From: military-radio-guy Full-Name: Dennis R Starks To: military radio collectors#3 Fcc: Sent Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 07:56:43 Subject: MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, Jan.20/99 Message-ID: <19990120.075539.11791.1.military-radio-guy@juno.com> X-Status: Sent X-Mailer: Juno 1.49 MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, Jan.20/99 Index: ANNOUNCEMENTS; RS-1/RT-3 MWO IDENTIFIED/ CLANDESTINE RADIO RESEARCH PAPER ON LINE; Pete McCollum MEMBERS WRITE; Radiac Data, Technical Intelligence Web Sites, M-37 Radio Installation Instructions on the Web, WHATSITS; AM-26/AIC? AN/URT-24? PARTS FOR BOEING MODEL B-307 NEEDED; NEW MEMBER; Cliff Wallace HUMOR; *********************************************** ANNOUNCEMENTS; Sorry for my absence this past week, plus. The Sunday before last I broke my leg, and did a pretty good job of it. To the point that I've only been able to venture from the house a couple times sense, then only for very short periods of time for which I was later sorry. A word to the wise, do not try to breed a Harley Davidson golf cart(nor one of any other brand) to a large(or small) oak tree! They are not compatible! Dennis *********************************************** PILOT'S WIDOW FILES SUIT; By John Fritz Times-Union staff writer Almost eight years after her husband's plane was shot down over Iraq, Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher's widow is suing the manufacturer of his survival radio, alleging that Speicher survived the crash only to be left for dead when his radio failed. Lawyers for Joanne Speicher Harris say there is evidence that Speicher, a Cecil Field-based FA-18 Hornet pilot, safely ejected from his Navy fighter-bomber and would have used the radio to summon help if it had been working properly. They say the Motorola AN/PRC-112 radio - used widely throughout the military - has a track record of problems, and that some pilots refuse to fly with it. ''Once safely on the ground, LCDR Speicher was unable to establish radio contact with awaiting U.S. rescue forces because his radio failed to operate as intended,'' the lawsuit says. Speicher was the only U.S. casualty unaccounted for in the Persian Gulf war. Evidence discovered after the war suggests Speicher, who was listed as missing until 1996, could have bailed out of his plane. However, a Pentagon spokesman said yesterday there is no evidence to demonstrate he survived the loss of his plane, was captured or that his radio played a role in his fate. Also, a spokesman for Motorola said the radio has no history of widespread problems, and the company stands behind the product. More than 20,000 units have been delivered throughout the United States and foreign militaries over the past 11 years. The fact that government customers have continued to buy the radios - recently discontinued to make room for new models - ''speaks to their overall satisfaction with the product,'' Motorola spokesman Lawrence Moore said. Robert Spohrer, an attorney for Harris, who has since remarried and declined comment, said Speicher was carrying the radio when he took off on Jan. 16, 1991, to deliver the opening volley of the Persian Gulf war. Flying from the carrier USS Saratoga, he was part of the first wave of the attack, suppressing surface-to-air missile sites for U.S. bombers. He also was the first flier to not return. About 2 hours and 15 minutes into the flight, his wingman reported seeing a flash in the vicinity of Speicher's aircraft, according to a Pentagon memo summarizing an investigation into Speicher's shootdown. But it wasn't until years after the war's end that the wreckage of the plane was discovered. A military officer from Qatar was led there by desert nomads who were selling parts from an FA-18 Hornet at a bazaar, Spohrer said. The U.S. military in 1994 scrapped a proposal to go in covertly and search the wreckage. And when the Red Cross finally led an expedition to the site with Iraq's approval in 1995 it already had been picked over. There were no signs of Speicher, the father of two children, now 11 and 9. But Spohrer cites a Defense Department memorandum summarizing the expedition's findings as evidence that Speicher survived the downing of his aircraft. For one thing, the cockpit canopy, which was found northeast of the main wreckage, had been jettisoned. ''Given available evidence, mishap investigators determined that the pilot initiated the jettison,'' the Pentagon report said. Other pieces of equipment also suggested that Speicher ejected from the aircraft. In addition, Speicher's flight suit was discovered about 2 miles northeast of the wreckage. It had bloodstains on it but nothing suggesting severe external bleeding, the Pentagon report said. There also have been reports of a man-made symbol that was spotted in the area. Given those circumstances, Harris' legal team said, there can be no doubt that Speicher would have tried to establish communications with rescue aircraft in the vicinity. The lawsuit, seeking more than $15 million in damages, alleges a number of troubles with the radio, including that it wasn't manufactured to withstand the forces expected during an ejection, that the battery compartment was not properly sealed, and that the company didn't warn users the batteries had a tendency to fail. Attorney Sean Cronin, a Navy reserve pilot who also is working on the lawsuit, said ''it's well known in the naval community there are serious deficiencies'' with the radio, and many aviators use an older model deemed more reliable. Spohrer also produced a 1997 memo from Motorola to the Army recalling 128 radios that contained a faulty circuit. Motorola, he said, has refused to release further information about the radios' reliability. The company, meanwhile, insists that its survival radios are ''highly ruggedized'' and have demonstrated a ''consistently low failure rate,'' Moore said. ''It's highly tested.'' Attorneys for the company said in a court document it would be virtually impossible to prove the circumstances of Speicher's death, let alone whether he had or tried to use the radio. ''Suffice it to state that, in this case, asking whether the radio that was allegedly issued to LCDR Speicher was somehow defective is putting the cart before the horse,'' Jacksonville attorney Dana G. Bradford II said in the legal filings. ED) what ever happened to the lawyer jokes? Seems there should be one to go with the above story! In the sue happy world we live in today, what would have happened to all those companies familiar today if they'd been sewed by all the families of all those who, for instance, might have had their 30 carbine jam? Gone would be IBM, Underwood, & General Motors. The gallant sacrifice of this airman's life is trivialized by his widow. *********************************************** RS-1/RT-3 MWO IDENTIFIED/ CLANDESTINE RADIO RESEARCH PAPER ON LINE; Pete McCollum Hi guys, I think I figured out what the MWO 39 is: It adds a pair of back-to-back Ge diodes to the Rcvr Ant. connection, just like the T-784 has "standard". I looked at several RT-3's, and sure enough, the ones that say "MWO 39" have the diodes, the others don't. But, it's unclear to me what the diodes are really needed for. In the GRC-109 manual, it says to the effect of: "the diodes will bleed off any residual charge left on C4 when the key opens". Why would it matter? I can't see there being enough energy there to harm the R-1004's front end. The Agency didn't seem to worry about it with the RR-2...One idea: maybe the Army wanted to use the xmtr with a different rcvr that had a solid-state front end, so the diodes would give some added protection ??? Through the kind efforts of Mark Blair, my research paper on "clandestine radio" is now online, including the pictures. Mark went to a lot of trouble to convert it to HTML, and format it into sections, and create a clickable Table of Contents. The location is: http://members.home.net/mblair1/spyradio/spyradio.html The document continues to evolve - I'm in the middle of adding info about some other equipment; such as RT-2 (?), RT-1B, and RS-8. Also, I'll be replacing most of the pictures eventually, since I just got a flatbed scanner. The new pictures will be sharper, and in color. Pete McCollum *********************************************** MEMBERS WRITE; Radiac Data, I have been trying to sort out radiac meters The following is a list of the ones I know about. Can you add any to the list? Or any details? AN/PDR-39, 1954 contract Tube set, A and B batteries AN/PDR-27 AN/PDR-27S, Transistorized, 4 D cells AN/PDR-63, Transistorized (?), Rechargeable Batteries, Uses PP 6597 Battery Charger The AN numbers do not seem to follw any sequence . Thanks, Bill Howard THE WILLIAM L. HOWARD ORDNANCE TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE MUSEUM ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technical Intelligence Web Sites, Here are two web sites with the history of WW II Technical Intelligence in the Pacific. http://www.interlog.com/~pjf/rp/ref/2.004.b.techintelswpac2.html http://www.interlog.com/~pjf/rp/ref/2.004.b.techintelswpac1.html THE WILLIAM L. HOWARD ORDNANCE TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE MUSEUM e-mail wlhoward@gte.net Telephone AC 727- 585-7756 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- M-37 Radio Installation Instructions on the Web, I just scanned the manual which describes how to install the AN/VRC-46, AN/VRC-53 and AN/GRC-125 radio sets into an M37 3/4-ton truck and placed it on my web page (see my signature below). There are 9 pages, each scanned at 150 DPI and saved as a GIF image. Note that these are BIG images (up to 2984x1524), so don't bother looking if your computer doesn't display large GIFs well! The AN/VRC-46 is a member of the VRC-12 series of "Vietnam-era" radios. The AN/VRC-53 and AN/GRC-125 sets are vehicular installations of the "Vietnam-era" AN/PRC-25 backpack radio. One of the pages of the manual shows where various kinds of radios would be mounted when more than one radio sets were used together, including some of the earlier sets introduced in the 1950's. I have not been able to find the radio installation manuals that I want yet (for installing AN/GRC-19 and/or AN/VRC-10 radio sets into M37, M38 or M-151-series trucks), and I've seen a lot of questions about radio installation on the mailing lists, so I figured it would be helpful to post a copy of one of the installation manuals that I do have. I have a few others for similar sets, but I have a very small space limit on my web page, and this manual seemed to be about the most generic one I had. -- Mark J. Blair, KE6MYK PGP 2.6.2 public key available from http://pgp.ai.mit.edu/ Web page: http://members.home.net/mblair1 *********************************************** WHATSITS; AM-26/AIC? I have come across an AM-26/AIC which is P/O Interphone Set AN/AIC-2 along with Jack Box BC-1366. Does anyone know where these were used? It is a fairly large unit with four tubes. I know that the RC-36 was the typical interphone set for large AAF aircraft. What does that leave for the AM-26/AIC? Lenox Carruth ed) The AIC-2 is listed as a "high altitude"(40,000ft) system used by interceptor-fighters and light-medium bombers. It could afford up to 15 stations with P-T-T operation. There were two versions, standard models were low impedance, "A" models are High imp. As of 1958 it was listed only as a "Limited Standard" in use by the Air Force so it would appear it's postwar replacement was fairly quick (possibly by the Magnavox AIC-4). Ref. MIL-HDBK-161, 1958 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AN/URT-24? Dennis, I'm trying to find info about the AN/URT-24. All I know about it is that it is the transmitter that Diamantina had before she payed off. The navy took it before we got the ship. Cheers. Steve Hill VK4CZT visit my military radio page 39 Banbury St Carina. 4152. Brisbane. Queensland. Australia. ed) The URT-24 would seem to be some fairly late model stuff. I was using URT-23's(with R-1051's) in the mid-late 70's and I'm sure they survived in use at least until late 80's. But then, as we all know, AN numbers very seldom if ever run in any logical order. While searching trough a six foot stack of reference material, I had given up hope of finding any data. But then I thought to look in an old "Jane's" and sure enough, there it was. No pictures but enough of a description that my memory was jogged and I remembered using them(hell to get old!). Just as I expected, the URT-24 is of the same family of equipment as the URT-23, URC-35, and R-1051. In fact, it combines the same transmitter-exciter of the URT-23(T-827) with the amplifier/power supply of the URC-35(AM-3008). Which when mounted look identical to a URC-35(which uses the RT-618, & is a transceiver-exciter). Operation is between 2 and 30mc with an output power of 120watts, AM/USB/LSB/ISB & CW modes. All the receivers, transmitter-exciters, and transceiver-exciters in this family look identical externally, and just like the R-1051 for which everyone is familiar. Indeed, the R-1051 would have been used as the companion receiver to the URT-24. All the radios in this family have been showing up surplus with increased regularity in the last couple years. With that increased availability, prices on them have dropped to a reasonable level. Ref. Jane's 1979/80 & 1988, URC-35 & URT-23 service manuals. *********************************************** PARTS FOR BOEING MODEL B-307 NEEDED; Dennis, Please include this with your next post. These guys are doing some great work and it is a real opportunity to help preserve some of the old radio gear. Last time I swapped stuff with Ray, he was working on a B-17 and I was putting radio gear in a R4D. Please reply directly to him not to me. Thanks very much. It would be great if we could find this stuff for him. Considering the date, I suspect some of what he needs was also used militarily. From: Ray Gilbert [SMTP:k7vqf@olympus.net] We are restoring an old Boeing Model B-307 passenger plane. It was the first pressurized transport and came out in 1939. What we need badly is a manual crank reel for the trailing wire antenna. That and an RCA AVA-17A loop antenna. That is a manually operated loop. It had a shaft that extended down through the top of the fuselage where the Radio Officer sat. It had a vernier dial that he could turn to operate the loop. If you have any idea who might have this gear (or if you do) please let me know. I have trading material or cash. The plane is being restored for the Smithsonian by The Boeing Company. It will be in flying condition and the old radio equipment will be in operating condition. Ray Gilbert *********************************************** NEW MEMBER; Cliff Wallace Hi Dennis, Thank you for the prompt response regarding my interest in the military collectors group. I most certainly agree and accept the conditions as stated in your invitation. The following is a short synopsis of myself and my interests: I was first licensed as an amateur radio operator in 1962 and presently operate from Lockwood Valley, California as WA6ZCB. In that same year I also obtained my commercial license and began training to be a radio engineer and have also spent some time behind the mike. Progressing to a higher income plain I migrated to the telephone company before being "enticed" into the military in 1967. I graduated from the Southeastern Signal School at Fort Gordon, Georgia and was immediately sent to communications security/intelligence training and then to "jump" school. With that behind me I was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division in Viet Nam to work in the field as a forward intelligence operative. After leaving Viet Nam I was assigned to 5th Army at Fort Carson, Colorado to work with an intelligence unit including service at Cheyene Mountain. During my military tour I used literally every type of radio possible. These included the PRC-25 & 77, PRC-47, AN/GRC- 106/109 and both the track and truck mounted radio teletype stations. Upon leaving the military I returned to the telephone company where I escalated to the position of radio operations supervisor from which I retired in 1993. Concurrently, in 1972, I entered public service and served 25 years with LAPD as a police officer specializing in traffic related activities such as traffic enforcement, accident investigation and DUI enforcement. I retired from there in 1997. Presently I am working for the L.A. County Sheriff as a radio engineer at the main radio communications center in East Los Angeles. My main interest is to recreate and preserve the military radios I used while serving in the army up to and including the vehicles. I also enjoy restoring older sets, WWII equipment, the ARC-3, ARC-5 command radios, BC-series and portables such as the BC-611. I am always happy to correspond, offer and seek advice regarding radios, military in particular, as I believe the past experiences we have should be shared and not lost in time as distant memories. Even the bad memories have a learning factor to be remembered and hopefully they are over-shadowed by the good times. Currently I am in transition, a fancy name for moving, and have to limit myself to smaller and portable equipment. I would like to obtain a PRC-47 and would be interested in finding out if any of the members have established a net on the amateur bands using military equipment exclusively. Naturally I am interested in hearing of other equipment and learning about those units which I did not have the pleasure to experience first hand. I sincerely hope this excerpt will satisfy the requirements for participation in your organization. If you require additional information, please don't hesitate to let me know. Thank You for your consideration. Yours Truly, Cliff Wallace ed) most happy to have you aboard, hope in future you might add to, or clear up, some debates that have I've fueled over the use of some radios you might have been involve with. *********************************************** HUMOR; More Clinton These are bumper stickers seen on cars around the DC area: HONK! If you had sex with the President Adultery is not a family value One More Whore And We Get Gore Bill Clinton: Commander in Heat My President Fooled Around with Your Honor Student Jail to the Chief If his private life doesn't matter, let him date your daughter Save the President: Legalize Perjury Two terms for Clinton: the second in jail Clinton: Our Nation's Fondling Father ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was a man who computed his taxes for 1997 & found that he owed $3407. He packaged up his payment & included this letter: Dear IRS: Enclosed is my 1997 Tax Return & payment. Please take note of the attached article from the USA Today newspaper. In the article, you will see that the Pentagon is paying $171.50 for hammers and NASA has paid $600.00 for a toilet seat. Please find enclosed four toilet seats (value $2400) and six hammers (value $1029). This brings my total payment to $3429.00. Please note the overpayment of $22.00 and apply it to the "Presidential Election Fund," as noted on my return. Might I suggest you the send the above mentioned fund a "1.5 inch screw." (See attached article...HUD paid $22.00 for a 1.5 inch Phillips Head Screw.) It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year. I just saw an article about the Pentagon and "screwdrivers." Sincerely, I. Get screwed Ever year ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top 10 signs Bill Clinton is telling the truth: 10. Oh, wait, never mind. There aren't any. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Marine on his way home from the Pentagon was stuck in traffic when he thought it was worse than usual. Noticing a policeman walking among the stalled cars, he asked, "Officer, what's the holdup? The policeman says: "The president is so depressed about being impeached that he stopped his motorcade, and he is threatening to douse himself in gasoline and set himself on fire. He says his family hates him, and he doesn't have the $33.5 million he owes his lawyers. I'm walking around taking up a collection for him." "Oh, really?" the Marine says. "How much have you collected?" "So far only about 33 gallons, but I've got a lot of folks still siphoning." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WARNING! PLEASE READ IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS SERIOUS! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= If you get an envelope from a company called the Internal Revenue Service," DO NOT OPEN IT! This group operates a scam around this time every year. Their letter claims that you owe them money, which they will take and use to pay for the operation of essential functions of the United States government. This is untrue! The money the IRS collects is used to fund various inefficient and pointless social engineering projects. This organization has ties to another shady outfit called the Social Security Administration, who claim to take money from your regular paychecks and save it for your retirement. In truth, the SSA uses the money to pay for the same misguided make-work projects the IRS helps mastermind. These scam artists have bilked honest, hard working Americans out of billions of dollars. Don't be among them! FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW! *********************************************** (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) ***********************************************