "why'"
remains elusive.
PRC-116, the Racal Jaguar V, 30-88 MHz ECCM
unit, Racal #BC-66H
PRC-124, a Collins MP-83
TRC-77 HF rig
Battery Technolog
Where there's a portable, there's a
battery. They come in two classes,
Primary (use it
once and throw it away)(nomenclatured BA-xxx), and
Secondary
(rechargeable)(nomenclatured BB-xxx).
The bottom line is that
primary batteries
offer longer life per use, but of course, they can't be
recharged.
During WWII, there were only three types of
batteries used in portables,
Lead Acid
rechargeable (for units with vibrator power supplies), Carbon
Zinc for most of
the rest, or Mercury (rescue radios only).
Today, there
are a bewildering
number of chemistries out there, including but not
limited to the
following.
Primary
Alkaline, certainly low cost.
Magnesium, on the scene until Lithium came
along.
Lithium/Sulfur Dioxide, the king of the hill
for now.
Secondary
Lead Acid, liquid, gel, or starved electrolyte
types, old venerable but
heavy and has a
tendency to sulfate.
Silver, stayed for a short time.
Nickel-Cadmium, lighter weight but has memory
effect, usage is fading.
Nickel Metal Hydride, twice the energy density
of the NiCad, and with no
memory effect,
but expensive.
Lithium Ion may be coming soon.
The goal is to
obtain the highest energy density (watt-hours per unit
volume (cubic
inches)) at the lowest possible cost.
Unfortunately, some of
the highest
performers are also the most expensive.
However, some work
over the past few
years in Lead Acid technology has shown that proper
charging
techniques (pulse) can forestall sulfation, the chief cause of
failure in this
cell chemistry. Apparently, the increase in life can be up
to 10 times. For a cash starved Military, this could be a
Godsend. One of
the unfortunate
characteristics of secondary batteries, however, is that
most if not all
of them have a self discharge rate of 1-3% per day at 25
degrees C, worse
as it gets hotter.
References and
Other Sources of Information (in no particular order)
1. The Technical
Manuals of the Individual Radios Listed, and other general
Military
documents.
2. "History
of the Squad Radio", Marvin W. Curtis, US Army Electronics
Command, Report #
ECOM-4451.
3. "The Army
in World War II", "The Signal Corps", a three volume set.
4. Various news
articles published by the Armed Services over the years.
5. Richard
Lacroix (PRC-25, 77, 66, 68,126, 70,104, and Canadian types
PRC-515, 521)
(
http://www.milspec.ca/)
6. Tom Norris
(
The Mil Commo Equip List)
(http://www.telalink.net/~badger/millist/mi.html
)
7. David Ross
(TBY, PRC-14, 38) (
http://www.hypertools.com
)
8. MRCG
(SCR-536/BC-611) (http://www.mrcgwest.org/)
9. Joseph W.
Pinner, KC5IJD
(
http://bellsouthpwp2.net/k/c/kc5ijd/)
10. Dan Foglton
11. Kurt Lesser
(
http://www.mvccnews.net/)
12. The U.S. Army
Signal Corps Museum (SCR/BC info)
(
http://www.signal.army.mil/ocos/museum/)
13. Information
on "The Web", such as battery data, Signal Corps info on
the AN/PRC-104,
126, 127 (drawings), AN/URC-100, 110, and SINCGARS, Marine
Corps info on the
AN/PRC-113 and 136, Navy Seal info on the AN/PRC-117,
AN/URC-110, Air
Force info on the Hook-112 and CSEL SAR programs and the
Scope Shield
Program, UN info on the AN/PRC-138, the COPAS-SARSAT satellite
tracking SAR
system, the web sites for:
Motorola, Harris, Racal, Fair Radio
Sales, Toronto
Surplus, and Mike Murphy Surplus listings.
14. "U.S.
Military Combat Aircrew Individual Survival Equipment, WWII to
present, a
reference guide for the collector", Michael S. Breuninger
15. ECOM reports
#0319-1 and 0319-4, first and fourth quarterly reports on
the development
of Radio Set AN/PRC-70.
17. Steve's Green
Pages (PRC-64A) ( http://www.users.bigpond.com/SHILL/
18. SIP (SINCGARS
Improvement Program) Portable information; see the
following URLs
and some of their links.
(http://jointventure.monroe.army.mil/dbpages/INIBATT335.htm#topics
),
(http://www.gordon.army.mil/dcd/tfxxi/htmlgta/gta-toc.htm
),
(http://www.monmouth.army.mil/cecom/lrc/forcexxi/comm/sigsipgd.html
).
19. Pete McCollum
(See the link to his write-up on the GRC-109, etc in
reference 6.).
20. http://www.discworld.net/surplus/radio/PRC47.htm
Charts listed in
the text are available from the author via email.
***********************************************
MEMBERS WRITE;
To Post Everlasting: Peter C. Hains III,
General
EXCERPT: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- Peter C.
Hains III, an Army major general
who later was
deputy director in the office of the defense secretary, died
July 3. He was
97. A 1924 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, Hains
competed in the
Olympics in 1932 as part of the equestrian team. During
World War
II, Hains served as a commander of the First
Armored Regiment in North
Africa. He was also an armored adviser for the
European invasion and
helped plan the
invasion of Japan. He returned to Washington following the war.
After serving as deputy director of the office
of the secretary of
defense, he was
later deputy commanding general of the Second Army, and later
served as chief
of military advisory groups in Yugoslavia and Thailand. He
retired in 1961
as deputy chief of staff for plans and operations in the
Pacific..."
This copyrighted
report cannot be
reproduced in its entirety=7F
here. However,
you can read it in full
today at the following
URL. (Combine the
following lines into
your web browser),
Here is the web
site that works as someone said it was not working.
World Wars Resource Guide
http://members.aol.com/veterans/warlib6d.htm
http://members.aol.com/veterans/warlib6d.htm"
World Wars
Resource Guide
THE WILLIAM L.
HOWARD ORDNANCE TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE
MUSEUM
e-mail
wlhoward@gte.net Telephone AC 727- 585-7756
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's a picture
of the PRC-14 radio that Alan talks about in his
article. If ever the military had a piece of equipment
that looks just
like "The
Jetson's", this is it. Let us
observe a moment of silence for
those who
sacrificed their pride and dignity in for the defense of our
country at
http://www.hypertools.com/homepage.html
Sean T.
Kelly sean_k@hotmail.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave's a Dumb
Shit!
Dumbness on my
part. I got a somewhat confused email ( 2, actually ) from , I
believe, a Dave
with the text in CAPITALS with comments about my need for a xtal
and parts for
the BC 312. Somehow (?) I dumped his 2 messages before I really
read them. He
said he was looking for RT 70 And was into PRC 8/9/10's. Believe
he had a 312
or 342 for parts or restoration ( case needed paint ?)
in your sunday
list. All my Juno memory got zapped 2 wks ago, so I can't look
back. Got any
clues for me ?
Dave
Sundheimer W0NBZ
w0nbz@juno.com Burnsville (near Minneapolis) Minnesota
***********************************************
NON-MEMBER STUFF;
Free BC-640,
Saw ur ad in Am
Rad Trader. I have a BC 640 in 'GOOD'
shape... Was working when put in storage
about 20 yr ago... Rig is rack mounted,
VHF, AM.. stands ~6ft. high and weighs
~ 500 #... I've been trying to find a
home for it... FREE if you pick up in
West Palm Beach area....
73 de Bob, W4KOG It's all there
with manual... Reply Email.<w4kog@juno.com>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pogo Stick Manual
Needed,
Wonder if you
have or know where I could get a copy of TM 11-245
for the BC-745.
Thanks,
Buzz <buzzm@reno.rmci.net>
***********************************************
HUMOR;
German scientists
dug 50 meters underground and discovered small
pieces of copper.
After studying these pieces for a long time, Germany announced
that the ancient
Germans 25,000 years ago had a nationwide telephone
network.
Naturally, the
British government was not that easily impressed. They
ordered their own
scientists to dig even deeper. 100 meters down, they
found small
pieces of glass, and they soon announced that the ancient
Brits 35,000
years ago already had a nationwide fibre net.
Israeli
scientists were outraged. They dug 50, 100 and 200 meters
underground, but
found absolutely nothing...
They concluded
that the ancient Hebrews 55,000 years ago had cellular
telephones.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, the creator of the world-famous detective,
Sherlock Holmes,
was not above telling tales about himself in which he
was the
laughing-stock. Here is one of those stories. As he tells it,
he was waiting at
a taxi- stand outside the railway station in Paris. When a
taxi pulled up,he
put his suitcase in it and got in himself.
As he
was about to tell
the taxi-driver where he wanted to go, the driver asked him:
"Where can I
take you, Mr. Doyle?'' Doyle was
flabbergasted. He asked the driver
whether he knew him by
sight. The driver said: "No Sir, I have never
seen you before.'' The
puzzled Doyle
asked him what made him think that he was Conan Doyle. The
driver replied:
"This morning's paper had a story about you being on vacation
in
Marseilles. This is the taxi-stand where
people who return from
Marseilles always
come to. Your skin colour tells me you
have been on vacation.
The ink-spot on
your right index finger suggests to me that you are a
writer. Your
clothing is very English, and not French. Adding up all those
pieces
of information, I
deduce that you are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."
Doyle said:
"This is truly amazing. You are a real-life counter-part
to my fictional
creation, Sherlock Holmes." "There is
one other thing,'' the driver said. "What is
that?''
"Your name
is on the front of your suitcase.''
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul got off the
elevator on the 40th floor and nervously knocked on
his blind date's
door. She opened it and was as beautiful and charming
as everyone had
said. "I'll be
ready in a few minutes," she said. "Why don't you play with
Rollo while
you're waiting?" He does wonderful tricks. He rolls over,
shakes hands,
sits up and if you make a hoop with your arms, he'll
jump
through." The dog followed
Paul onto the balcony and started rolling over. Paul
made a hoop with
his arms and Rollo jumped through -- and over the
balcony railing.
Just then Paul's date walked out. "Isn't Rollo
the cutest, happiest dog you've ever seen?" "To tell the he truth,
" he replied, "he seemed a little depressed
to me."
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MELVIN DURAI'S
HUMOR COLUMN
"ARRANGED
MARRIAGES TEND TO LAST"
Ever since I
turned 30, my mom's vocabulary
seems to have
gradually shrunk. It now consists
of only about
five words, usually arranged to
form this
question: "When are you getting married?" If I had a nickel
for every time I've heard the
question, I'd be
able to afford a mail-order bride.
Maybe even one
who can speak English. My mom and others
ask the marriage question so
often, I'm
tempted to tattoo the answer on my
forehead:
"I'm a journalist, not a psychic." But if I did
that, my mom and I would never talk.
She'd just look
at my forehead and shake her
head. And her
expression would say: "Where
did I go wrong
with this child?" Sometimes, just
for fun, I feel like scaring my
mom by saying I
won't get married until one of
these things
happen:
---Ken Starr
completes his investigation.
---Ross Perot
produces a chart-topping rap
song. "My
name is Ross, just call me boss.
When I become
your president, the interns will
be more
hesitant."
---Ellen
Degeneres and Elton John fall madly in
love -- with each
other.
---A pair of
Amish men are arrested for selling
drugs. (OK, this
already happened. But I still
don't believe
it.)
It's not that I
don't believe in marriage. I just
believe it should
involve two people who love
each other so
much, they're willing to risk
living together. It's certainly a
big risk. If the marriage goes sour,
you can lose some
of your most prized
possessions. Just
ask John Bobbitt. But I could be
wrong about the importance of
love. After all,
millions of people in my native
country, India,
believe in arranged marriages,
even though such
marriages sometimes produce
children like me. The families of
the bride and groom usually do
the arranging,
uniting two people who hardly
know each other.
The honeymoon is like a first
date, except
you're certain to get past first base. To many
Americans, an arranged marriage may
seem more like a
deranged marriage. But such
marriages tend to
last. Divorces in India are as
rare as hamburger
joints. Like me, most
Americans believe in falling in love
before marriage.
Many even believe in falling in
bed before
marriage. The only mystery left for the
honeymoon is
whether the hotel accepts
American Express. Considering the
soaring divorce rate, such
marriages are
more suspect than O.J. Simpson. So maybe David
Weinlick has the right idea. About
four years ago,
the Minnesota man got tired of
people asking
when he was going to get married.
So he just gave
them a stock answer:
June 13, 1998. He
even planned the entire wedding,
the first man
ever to do so. But an essential part of
the wedding was
missing. No, not the wine -- the
bride. Weinlick, 28,
decided to let his friends pick his bride,
after they
interviewed a couple of dozen women
in several
states, including the state of desperation. He married the
bride-elect, Elizabeth Runze,
before 2,000
shoppers at the Mall of America. And he was all
smiles afterward. That could mean
the wedding was a
big success. Or perhaps
Weinlick had been
licking too much wine.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you wake up in
the morning feeling sleepy and grumpy? Then you must be Snow
White!
-- David Frost
***********************************************
(The preceding
was a product of the"Military Collector Group Post", an
international
email magazine dedicated to the preservation of history and the
equipment that
made it. Unlimited circulation of this material is authorized so
long as the
proper credits to the original authors, and publisher or this
group are
included. For more information conserning this group contact
Dennis Starks at,
military-radio-guy@juno.com)
***********************************************