From: military-radio-guy Full-Name: Dennis R Starks To: military radio collectors#1 Fcc: Sent Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 06:15:10 Subject: MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, Oct.13/99 Message-ID: <19991013.061415.4471.7.military-radio-guy@juno.com> X-Status: Sent X-Mailer: Juno 1.49 MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, Oct.13/99 Index: ANNOUNCEMENTS; THE NAVAJO CODE TALKERS OF WORLD WAR II; by Jerry Proc MEMBERS WRITE; FS-5000 Correction, French BC-342's, GRC-106 Failures, British/Desert Storm SAR Radio? More PRC-88 Proof, LMR & FRS Tactical Military, TBY/BC-222 Headphones? ON THE COMMERCIAL FRONT; BC-474, & -659 Stuff NEW MEMBERS; George Kopp Jack Antonio WA7DIA Joe Munson HUMOR; *********************************************** ANNOUNCEMENTS; My hard drive is on it's way down. Running scandisk several times this week has turned up about 20 bad sectors each time. So I'm keeping use to a minimum to avoid the loss of material until the new hard drive arrives. So, if you don't hear from me, you know why. *********************************************** THE NAVAJO CODE TALKERS OF WORLD WAR II; by Jerry Proc Prepared by the Navy and Marine Corps WWII Commemorative Committee Submitted by Jerry Proc VE3FAB INTRODUCTION >From Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, the Navajo code talkers took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. They served in all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions and Marine parachute units, transmitting messages by telephone and radio in their native language a code that the Japanese never broke. The idea to use the Navajo language for secure communications came from Philip Johnston, the son of a missionary to the Navajos and one of the few non-Navajos who spoke their language fluently. Johnston, reared on the Navajo reservation, was a World War I veteran who knew of the military's search for a code that would withstand all attempts to decipher it. He also knew that Native American languages -- notably Choctaw -- had been used in World War I to encode messages. Johnston believed Navajo answered the military requirement for an undecipherable code because Navajo is an unwritten language of extreme complexity. Its syntax and tonal qualities, not to mention dialects, make it unintelligible to anyone without extensive exposure and training. It has no alphabet or symbols, and is spoken only on the Navajo lands of the American Southwest. One estimate indicates that less than 30 non-Navajos, none of them Japanese, could understand the language at the outbreak of World War II. Early in 1942, Johnston met with Major General Clayton B. Vogel, the commanding general of Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, and his staff to convince them of the Navajo language's value as code. Johnston staged tests under simulated combat conditions, demonstrating that Navajos could encode, transmit, and decode a three-line English message in 20 seconds. Machines of the time required 30 minutes to perform the same job. Convinced, Vogel recommended to the Commandant of the Marine Corps that the Marines recruit 200 Navajos. In May 1942, the first 29 Navajo recruits attended boot camp. Then, at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, this first group created the Navajo code. They developed a dictionary and numerous words for military terms. The dictionary and all code words had to be memorized during training. Once a Navajo code talker completed his training, he was sent to a Marine unit deployed in the Pacific theater. The code talkers' primary job was to talk, transmitting information on tactics and troop movements, orders and other vital battlefield communications over telephones and radios. They also acted as messengers, and performed general Marine duties. Additional training was provided in order that the Navajos could provide basic maintenance and repair of the radios they operated. Praise for their skill, speed and accuracy accrued throughout the war. At Iwo Jima, Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer, declared, "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima." Connor had six Navajo code talkers working around the clock during the first two days of the battle. Those six sent and received over 800 messages, all without error. The Japanese, who were skilled code breakers, remained baffled by the Navajo language. The Japanese chief of intelligence, Lieutenant General Seizo Arisue, said that while they were able to decipher the codes used by the U.S. Army and Army Air Corps, they never cracked the code used by the Marines. The Navajo code talkers even stymied a Navajo soldier taken prisoner at Bataan. (About 20 Navajos served in the U.S. Army in the Philippines.) The Navajo soldier, forced to listen to the jumbled words of talker transmissions, said to a code talker after the war, "I never figured out what you guys who got me into all that trouble were saying." In 1942, there were about 50,000 Navajo tribe members. As of 1945, about 540 Navajos served as Marines. From 375 to 420 of those trained as code talkers; the rest served in other capacities. Navajo remained potentially valuable as code even after the war. For that reason, the code talkers, whose skill and courage saved both American lives and military engagements, only recently earned recognition from the Government and the public. A SAMPLE OF THE NAVAJO CODE TALKER'S DICTIONARY When a Navajo code talker received a message, what he heard was a string of seemingly unrelated Navajo words. The code talker first had to translate each Navajo word into its English equivalent. Then he used only the first letter of the English equivalent in spelling an English word. Thus, the Navajo words "wol-la-chee" (ant), "be-la-sana" (apple) and "tse-nill" (axe) all stood for the letter "a." One way to say the word "Navy" in Navajo code would be "tsah (needle) wol-la-chee (ant) ah-keh-di- glini (victor) tsah-ah-dzoh (yucca)." Most letters had more than one Navajo word representing them. Not all words had to be spelled out letter by letter. The developers of the original code assigned Navajo words to represent about 450 frequently used military terms that did not exist in the Navajo language. Several examples: "besh- lo" (iron fish) meant "submarine," "dah-he- tih-hi" (hummingbird) meant "fighter plane" and "debeh-li-zine" (black street) meant "squad." REGOGNITION Long unrecognized because of the continued value of their language as a security classified code, the Navajo code talkers of World War II were honored for their contributions to defense on Sept. 17, 1992, at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. Thirty-five code talkers, all veterans of the U.S. Marine Corps, attended the dedication of the Navajo code talker exhibit. The exhibit includes a display of photographs, equipment and the original code, along with an explanation of how the code worked. Dedication ceremonies included speeches by the then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Donald Atwood, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona and Navajo President Peterson Zah. The Navajo veterans and their families traveled to the ceremony from their homes on the Navajo Reservation, which includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Submitters post script: The Navajo Code Talkers Exhibit is part of the National Cryptologic Museum, Ft. George Meade, Maryland. Regards, Jerry Proc VE3FAB jproc@idirect.com Web: www3.sympatico.ca/hrc/haida HMCS HAIDA Historic Naval Ship, Toronto Ontario *********************************************** MEMBERS WRITE; FS-5000 Correction, DENNIS: A CORRECTION TO THE FS-5000 ARTICLE. I SELL THEM TO COLLECTORS FOR $1750 (MORE ON MY WEB SITE) AND THE FREQ CONTROL FOR REC IS PART OF THE SET. MIKE MURPHY'S SURPLUS http://www.maxpages.com/murphyjunk ----------------------------------------------------------------- French BC-342's, >Last year, I got a BC 342 X-Tal from a friend (rebuild for french army by >a french factory - LGT St Cloud - in 1957) ; fine but ... heavy. >Marcel Picavez FRANCE F5pica@aol.com> --Sometime in the mid 1980s i bot a couple BC-342s rebuilt and relabled something like Recepteur BC-312 Societe Francaise de Radio. Besides the interesting nameplate, one other point of interest was that the dial light knob bore the legend, DIAL LINGTH. The owner of the legendary G&G Radio in NYC told me around 1973 that he had imported a number of BC-312/342 from France, where they had been modified for dual diversity reception. He would just reconnect the oscillator on the 'slaved receiver' to restore them to independent operation. I should really have bot something from G&G when they were in their heyday, i mean some of the command sets, BC-342s and BC-348s they were offering, but i was quite put off by the 1 year it took for the firm to answer my first inquiry. (This was i think during the late phase of the 1st incarnation of G&G, before a hiatus - due to owner's illness??, which was followed by a brief and even less structured Second Coming. I was in France very briefly in the early 1970 and found one general interest magazine, called i think "Le Haut Parlour de Radio-TV", a pretty thick thing. I was surprised and pleased to see in the back pages many ads for US-heritage surplus gear, such as BC-342 and the more common US sets, with nicely screened photos like you used to see in the back pages of CQ and Radio News in the 1950s. Hue Miller KA7LXY BTW, i wish one of the cognoscenti would write the "rest of the story", a brief history of that legendary surplus house. ----------------------------------------------------------------- GRC-106 Failures, Hi Dennis, could you put a warning message out to all all of the subscribers that have RT-662 and RT-834s that they should check the following electrolytic caps for leakage. I have checked 4 DC to DC converters, and all had failures of these capacitors (leaking electrolyte). 1 - On the A2 board, C1 and C4 (120 UF 40 volt) 2 - On the A3 board, C1 (1.2 UF 250 volt) 3 - On the A1 board, C5 (120 UF 40 volt) The C1 and C4 failures on the A2 board will result in either a blown fuse, or noise on the 27v line. The C1 failure on the A3 board could take out the diode bridge, transformer T1, and the 2 2N1649 switching transistors if the fuse is slow in reacting. The C5 failure could result in blown fuse, or no 20v regulated. I will also post this on the army radios net. Thanks, John WD5ENU ------------------------------------------------------------------ British/Desert Storm SAR Radio? Dennis, Have you got any idea what kind of SAR/ELT radio was used by the British RAF crews during the Gulf War in 1991? I guess their SAS special forces are also supposed to use such items. -- Jan Bury e-mail: yahya@orient.uw.edu.pl ed) Information on British SAR radio's is very limited. Jane's, who is usually very thorough reporting UK equipment(It's printed there) only list a couple of candidates, all of which are part of the Sarbe series of equipment which started production in the late 1970's, and have sense been sold to countries all over the world. All are dual band(121.5, 243mc) and include differing features. BA 375 SARBE 5, BE 499 TACBE(developed from the SARBE 5), BE 515 SARBE 6. There are several later versions of the SARBE series which include the #7 family, but all these entered production after 1994 which would eliminate them from use during Desert Storm.Ref. Jane's 1988. ----------------------------------------------------------------- More PRC-88 Proof, Dennis, I was up on a japanese collector site: http://x.oc-to.net/m151a2/welcome.htm And saw he had a picture of the 'prc-88'. The long debatted combo of prr-9 and prt-4. The picture looks like a wider prt-4 with prr-9 speaker mounted to the back of it, speaker horn coming around the left side of radio (behind the regular prt-4 antenna). Some switch is mounted below the mike/freq switch on the prt-4. The prr-9 earphone jack is mounted on the lower right hand of prt-4. A separate photo shows a label clearly indicated PRC-88. However, it isnt in standard black foil type they normally use. I have the jpeg if anyone wants me to email it to them. Ralph Hogan WB4TUR Huntsville, AL. ed) You all know I have long argued for the existence of a true PRC-88. Now we have found two physical examples in the last three months. It's tough always being right! Now to find one for myself. ----------------------------------------------------------------- LMR & FRS Tactical Military, Mobile radio technology MRT magazine oct 99... "LMR systems in the military" article... (LMR= Land Mobile Radio for those not in the know)... A few pages. Nothing we dont already know, but interesting. Talks about tactical PRC-104 (but pictures a prc-119 sincgars) versus logistics radios (looks like GE commercial ht's in the photos). Mentions how tactical needs to be military field sturdy while standard land mobile radios fill lots of behind the scenes roles. Even shows some moto FRS radios up next to a prc-119.... I wonder if MRT brought those along for show & tell... I wouldnt think the gov is using this FRS junk now... Ralph WB4TUR ed) We have published many articles which shed light on the use by the military of commercial(LMR/Business band) radio equipment so as you say, nothing we don't already know. The FRS(Family Radio Service) radios which operate low power on 14 splinter frequencies within the GMRS segment of the UHF band(462.5625 - 467.7125mc) are not toys. Ike & I have now been using them for a couple years at hamfest, they work flawlessly, and offer numerous advantages. We started out with Motorola's best, which turned out to be junk and didn't last long. We then went to Kenwoods(which are great!!) Since then, there has been many companies enter the market with their offerings, some total junk, others possibly viable. The Kenwoods are the only ones so far known to offer as standard, voice inversion scrambling. Ike has told me of some military training film as seen on the Discovery Channel where Kenwood FRS radios are visibly in use by the Trainees. I'm sure we'll learn more before long. While most of these radios can be purchased from mail order catalogs, and chain stores, the Kenwoods are usually only sold by reputable communications equipment dealers. Their cost has dropped drastically in the last year from around $150(retail) to about $90. If anybody is interested, I'll discuss these little radios in more detail, and I can direct you to an excellent source for equipment. ----------------------------------------------------------------- TBY/BC-222 Headphones? Dennis, I have never seen the HS-22 headphone set as used with the BC-222. Is the head strap arrangement similar in concept to that of the headphone set used with the TBY, in other words a springy clip on metal piece that attaches to the headphones via the holes that would hold a headband? Do these metal pieces have loops in them that allows the strap to pass through? Alan ed) I have never seen an HS-22 in the flesh either. It took me 15 years to finally acquire an example of the TS-11 handset. The HS-22 does not appear to have survived past 1942. TM11-238, 1942(SCR-194 & -195) list it, while it is not in the 1943 edition. In TM11-487 1944, we find the only similar sets in use being the HS-17, & HS-24(on telephone systems). The HS-22 is listed, but not shown, and is noted as being part of the SCR-194. In any case, the pictures in TM11-487 are much clearer than those in the SCR-194 manual. To answer your question, I have several TBY headsets, and have seen many others, they do not have a heavy wire headband, the HS-22 does(with a support canvas strap that raps around the back of the user's head). The TBY headphones are connected with two canvas straps, one across the top, the other in back. Wiring is via a "Y" cable that connects to both earphones, then hangs under the user's chin. The HS-22 has a single cable that hangs from one earphone, the other side being connected with a wire that runs along the headset's metal headband. TBY headphones are two 300 elements wired in series for 600 ohms, the HS-22 uses R-14 elements which are 8000 ohms. I/E they ain't the same. *********************************************** ON THE COMMERCIAL FRONT; BC-474, & -659 Stuff I have available correct, original legs for the BC-474. Not cut-down 654 legs; these are "the real McCoy." $10 each or $40 a set to list members. Only seven sets available at this time but, if there is interest, there will be more. Also have available the scarce AN-29-C antennas that fit the BC-659 and BC-620. $15 each to list members only. Limited stock. All plus shipping from 78728 Please- this offer is for members of this list only at this time. 73 Dave Stinson AB5S arc5@ix.netcom.com *********************************************** NEW MEMBERS; Mr.Starks I have read the requirements for participation in your group, find them to be a perfectly reasonable approach to maintaining the focus of the organization, and I am happy to agree to all of these conditions. Although I might describe myself as a "rank beginner" in this area of interest as compared to many of you, I hope to rectify that limitation as time passes. I'm sure that the resources that your group offers will be of great value in that regard. Although I no longer work in the field, my background is in electrical engineering. I have held both commercial and amateur radio licenses since my teen-age years, and during college worked as a broadcast engineer in both television and radio. I would have to say that my amateur radio interest is much more centered on the technical aspects and very little on operating. At this point, I am in the process of restoring 2 BC-611's (a very common starting point I understand) and have a couple of PRC-6's on hold for later. I am, at this time, primarily interested in the "small" radios - handcarried or packpack - of the vacuum tube vintage, the above, BC-1000, BC-1306, etc. I'm sure that this ground has been covered rather well in past - I'm also sure that my interests will soon expand into other areas. I will, of course, be willing to provide any assistance I am able to others with similar interests. Thanks George Kopp ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dennis, Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Yes, I would like to join your group, although I will be more of an asker of questions, and learner rather than a source of information. Your guidelines seem more than fair and reasonable. My main interest is in World War Two radio equipment. As a kid, I was always fascinated by WWII aircraft, and read everything I could about that subject. At that time radios were not a high interest, except that you could possibly listen to airplanes on them. However, when I got in high school and joined an active CAP squadron, I found my talents were more in communications and electronics than in flying, and the squadron had BC-348s, RAXs TBYs and BC-1000s. (The BC-1000s got used to listen to the local sheriff on 42.94,so we knew when to ditch the beer, and the TBY got lost in a post high school move). Anyway, I got my ham license, that led to a commercial license and a career in television broadcast. Ham wise, I moved to the big city(Reno)and spent a long time in the repeater, linking and remote base game. About 3 years ago, I got fed up with the politics of amateur relay, the coordination BS, and the intelligence level of the typical HT carrying ham, and became reinterested in the gear that got me started. Toward that end, I am collecting, restoring and bringing back to life the aircraft gear of WWII. I have a number of almost complete sets, SCR-274N, RU/GF, ARB, ARC-1, ARC-2, ARC-3, ARC-4, a lone ARC-5 receiver, and an ART-13, plus a smattering of other stuff ranging from TBYs to R-390As. Actually, I enjoy demodifiying and restoring ham modified surplus equipment and tend to pass over the NIB stuff, because if you use it, it ain't new anymore! I hope this covers all the bases, if you need any more information from me, let me know. 73 Jack Antonio WA7DIA ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Dennis, Thanks for the Invitation, I am looking forward to become a member. I have been interested in Surplus Military radio's since the early 50's, starting off with command sets, and BC312, BC348, etc. I an 1943 vintage, and built my first crystal set in Cub Scouts, around 1950. I use a GRC 106 as my main HF base statiion. I also use a PRC 68B with amp and 1/4 ant on my Cherokee for 6M repeater and simplex. My ham station consist of various military and commercial equipment. I became extremely familier with the operation of the PRC 74B, and related accessories during the period of 1968-1971 in SouthEast Asia, along with various other military equipment, including the URC68, PRC25/77, PRC64A,RT524, R448, GRA71, T195, R392, R390A, GRC9, GRR5, etc, all of which I own, with some duplicates. I also put the PRC70 to use when travelling, along with the PRC74B. I am a Newspaper Photographer, for Scripts Howard Newspapers, The Cincinnati/Kentucky Post. I usually haul one of the Manpacks/Portable HF stations with me, and have fun putting them to use when on the road. I have hauled the 74 to Central america a few times. A T2FD, TCI 401, AS1726, AT1011, RC292, GRA4, OS254 are a few of the military antenna's in use here. I believe in putting the equipment to use. I am not into it to make money, I enjoy my profession as a News Photog. It is strictly a hobby, and one that has brought me much satisifaction. I use one of my RACAL 6790's for a clock radio, with a timer both to wake up and go to sleep. I spend some time monitoring Military Commo, both VHF Lowband, Highband, UHF, and HF. Thanks for considering me for membership. I have some access to a couple of dealers in the area, mostly older stuff though...They are basically surplus buyers from local bases, and have stock piled some electronic equipment. Most is stored in barns, and some covered with tarps outside, and would be glad to check on items if anyone is interested when I have time. Joe Munson WA4VAG Walton, KY *********************************************** HUMOR; Three Alabama boys go down to Mexico one night and had some fun and wake up in jail. They found out that they are to be executed for their crimes, but none of them can remember what they have done. The first one is strapped in the electric chair and is asked if he has any last words. He says, "I am from the Samford School of Divinity and I believe in the almighty power of God to intervene on behalf of the innocent." They throw the switch and nothing happens, so they figure God must not want this guy to die, and they let him go. The second one is strapped in and gives his last words. "I am from the University of Alabama School of Law and I believe in the eternal power of Justice to intervene on the part of the innocent." The switch is thrown and again nothing happens. They figure that the law is on this guy's side and let him go. The last one is strapped in and says, "Well I'm an Auburn University Electrical Engineer, and I'll tell you right now you'll never electrocute anybody if you don't connect those two wires." ----------------------------------------------------------------- ANCIENT PROVERBS: Passionate kiss like spider's web, soon lead to undoing of fly. Virginity like bubble, one prick all gone. Man who run in front of car get tired. Man who run behind car get exhausted. Man with hand in pocket feel cocky all day. Foolish man give wife grand piano, wise man give wife upright organ. Man who walk thru airport turn stile sideways going to Bangkok. Man with one chop stick go hungry. Man who scratches ass should not bite fingernails. Man who eat many prunes get good run for money. Baseball is wrong, man with four balls cannot walk. Panties not best thing on earth but next to best thing on earth. War doesn't determine who is right, war determines who is left. Wife who put husband in doghouse soon find him in cathouse. Man who fight with wife all day get no piece at night. It take many nails to build crib but one screw to fill it. Man who drive like hell bound to get there. Man who stand on toilet is high on pot. Man who lives in glass house should change clothes in basement. Man who fishes in other man's well often catches crabs. Man who farts in church sits in own pew. Crowded elevator smells different to midget. *********************************************** 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 concerning this group or membership contact Dennis Starks at, . A list of selected articles of interest to members can be seen at: http://www.softcom.net/users/buzz/backmail.html ***********************************************