MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, July 17/98 Index: ANNOUNCEMENTS; US MILITARY PORTABLE RADIOS; Discussion MEMBERS WRITE; HUMOR; *********************************************** ANNOUNCEMENTS; Well, Ike, and I are off to another hamfest this weekend, this one in Washington Mo.(just outside St. Louis). We'll have a radio set up on 51mc, and maybe another on 51.6.We'll also have one up on 146.56, and If time allows before I leave in the morning(the hamfest is Sunday) I hope to also have an HF station ready for use, so also listen up on 3885, or elsewhere on the bands(KB0SFP, and WB0AAQ). Last weekends PHD Hamfest in Kansas City was a total bust for green radios, there wasn't even any black, or haze gray ones(and this the largest hamfest in Missouri, & Kansas! We did have fun though. Dennis *********************************************** US MILITARY PORTABLE RADIOS; Discussion -Dennis, Thank you for your comments. I hope to hear from others as well. I've changed the write up to incorporate your major points and to make other parts clearer. As other info drifts in, I will change again. I do have to correct one statement you made, however...The RT-10, RT-278/URC-10, and RT-278A/URC-10 are all solid state units. The following is from TM 11-5820-640-15 which covers all three sets. "Battery power is provided via an external battery [ed) -16 Volts] connected to the radio set by a waterproof cable (RT-278/URC-10 and RT-278A/URC-10) or by an integral battery pack (ACR RT-10)." There were two types of integral packs described...one where the back cover (K308) had to be removed and tossed and a new cover put on in order to replace the battery, and another where just the battery (K308A) was tossed (this is the type I have). It also says there are RT-10's in the field (Navy) that have a 1/4 wave antenna, and other units (Air Force) with 1/2 wave antennas. The manual goes on to say there were some circuit changes that differentiate the RT-278 from the RT-278A and RT-10. There is a schematic for the RT-278, and a second schematic for the RT-278A and RT-10 serial numbers below 6773, and a third schematic for RT-278A and the RT-10 serial 6773 and up. There's at least two versions of the RT-10 out there that are not crystaled on 243 MHz, The PRC-93 version of the ACR RT-10 had the mechanical volume control, and the RT-20. It's a USMC set and labeled 'Code 1'. The RT-20A was on 251.9 MHz, which is channel B of the training version of the URC-64 (URC-64(T)), is the only frequency in the single frequency training version of the PRC-90 (which is called PRC-90(T), and is one of the frequencies in the two frequency version of the PRC-90(T), 236 MHz being the other. An Air Force Equipment Specialist said it was for training. I would guess he was right. Alan ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have several URC-10s (demiled). They do use a seperate battery like the URC-4 but they are all solid state. I have both the RT-278 and RT-278A. The radios look identical to me, inside and out. The sets I have were made by Bendix Radio and not ACR. Were there competing models for the URC-10? I also have a radio made by Chromalloy Electronics Division that is marked ACR/RT-60B? Ever heard of Chromalloy? This is a dual band unit that looks just like the URC-10 the battery slides on the back. On the PRC-68, I have a prototype that was made by Motorola about 1968. It is sort of sythesised. It is a single channel crystal controlled but all the crystals are included in the package. It uses a crystal oscillator/mixing scheme to cut down on the number of crystals required to cover the 30-76 MHz band. My radio is marked AN/PRC-68 Ser. No. 021, Naval Electronic Systems Command, Motorola Inc. Contract No. N0024-67-C-1427. Do you have any other information on the early development of the PRC-68. Tom Bryan ed) The variants of the ACR family of radios are indeed mind boggling. It would appear to me that the Government model "URC-10" was a spin-off of the manufacture's model number as it would not otherwise fit properly into the chronology of this type equipment, and this would not be the first instance of the practice. I stand corrected on the solid state nature of the early ACR-RT-10, however I do believe that the credit for the first solid state "SAR" radio should really go to the PRC-49(and it's several versions, another NAVY FIRST!) as I believe it pre-dates the ACR's. Another candidate for Oddball SAR radio is the KEL Corp. ASR-100, it used a side folding chrome plated telescoping antenna (ala portable TV set), was all solid state , used the same back-mounted battery as the ACR's, was dual band, had a volume control, & "squelch". The first Squelch control I've ever seen on such a radio. The one in my collection apparently came from Airforce service in a bomber, and It's last inspection was in 1982. Something that I'm at a total loss to understand is this lack of the before mentioned squelch control on all main line radios of this type, even some of those intended for FAC service on the ground. It would seem to me, not even considering operator comfort, that the incorporation of a simple squelch circuit would have at least increased battery life. Your experimental PRC-68 is the first surviving example that I have heard of. I would think that the PRC-68 designation would have been followed by either an (XC-#), or (XE-#) suffix to give us an indication of which generation experimental it was. I wonder if it resembles the pictures presented in FM24-24 1977, and the early Jane's manuals which are also in fact prototypes, though Magnovox was then noted as the supplier? I can tell you from experience that messing around with experimentals is only for the most masochistic of collectors! Chromalloy Electronics Division is a new one on me, and I would not be too concerned about your Bendix marked URC-10. They were most likely just a sub-contractor, or second source supplier(as required in most government contracts). I recently read a so-so article from Electric Radio about the URC-35(R-1051 family) where the author gave credit to Scientific Radio for the design of the set. Credit of course should have gone to General Dynamics. SI was simply a sub-contracted second source. The author's act was like giving Stewart Warner credit for the TCS vice Collins. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dennis, Finally getting around to back email etc after several weeks gone. The US Mil Radio series you posted was a nice piece of work, lots of neat bits of info. A few comments.... While looking for other stuff I found something that maybe related to the early WWII vehicular sets. Its a picture of an SCR-284 mounted in a jeep. The set is fore and aft on the curbside with power coming from a handcranked generator in front of the passenger seat. The radio is clear enough but its impossible to see if the genny is permanently mounted or just stuck in front of the GI doing the cranking. GRC-9s were the primary radio for the Marines during the Lebanon expedition back in '56 or '58. I had a conversation with one of the ex radio ops who served during that time. Those little PRT4/PRT9 sets got cannibalized back in the early '80s as the radios on an early RPV comm relay used in some interesting places, mostly sand covered. A friend gave me a new test/channel set up box for the sets which was passed on to list member Jay Coward. So..if you ever turn up what appears to be a model plane on steroids with PRR/PRTs in it you'll know where it came from. I'm still looking for past notes to find which of the bailout radios we used to build some "primary initial termination devices", low backscatter beacons to call the helo when the bad guys are coming. The model we gutted was Navy with 121.5 and 243Mc beacon tone and voice comm. I think the other source was AN/URT-33A junkers. This will show up as a small folding yagi with the electronics in the 'boom' Do you use the 2259 ant? Believe that I still have a set of related Collins ap notes. If y'all want a copy let me know, will find them. Ed Zeranski This is a private opinion or statement. home email: ezeran@cris.com ed) The SCR-284/Jeep/Hand-crank gen is a real puzzler, and first I've ever heard of such a practice. It sounds more to me like some sort of field expedient devised by some crafty radioman to operate a field radio while mobile without having the proper installation equipment. One of even more grandiose scale, during the exodus of allied troops from Burma during the early days of WW-II, SCR-299's(BC-610) were mounted in JEEPS! The GRC-9/Marines/Lebanon tale is one I'd like very much to learn more about. Get the ex-radio-operator, tie him in a chair, and get the hole story!! I don't even know what a "2259 ant" is. Field Portable repeaters are an interesting subject for which very little is known. Jim Karlow has some sort of set also composed of PRT-4/PRR-9 components into a single package. Years ago I had a most interesting set hand built by Motorola around a single standard PRC-25. It was a simplex repeater that operated using time-domain-sequencing. It really worked, and only had a very slight, almost non-detectable putter in the received signal. Dennis Starks; MILITARY RADIO COLLECTOR/HISTORIAN military-radio-guy@juno.com *********************************************** MEMBERS WRITE; US Military Portable Radios, -Great stuff! Really enjoyed reading it. 73 Joseph W Pinner -Dennis, I often read the postings and dont take the time out to thank you for your efforts and the posting of the group members. I wanted to thank Alan WA1NYR for sharing his recent article with us and your excellent informative part III finale. I also want to express my appreciation for sharing your new cumulative index bc/scr undertaking. If other members, especially the newer ones, have not purchased a copy of your previously published exhaustive PRC compilation, it is well worth having on the reference shelf! Since this group began, I have learned a wealth of knowledge shared by those within the group. thanks to all! Ralph WB4TUR ralph.hogan@vmic.com -Groupites: It hurts me to say this about the Army, but Dennis is right: The Marine Corp is better equipped even now... Oh, and this too: BRAAAARMY training, Seargent! Sean T. Kelly email is sean_k@hotmail.com ed) I most happy to see these responses from members in regard to this last series. I sincerely hope that in future I receive similar comments on all our subject matter. *********************************************** HUMOR; DARWIN AWARD CANDIDATES 1. In September in Detroit, a 41-year-old man got stuck and drowned in two feet of water after squeezing head first through an 18-inch-wide sewer grate to retrieve his car keys. 2. In October, a 49-year-old San Francisco stockbroker, who "totally zoned when he ran," according to his wife, accidentally jogged off a 200-foot-high cliff on his daily run. 3. Buxton, NC: A man died on a beach when an 8-foot-deep hole he had dug into the sand caved in as he sat inside it. Beachgoers said Daniel Jones, 21, dug the hole for fun, or protection from the wind, and had been sitting in a beach chair at the bottom Thursday afternoon when it collapsed, burying him beneath 5 feet of sand. People on the beach on the Outer Banks used their hands and shovels, trying to claw their way to Jones, a resident of Woodbridge, VA, but could not reach him. It took rescue workers using heavy equipment almost an hour to free him while about 200 people looked on. Jones was pronounced dead at a hospital. 4. In February, Santiago Alvarado, 24, was killed in Lompoc, CA, as he fell face-first through the ceiling of a bicycle shop he was burglarising. Death was caused when the long flashlight he had placed in his mouth (to keep his hands free) rammed into the base of his skull as he hit the floor. 5. According to police in Dahlonega, GA, ROTC cadet Nick Berrena, 20, was stabbed to death in January by fellow cadet Jeffrey Hoffman, 23, who was trying to prove that a knife could not penetrate the flakvest Berrena was wearing. 6. Sylvester Briddell, Jr., 26, was killed in February in Selbyville, Del., as he won a bet with friends who said he would not put a Revolver loaded with four bullets into his mouth and pull the trigger. 7. In February, according to police in Windsor, Ont., Daniel Kolta, 27, and Randy Taylor, 33, died in a head-on collision, thus earning a tie in the game of chicken they were playing with their snowmobiles. 8. In September, a 7-year-old boy fell off a 100-foot-high bluff near Ozark, Ark., after he lost his grip swinging on a cross that marked the spot where another person had fallen to his death in 1990. DARWIN AWARD HONOURABLE MENTIONS (1) In Guthrie, Okla., in October, Jason Heck tried to kill a millipede with a shot from his .22-caliber rifle, but the bullet ricocheted off a rock near the hole and hit pal Antonio Martinez in the head, fracturing his skull. (2) In Elyria, Ohio, in October, Martyn Eskins, attempting to clean out cobwebs in his basement, declined to use a broom in favour of a propane torch and caused a fire that burned the first and second floors of his house. (3) Paul Stiller, 47, was hospitalised in Andover Township, NJ, in September, and his wife Bonnie was also injured, by a quarter-stick of dynamite that blew up in their car. While driving around at 2 AM, the bored couple lit the dynamite and tried to toss it out the window to see what would happen, but they apparently failed to notice that the window was closed. (4) Taking "Amateur Night" Too Far: In Betulia, Colombia, an annual festival in November includes five days of amateur bullfighting. This year, no bull was killed, but dozens of matadors were injured, including one gored in the head and one Bobbittized. Said one participant, "It's just one bull against a town of a thousand Morons." and SOME MORE ..... Four people were injured in a string of related bizarre accidents. Sherry Moeller was admitted with a head wound caused by flying masonry, Tim Vegas was diagnosed with a mild case of whiplash and contusions on his chest, arms and face, Bryan Corcoran suffered torn gum tissue, and Pamela Klesick's first two fingers of her right hand had been bitten off. Moeller had just dropped her husband off for his first day of work and, in addition to a good-bye kiss, she flashed her breasts at him. "I'm still not sure why I did it," she said later. I was really close to the car, so I didn't think anyone would see. Besides, it couldn't have been for more than two seconds." However, cab driver Vegas did see and lost control of his cab running over the curb and into the corner of the Johnson Medical Building. Inside, Klesick, a dental technician, was cleaning Corcoran's teeth. The crash of the cab against the building making her jump, tearing Corcoran's gums with a cleaning pick. In shock, he bit down, severing two fingers from Klesick's hand. Moeller's wound was caused by a falling piece of the medical building. La Grange, GA -- Attorney Antonio Mendoza was released from a trauma centre after having a cell phone removed from his rectum. "My dog drags the thing all over the house," he said later. "He must have dragged it into the shower. I slipped on the tile, tripped against the dog and sat down right on the thing." The extraction took more than three hours due to the fact that the cover to Mr. Mendoza's phone had opened during insertion. "He was a real trooper during the entire episode," said Dr.Dennis Crobe. "Tony just cracked jokes and really seemed to be enjoying himself. Three times during the extraction his phone rang and each time, he made jokes about it that just had us rolling on the floor. By the time we finished, we really did expect to find an answering machine in there" TACOMA, WA -- Kerry Bingham, had been drinking with several friends when one of them said they knew a person who had bungee-jumped from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in the middle of traffic. The conversation grew more heated and at least 10 men trooped along the walkway of the bridge at 4:30am. Upon arrival at the midpoint of the bridge they discovered that no one had brought bungee rope. Bingham, who had continued drinking, volunteered and pointed out that a coil of lineman's cable lay nearby. One end of the cable was secured around Bingham's leg and the other end was tied to the bridge. His fall lasted 40 feet before the cable tightened and tore his foot off at the ankle. He miraculously survived his fall into the icy river water and was rescued by two nearby fishermen. "All I can say," said Bingham, "is that God was watching out over me on that night. There's just no other explanation for it." Bingham's foot was never located. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two Priests Two priests died at the same time and met Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter said, "I'd like to get you guys in now, but our computer's down. You'll have to go back to Earth for about a week, but you can't go back as humans. What'll it be?" The first priest says, "I've always wanted to be an eagle, soaring above the Rocky mountains." "So be it," says St. Peter, and off flies the first priest. The second priest mulls this over for a moment and asks, "Will any of this week 'count', St. Peter?" "No, I told you the computer's down. There's no way we can keep track of what you're doing." "In that case," says the second priest, "I've always wanted to be a stud." "So be it" says St. Peter, and the second priest disappears. A week goes by, the computer is fixed, and the Lord tells St. Peter to recall the two priests. "Will you have any trouble locating them?" He asks. "The first one should be easy," says St. Peter. "He's somewhere over the Rockies, flying with the eagles. But the second one could prove to be more difficult." "Why?" Asketh the Lord. "He's on a snow tire, somewhere in North Dakota." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe and Bob died in a hunting accident. Joe goes to heaven and Bob goes to hell. One day Joe looks down at Bob in hell. Bob has a beer in his hand and a blonde on his lap. Joe gets pissed off so he goes to God and says, "What is this shit? I think I want to go to hell! Just look at my friend down there." God says "Look closer. The beer has a hole in the bottom, and the blonde doesn't." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A man goes on a buisiness trip to Japan, apon arriving his host's set him up with a servant to make his stay a little more comfortable. She helps the man adjust to the culture and shows him around the city, eventually they end up back at the man's hotel and they have sex. During the sex the woman keeps yelling out Ben-wah, Ben-wah. The man takes this as a good sign and keeps on going at it to which she yells Ben-wah all the louder. The man thinks that she is really gettting into it and that Ben-wah must be Japanese for "really good". The next day he attends his meetings and is scheduled to play golf with the Chairman of the Board and some other business associates. While playing the Chairman sinks a long putt, so the man thinks he will impress every one with his knowledge of Japanese and congratulates him by saying Ben-wah. To which the Chairman replied, "What do you mean "wrong hole"" ? *********************************************** (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) ***********************************************