MILITARY
COLLECTOR GROUP POST, July 31/98
Index:
ANNOUNCEMENTS;
CIVILIAN NVIS
USE; From Jay Coote
JAPANESE TUBE
INFO; from Ray Robinson
MEMBERS WRITE;
PRC-4 "Mystery Radio",
& Camo
BC-611's,
6 Meter Freq,
TTFD(terminated folded
dipole),
HUMOR;
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ANNOUNCEMENTS;
I'm really happy with today's post, I
didn't hardly need to write a thing this morning and the post was
finished in
record time (one hour, and thirty minutes.) Please keep sending in
your
contributions, comments, etc, with my thanks.
I'm off this morning to the Springfield
hamfest, no display this time their too damn cheep to supply the
tables so
screw um. It's the closest hamfest I have to attend(at 65 miles)
so should be
back by early Saturday afternoon dependant on the money I'm left
with. Get your
additions in for the "Paper Trail" by tonight, and for the
"Group Wants/Trades" by Saturday night. If you too are attending
some
special event this weekend, keep an eye on who & what showed
up, how much
things were priced at, and whether or not things sold(actually you
should be
dragging home everything possible).
Dennis
***********************************************
CIVILIAN NVIS
USE; From Jay Coote
Dennis and the
Group:
No military NVIS
experiences to share, only civilian
ones. For several years
in a row, my department was a participant in the annual
"Baker To
Vegas" 120 mile run. This is a lot
of law enforcement folks from
all over North
America who compete in a relay race. My
role as commo dude for
my agency was to
provide reliable, cheap (ham volunteer) comm between the race
follow van, "Command Post" in a Vegas hotel and
back home to our station.
The path between
CP and van was 1-120 miles. The path
from CP to police
station was about
240 miles.
The van over the
years has used two ASP ballmounts, tilted at 45 degrees. An
"A/B"
coax switch allowed the van op to switch between any two HF whips
(2-4
or 4-7 MHz)
without having to stop and fumble. The
antennas were Hustler KW-
whips or
Mobile-Mark custom HF whips for 1.95 or 3.9 MHz. The police
station
antenna then was
a B&W AC1.8-30, a kind of inverted vee with a termination on
the East end and
coax balun on the West end- the AC 1.8-30 is touted as a good
NVIS antenna in
2-8 or 2-10 MHz and is a cousin of the B&W terminated dipoles
sometimes seen in
military service. The CP antenna was
100 feet of thin,
gray wire hanging
from the 14th floor balcony by way of a twelve foot
telescoping mast
to keep the antenna away from the building and from being
grabbed. This may not have been an NVIS antenna per-se
but I was hoping the
vertical drop and
proximity to the building would distort it's pattern and
give us some
high-angle. The antenna was fed by an
Icom AH-2 auto tuner (AKA
coupler) and
would load an any freq or band.
Results-
Between the 2, 4
and 7 MHz Amateur bands we were able to communicate most of
the time using
100-watters. When conditions got hairy,
a National Guard ham in the van) and
I were able to pass traffic with CW on 2 and 4 MHz. I'm
afraid to say our
only military equipment was my ANG friend's leg key.
The
race is held on
weekends so our net skills were put to the test against rude
contesters and
inebriates on 4 MHz. In following years
we did better by
loading channels
into all our radio memories and by calling our frequency
changes according
to code or channel number, so the jammers would not find us
as easily. These primary HF communications were
augmented by packet radio
(node hopping)
between Vegas and the police station and by a
UHF police
repeater on the
balcony of our building, covering some of Vegas and the last
leg of the race
course.
I've used an NVIS
antenna from my own van some years ago, a wire 50 to 150
feet long, only
eight feet above ground. I used an auto
antenna coupler (Icom
AH-2 & IC735)
for my whip antennas so there was no problem yanking the whip
and attaching the
wire while parked. From Prescott
AZ, I was able to
communicate with
Los Angeles on 2, 4, 7 and 10 MHz day or night depending on
frequency.
I saw some dummy
trying to feed a perfectly good military NVIS antenna (nomen
escapes me, but
it was the model with the coaxial mast and twin doublets)
through a long
coax with a "tuner" at the radio end.
This antenna requires
the coupler right
at the mast base. Fixated on his coax
and "SWRs", the
fellow would not
listen and was later bitching about his results<g>.
NVIS antennas:
Most hams and HF
communicators already have an NVIS antenna, and may not know
it. If the antenna is parallel to earth and
spaced 1/4 wavelength above earth
on the highest
frequency you will use - it will cover that and lower freqs
nicely for
NVIS. The best spacing is around 1/4
wavelength in a single-band
antenna. There's hearsay about hams laying a
counterpoise or reflector wire
under the antenna
and getting a few dB improvement. The
antenna may be a
halfwave dipole
fed with coax, a laid-over whip, a long hunk of wire
with
manual or auto
coupler feeding the wire on an end or in the center using a
balanced line
(not coax). Disaster communicators and
other types have used
traffic cones,
cars and other short supports for their NVIS wire
antennas. A
good all-around
spacing may be about 30 feet. It would
provide NVIS in the 2,
4, 7 and 10 MHz
hambands and lower-angle performance in 10-30 MHz.
Jay Coote
W6CJ
jcoote@aol.com
***********************************************
JAPANESE TUBE
INFO; from Ray Robinson
Hi Dennis,
Here is some info
for Nick Broline, unless someone has already
answered his
question about the origins of Japanese valve technology.
I'll quote 2
paragraphs from an article. I have spoken to the author,
and have gained
his permission. He has no plans to put these into a book
yet, but has been
approached by the Antique Wireless Association to
use this
material. Fin is a lamp and valve collector and has written
a couple of books
and has 2 more on the way. He also said there is info
in Gerald Tyne's
book SAGA OF THE VACUUM TUBE.
"The
Japanese Valve Industry.
It is understood
that as early as 1915, envoys from the Japnese Mitsui Company had
been
visiting radio equipment and valve manufacturing concerns and
obtaining samples. These were taken back to Japan and copied.
Several valves
were made by some companies in Japan before 1920 and include
British types as
the Q and R types made by Ediswan and the Osram Lamp Works.
The Annaka AAB-5
at right in illustration 7 is a copy of the de Forest or
Cunningham
Audiotron and several of these have turned up in Australia. An
AAB-7 with a mesh
anode once belonged to a leading valve collector in
Redwood City in
California and two Annaka Detectron valves were also in
American
collections. All of these valves were double ended with wire
leads. While
similar to the Audiotron, the tubular bulb was about one
quarter of an
inch wider and the valves were usually three inches long.
The latter two
valves mentioned above have different paper labels on them
but both say
'Annaka Wireless Works, Tokyo'. Gerald Tyne made extensive
enquiries into
the history of the company but was unable to locate anything.
The two labeled
valves are a departure from the accepted style of these
valves as one has
a very fine wire anode wound on a glass former and
the other valve
has a disc for an anode. The grid is zig-zagged and the
valve has two
V-shaped filaments.
A single-ended
valve with wire leads was made by the Tokyo Electric Company
around 1920. One
of these fitted with a Shaw Marconi-de Forest base is shown
at left in
illustration 7. Howard Schrader of Princeton, New Jersey, owned
a baseless type
of this valve. Illustration 8 shows a Cymotron UX201A,
UX199 and a 101F
(Western Electric equivalent) also made in Japan.
The UX199 has a
naval anchor stamped on it and this could well indicate
that the valve
was made at the time of the Second World War, possibly
for use in some
early equipment. Toshiba also made many valves, starting
with equivalents
of some of the American battery types, such as the
UX199 and UX201-A
types. The company was prominent in valve manufacture
during World War
2. Toshiba valves could be identified by a type of
lightning bolt
symbol within a circle, stamped on the bulb, as a logo.
Japanese valves
are relatively common and many copies of American and
some British
types have been made. Some of these are quite collectable."
2 photographs.
VALVE BOX PART
13: EUROPEAN VALVE MAKERS, by Fin Stewart, Radio Waves, The
Quarterly Publication of the Historical
Radio Society of Australia, P24-27
I can make a copy
and post this to anyone interested. From my own (unreliable)
memory, I recall
reading somewhere that the Axis Blockade runners were used
to share
technology between Germany and Japan. I recall that submarine
technology and
optics were sent to Japan. This is how Japan gained a camera
industry. Germany
lost their optics technology and knowledge in the bombing.
Hope this is not
too long or off topic.
73s
Ray VK2ILV
robinson@srsuna.shlrc.mq.edu.au
ed) I'd sooner
think the Germany's Optical Technology was hauled off by the
Russians than losing
it to bombing. History has shown that strategic bombing had little
of the
desired effect on the German industrial machine. Yet postwar
Russian technology
in every field showed very strong German influence, including
optics. The
Japanese already had a reputation for optics prior to WW-II.
Official accounts derived from
intercepted
Japanese diplomatic correspondence showed their pre-occupation
with German
radar, aircraft, and rocket technologies. Followed closely by
their
ambassadorial spy's observations of generally more advanced armor,
artillery,
and electronics. Indeed it was these correspondences between the
Japanese
diplomatic mission in Germany and the home island that gave the
Allies their
most valued information on German technological advances, and
superiority. This
for two reasons, the first was that the Japanese diplomatic code
was the first
one broken during WW-II. The second because these Japanese
correspondences
typically compared this German technology in great detail with
their own, and
that of the Allies. In effect, these Japanese diplomats were among
our most
valued spies during the war.
***********************************************
MEMBERS WRITE;
PRC-4
"Mystery Radio", & Camo BC-611's,
I printed out the
entire 22 pages and re-read the complete "Off the Shelf
Prick's." Great job Dennis, I truly appreciate your efforts and a
big THANK YOU
for sharing your knowledge.
What about the
PRC-4 as a Mystery Radio? Gotten zilch in my quest for info. I
read an
article (which I now can't locate) written, as I recall, by a man
in Holland. He said as a youngster he picked up a camouflaged
BC-611 during WWII in a ditch and still has it. Can't find the
dammed
article.
Ed Guzick
ed)"Mystery
Radio's" are those that most people are familiar with but don't
understand
some aspect of their existance. The PRC-4 NOBODY knows ANYTHING
about other
than it's a descized version of the BC-611 built for Military
Intelligence. We
don't even know descized as what! In fact, the above sentance
describe the sum
total known about the radio, twould be an awfully short artical!
It is possible
the article you can't find in regard the camo BC-611 was actually
a tidbit presented here in this column. During
Operation Market Garden, some Airborne BC-611's were painted with
a wide
spiraling stipe to effect camouflage, this is the only place this
practice is
known and could have been peculiar to only one of the US, British,
or Dutch
units that participated, all of which were issued the BC-611. This
story you
relate should also reflect that persons also finding a Bazooka and
playing with
it. Not much gets by me! Below you'll see the account as related
me by Hue
Miller some months ago, I don't forget much either!
[i met a fellow
in Seattle who owns a BC-611 he found as a lad after the
battle of Arnehm. it was tossed in a ditch after the antenna
broke off. ( he replaced it postwar ). it
has a camo
pattern of a broad brown paint stripe about 3" wide
winding around the set, about 3 turns total. he told me he also
found a bazooka, which he enjoyed firing. what a
swell toy! ( re finding toys, one of the aviation mags had
an account of a brit lad, who salvaged a
machine gun from a wrecked german plane,
and then used it
to fire at german planes when they
came over low! he
was about 12 years old! true story! )
hue miller ]
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6 Meter Freq,
A while ago, we
discussed a freq for list members who are Amateurs.
51.60 was decided
on, the last I heard. I've got an RT-524
operational (may
change to an
RT-246). I monitor from in my police
radio shop Saturdays,
Sundays and some
weekdays. I'm in the Arcadia area, about
15 miles N/E of Los
Angeles.
Thanks-
Jay Coote, W6CJ
jcoote@aol.com
ed) Yes it's true
we did decide on that freq. Personally I've not heard any 6 meter
traffic at
all, either local or DX, but a storm blew my antenna over two
weeks ago, so
there may have been some propagation changes. We still need to
come up with
some other freqs for the other bands & modes. We need two
freqs for each
band, one for CW, the other for SSB. These should be of even more
importance as
the radios we will be operating on these freqs will most likely be
xtal
control, and who can afford a shoe box full of xtals. When Ike
& I where at
Oklahoma City last week we had the notion of setting up an SSB
station, but as
it turned out, we couldn't find a net of vintage operators to talk
to on 75 meters.
So I just shut the radio off, and we got drunk instead. We really
need to hash
this last issue out, as I'm no drinker!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TTFD(terminated
folded dipole),
The technical
name for the design used in the B&W and many other
similar broadband
dipoles is the TTFD or just TFD. Have not heard
it referred to as
anything other than a terminated folded dipole, the TTFD
is used in
reference to the same antenna used in a sloper configuration. Has
to be true,
is in my Motorola Micom manuals... :-)
Tom Norris
ed) It also goes
by a Ham call, W&^% ?
W3HH I think....
Tom
***********************************************
HUMOR;
18 Basic Rules for Driving in the Greater
Boston Area:
#18/ A right lane construction closure is just
a game to see how many people can cut in line by passing you on
the
right as you sit in the left
lane waiting for the same jerks to squeeze
their way back in before
hitting construction barrels.
#17/ Turn signals are just clues as to your
next move in road battle, so never use them.
#16/ Under no circumstances should you leave a
safe distance between you and the car in front of you no matter
how fast
you're going. If you do, the space will be filled by
somebody else,
putting you in an even more dangerous situation.
#15/ The faster you drive through a red light,
the smaller the chance you have of getting hit.
#14/ Never get in the way of a car that needs
extensive body work (remember no fault insurance: he might not
have much to lose; you do).
#13/ Braking is to be done hard and late as
possible to insure that your anti-lock braking system kicks in to
give you
a nice relaxing foot massage as the brake pedal pulsates.
#12/ The electronic traffic warning system
signs are not there to provide useful information; just to make
Boston look
progressive.
#11/ Never pass on the left when you can pass
on the right. It's a good way to scare people entering the
highway.
#10/ Speed limits are arbitrary figures to
make Boston look as if conforms to local, state, and federal
policies; these
are given only as suggestions and are readily unenforceable.
#09/ Just because you're in the left lane and
have no room to speed up or move over doesn't mean that a driver
flashing
his high beams behind you can go faster in your spot.
#08/ Please remember that there is no such
thing as a shortcut during rush hour traffic in downtown Boston.
#07/ Always slow down and rubberneck when you
see an accident or even a person changing a tire. If you're
lucky you may see the unwitting breakdown victim get mugged.
#06/ Learn to swerve abruptly. The Boston area is the
home of the high speed slalom driving thanks to the DOT, who
put the potholes in key locations to test driver's reflexes and
keep
them on their toes.
#05/ It is traditional to honk your horn at
cars that don't move the instant a light changes. The city
is founded on such traditions.
#04/ Seeking eye contact with another driver
evokes your right of way.
#03/ Giving the finger may invite armed
retaliation.
#02/ All unmarked exits lead to the projects.
#01/ Construction signs tell you about road
closures immediately after you pass the exit before the traffic
begins to
back up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the last day of kindergarten, all the
children brought presents for
their teacher.
The florist's son handed the teacher a gift. She shook it,
held it up and said, "I bet I now what
it is - it's some flowers!"
"That's right!" shouted the little boy. Then the candy store
owner's daughter handed the teacher a gift. She held
it up, shook it and aid. "I bet I know what it is it's a box of
candy!" "That's
right!" shouted the little girl.
The next gift was from the liquor store owner's
son. The teacher held it
up and saw that it was leaking. She touched a drop with
her finger and tasted it. "Is it wine?" she asked.
"No," the boy answered. The teacher touched another drop to
her tongue. "Is it champagne?" she asked.
"No," the boy answered. Finally, the teacher said, "I give
up. What is it?" The boy replied, "A puppy!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's always difficult to bring sad news, but
you should know...
There was a great loss today in the
entertainment world. The man who wrote the song
"Hokey Pokey" died.
What was really horrible is that they had
trouble keeping the body in the casket.
They'd put his left leg in and ... well, you know the rest.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mickey and Minnie
Mouse were at court for divorce proceedings.
The judge told
Mickey, "Look here Mickey Mouse, I can't
grant you a
divorce from Minnie!" Mickey Mouse was
stunned and asked, "Why not??!!"
The Judge said,
"I've reviewed all the information you gave
to the court, but
I can't find any evidence at all to support
the grounds that she is crazy!"
Mickey Mouse
says, "Your Honor! I didn't say she was CRAZY,
I said she was
fucking Goofy!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The pope goes to
visit the Seven Dwarfs.
As he is
finishing his speech on comparative religions,
Doc raises his
hand to ask a question, "Mr.Pope,
are there any dwarf nuns in Rome?"
"No
Doc," responds the Pontiff, "there are not."
"Mr. Pope,
are there any dwarf nuns anywhere in Italy?" Doc questions.
"No
Doc," chuckles the Pope, "there are no dwarf nuns in Italy."
"Mr.
Pope," Doc asks pleadingly, "are there
any dwarf nuns anywhere in the world?"
"No
Doc," the Pope says sadly, "there are
no dwarf nuns anywhere in the world."
Softly in the
background, the six remaining dwarfs start chanting,
"Dopey did a
penguin,
Dopey did a
penguin."
***********************************************
(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)
***********************************************