From: military-radio-guy Full-Name: Dennis R Starks To: military radio collectors#3 Fcc: Sent Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 06:45:05 Subject: MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, May 14/99 Message-ID: <19990514.064409.10287.3.military-radio-guy@juno.com> X-Status: Sent X-Mailer: Juno 1.49 MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, May 14/99 Index: ANNOUNCEMENTS; More Library Manuals, Your Web Sites, Back Issues, PETER'S TRIP TO EUROPE; SWITCHING METHOD FOR THE UNIVERSAL INVERTER; By Ray Robinson DOVER AIR SHOW, MAY 15-16TH; NEW MEMBER; Laz HUMOR; *********************************************** ANNOUNCEMENTS; More Library Manuals, Alan has desided that he needed some more manauls, so the list has grown. The following manuals from my library will shortly be on there way. Members wishing copies can contact those that they are headed for. They will make your copies, and mail them at cost. For the SCR-511(Pogo-Stick): Instruction Book for SCR-511-B, United States Marine Corps Radio Material School, by Electronic Radio-Television Institute(Omaha NB.) (This is not a very thick manual so should be easy and cost effective to reproduce. It's significant in that it is the only copy known to exist, and it proves Marine Corps use of the radio.) PRC-53,Radio Headset,Navy Model PRC-53,handbook operation & maint instructions,(copy)1 Sep.1961 PRC-64,Radio set,AN/PRC-64A,Oper,Org,DS,GS, and Depo Maint, Inc Rep Parts & Spec Tools Lists. TM11-5820-552-15,Nov.70(repo) Delco 5300A,Long Range Portable Radio Transceiver,Operating Instruction Manual,(copy).Delco Radio GM. PRC-140,Promotional Material,Motorola,1995 (this is not a manual, just propotional propaganda about the set from Motorola) For any of the above, contact Alan Tasket For the PRC-68: PRC-68, Radio Set, PRC-68, org & di sup maint man, TM11-5820-882-23,Jan.81 (the is the one that contains the alignment and channel/programming data) Organizational & Direct Support Maintenance.TM11-5820-882-23P,Jan.82 Operator's Manual,TM11-5820-882-10,Jul.80 (this is the small pocket manual, it contains very little info of interest) For any of the above, contact Lee Orsborn For the BC-669: SCR-543,Radio Sets SCR-543,A,B,C,D,technical manual, TM11-625,Dec.44 Contact John Brewer ----------------------------------------------------------------- Back Issues, The index list of our back issues had become too long to send out anymore(over 15 pages). So I am currently dissected them all, and their major items of interest being added to the Backmail files. The list of Back issues sent out a couple days ago will not go out again. If there is any material you would like to see, ask for it before it's too late. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Your Web Sites, If you have ANY material running on a web site that was originally published in the Group Post, please let me know what, along with it's address. As I update all our Backmail files, I want to add your web site's address to the listing. I know that at least four major articles are currently being offered on member web sites, but I received not one responce when I last asked for this info. Thanks, Dennis *********************************************** PETER'S TRIP TO EUROPE; Hi Dennis I just want to report on the findings during a recent trip to Germany and Holland. In Holland, I visited the WS-19 Museum, also known as the Jan Corver Museum, in Budel, about 1 mile from the Belgian border. The curator, Cor Moerman, PAoVYL, reminded me somewhat of Dennis (have not met Dennis but judging from the way he writes), very direct and very knowledgeable. His museum is a 'monument', i.e. he pays no taxes. The beautiful building, opened last year, was donated by the Dutch government. He is a long-term collector. The museum is very neatly organized and depicts ham radio from the beginning through the post-WWII era. There is also a nice setup with WWII military gear including a working WS-19 set, and a nice collection of about a dozen spy radios from WWII. After spending the appropriate time with Cor, listening and learning, in the museum (we were the only visitors) he showed us his private collection and that is when the real fun started, He has a large shed which is stacked bottom to top with layers and layers of military gear, mostly WWII. He recently acquired a pig barn next door which is also filled with gear. Looks good, smells good. Just like Dennis, he does not sell anything but is open for (any and all) trades. He gave me a nice variometer (antenna tuner) for my WS-19. All-in-all, a delightful visit. Later, we visited two of the surplus shops. Unfortunately, Quakkelstein was closed due to the impending celebration of Queen Beatrix' birthday, but in a another store we located three SEM-35 sets, similar to the PRC-77 but later vintage and made in Germany. Complete with block diagram and schematics I bought all three units but my Dutch friend talked me out of one of the so I have only two sent to me. Price was 95 guilders each (about 50 bucks, there are still some deals out there). Also, I had some contacts with Carmelo in Italy who sent me a DC-DC converter for the PRC-6. Operates on a little 6V gelcell, the whole mess fits nicely inside a PRC-6. It senses the PRC-6 switch,so no added switching is required. The unit measures 2-11/16 x 1-1/2 x 2-5/16 inches and is nicely potted and painted olive drab. The connectors are provided so it is truly plug-'n-play, just right for the lazy ones (such as me) who do not want to roll their own. I will test this unit next week or so and let you know if and how it works. Carmelo said he also has a DC-DC converter for the BC-611 which senses filament current draw for automatic on/off switching. I will try to talk him out of one of those for testing. His prices are OK especially since i can buy these units through a european bank acount with no duties etc. Alan Tasker had asked me to look into getting schematics for the SEM-52A and that became quite a circus. A friend of mine had tracked down the source SEL of Germany (now Atelco) and I made contact with a lady in the contracts department. She pretty much read me the riot act, said she knew that several SEM-52As had landed in the USA but that they had been stolen in Kuwait during the gulf war and that SEL was pursuing the alledged "thief" and would file charges and have him jailed, in other words, the units are "hot" and stay out of it and you can not get any documantation because these units were made fro a foreign government and thus proprietary. Well that statement got me going pretty good, the challenge was on, and i spent about 1/2 hour on the phone arguing that the deed was done, we had the units and all we were trying to do was to put them on the proper frequencies so they would be legal. She said no way but i begged, pleaded and lightly threatened and she finally gave me another number to call, in the German military control department (whatever that is). After many calls I finally reached a gent and I pleaded my case explaining that I am a ham and he said he also is a ham (DK9CK), BINGO!!! He is now trying to get a release on the schematics and manual for us, no promises. I will call him once a week. If he does not get a release I may just have to visit him next trip (hint). I do not even have a SEM-52A but this beauraucracy pissed me off just enough so I am biting into this one. I also have a request: i picked up a transceiver, probably table-top or vehicle mount, 40-60 MHz or so, probably made in UK, the name plate calls it a "Model 889". It has a lot of flat pack IC's (T063AA) and is beautifully built. Reportedly, it also was a desert storm trophy. When I opened it up there was a lot of (desert?) sand in it but it looks OK. Any information on this one please??? best, Peter Berg KQ6AA <"Peter Berg"@rc-direct.com> ed) You can tell your contact at Atelco, that all those SEM-52A's running around, if they were stolen from Kuwait, the U.S. government was the thief(nothing new to us). Over 2000 of these radios were sold via sealed bid by the U.S. DRMO several years ago, and that is were all those running around here came from. The Model(Type) 889 is Chinese, and most probably did come from Desert Storm, it was covered in our multi part series by that name. It features 20-49.975mc operation in 25kc steps. A selectable RF power output of 3watts/low or 20watts/high. Carmelo sent me one of his power supplies. I've desperately been trying to get my bench cleared of so's to give them a good checking out. Hopefully I'll be able to get this done within the next weeks so's we can order some. *********************************************** SWITCHING METHOD FOR THE UNIVERSAL INVERTER; By Ray Robinson Hi Dennis, I have been thinking about your "Universal Inverter Power Supply" and your appeal for a way to turn it on and off without modifying the radio(for the BC-611). Here is a one solution. (shaking it 3 times has a certain charm, I think). Please digest this carefully, before releasing it on the others. I'd hate to be resposible for blowing up a dozen radios! Regards Ray VK2ILV PS I'll draw a circuit when I figure out how to drive the CAD package, and post it to you. ------------------------------------------------------------------ AUTOMATIC CONTROL OF BATTERY ELIMINATORS An inverter power supply and/or a filament supply for valve radios can be controlled automatically with a reed relay. Use a reed relay (which has normally open contacts) to supply the voltage to the filament regulator. When the reed is open, the regulator is not powered and so there is no current drain. When the reed closes the regulator is energised and provides the filament supply. The reed is activated by the filament current. Method The coil of the reed relay is connected between the battery and the radio's filament input. When the ON/OFF switch in the radio is in the OFF position (switch open), no current will flow through the reed coil and so nothing happens. When the radio is switched ON, the filaments are connected in series with the reed coil. The filaments are a low value resistance, and will draw enough current to activate the reed, but the filaments will not light up. The relay will activate and turn on the filament regulator which will supply the correct filament voltage. When the radio is switched OFF, no current will flow from the reed coil to the filaments, and the relay will switch the regulator off. A reed relay in a 14 pin IC package has one make contact which can carry 500 ma and a reed coil of 500 ohms resistance. It is also cheap and small. These are used for TTL switching tasks. It will activate at about 3.5 v and can go up to about 7 v. If you have a higher battery voltage, put a Zener diode in series with the coil, to keep the voltage within these limits. (For example, if your battery voltage is 12 v, use a 6 v Zener diode.) When the radio is OFF, if you measure the voltage at the filament terminals, you will see the full battery voltage (for example 6 v), in series with the reed coil (500 ohms). When the radio is switched ON, and assuming one valve (for example a 1T4) the resistance will be 28 ohms or lower, and so there will be less than 0.3 volts across the valve. For more valves the voltage will be lower. So there is no danger of damaging the filaments. The regulator is connected to the filaments as well, but through a diode (to protect the regulator). So the diode must be large enough to carry the full filament current, and the regulator must be set at a voltage to allow for the voltage drop across the diode. If we assume a 0.7 v drop across the diode, and a 1.5 v filament voltage, the regulator should be adjusted to 2.2 volts. Testing I have tested this circuit with an LM317 regulator set to 2.2 v and a 6 v power source. As a load, I have used a rheostat and set the current at various values, from 50 ma to 500 ma. I have run this continuously for 24 hours. I have also had a timer circuit (555 timer IC and a relay) that turned it on for 1 second and off for 1 second, for 48 hours. It continued to function OK. I only managed to break it, when I put a large capacitor on the input of the regulator (100 uF) which welded the reed contacts together with the high charge current. The circuit doesn't need this capacitor. The circuit didn't fail, it just wouldn't switch off! Conclusion The advantages of this circuit are that you can use the radio's ON/OFF switch to turn the filament volts on (and the HT inverter) without modifying the radio. There is no current drain when the radio is switched off. The disadvantages of this circuit are: 1/. you can only switch 500 ma. If the load is more than that, then you need to use the reed to activate a larger relay with heavier contacts. There is a dual make contact reed DIP relay but it has a 200 ohm coil and so draws more current. 2/. beware of sudden inrush currents (like large capacitors) which can damage the relay contacts. 3/. The battery voltage must be above 4 volts. Ray Robinson ed) this method was touched on in one of the articles we had on the subject(don't ask which one, there's been so many I can't remember, but all are in our backmail files). The only real problem was in finding suitable relays that would close at the common 1.5v heater voltage. Ed Guzick I believe did find some, but I'm not sure how far his experimentation has gone. Your solution negates much of the need to find specialized relays as 5-12vdc miniature"dip" relays are available from(gads) Radio Shack, with even DPDT contacts(these are conventional relays and not reed relays). But as you say, do to the variations in relay coil resistance, some caution should be exercised when first throwing the switch less you would open up all your tube filaments. I would think that a diode in series with the output of both the relay coil, and regulator would both add to coil/circuit resistance and negate any possible problems with voltage back-wash between the two. In any case, good idea, carry on! *********************************************** DOVER AIR SHOW, MAY 15-16TH; Just a reminder for those near the East Coast. Dover AFB, Delaware is having an Air Show on May the 15, 16th. The Navy Blue Angels and Army Parachute team etc. will be there as well as lots of static displays. Andrews AFB in Washington has canceled their Air Show due to the minor accident of the Thunderbirds. If you go to Dover, look me up, I will be parked in front of the Main Display Hanger number 706. I'll have my M-151 and lots of working comm equipment- I will be monitoring the push of 51.0 mcs and working low power CW on 7.040. Stop by and I'll give you a chair to sit in and a cold drink. Since it is Armed Forces day, WAR , AIR and numerous military stations will be making cross band contacts from assigned military frequencies to the ham bands, i.e., they transmit on military frequencies and announce which ham frequency they are monitoring, its kind of a challenge to work them. Reference May QST page 97 for the military freqs. If you dont have access to QST, E mail me and I will send you the details. breck k4che Dover Delaware *********************************************** NEW MEMBER; Laz greetings. i received your invitation letter. i am interested in joining the group. i bought my first USSR R-105M at a computer convention and am going to get it up and running in my studio(once i get an antenna and a headset). i'd like to join your group, however #6 concerned me. i do want to learn about these things and the history of them, but i also want to get a few additional radios. i don't have anything to trade but beer and a dumb cat since i just got my first military radio. am i eligible to join your group? laz -- ### lazlow host-mindspring radio network and technofile radio network over 160 affiliates nationwide offices at blue dingo 212.358.8080 http://www.lazlow.com -sign up for the newsletter *********************************************** HUMOR; BRUSSELS - A NATO spokesman in Brussels this morning confirmed an overnight report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that a bomb dropped by a NATO warplane over Yugoslavia missed its mark and crashed into a residential area in Perth, Australia, killing 75. It happened Tuesday during an air strike on the southern Yugoslav town of Surdilica. Australian authorities claim that at least 75 civilians were killed in the attack and that NATO fired at least 11 missiles at the town. NATO spokesman Jamie Shea appeared in the NATO press briefing room just before ten this morning to read a statement from IOC chairman Juan Antonio Samaranch, or whoever: "Last night at approximately 7:03 p.m. local time, a precision-guided munition fired from a NATO warplane over Surdilica missed its intended target and levelled a block of flats in Perth, Australia. As in all such previous instances, NATO regrets the civilian yadda-yadda-yadda, but maintains that it takes every precaution to minimize the yadda-yadda-yadda... you fill in the blanks." Asked whether NATO had its own estimate of casualties, Shea sniffed, "NATO does not stoop to such bean-counting. I presume the number is more than one, and probably less than 5,284. Beyond that I am unwilling to comment." Responding to a reporter who asked how such a precise weapon could strike a place half a world away, Shea reacted angrily. "This is a war, or at any rate an 'action,' and in war - or indeed in 'actions' - there is always a risk, sometimes more than one. And in this case it appears that one of the risks was borne by a town approximately 7,974 miles away," he harangued. Questioned by members of the media at the country's annual dwarf-throwing championship, Australian Prime Minister John Howard refused public comment, explaining that he was "very, very" afraid of NATO. This latest NATO blunder caps a week of public relations nightmares which included the mistaken carpet-bombing of Durban, South Africa, the accidental sinking of the USS Coral Sea by a stray cruise missile fired from the USS Coral Sea, and the wacky-ass destruction of NATO's own airbase at Aviano, Italy. These last two errors left NATO warplanes with nowhere to land, resulting in several "sudden unplanned altitude reductions," or fiery crashes. "The Eagle is landing fast and unintentionally, Roger. I'm about to become a huge ball of flame, Roger," commented US Navy pilot Roger Shanks. (Courtesy of Gunther Hatherer) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Cynics Guide to Life -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a leaky tire. I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows. And a foundation leaks and a ball game gets rained out and a car rusts and... Follow your dream! Unless it's the one where you're at work in your underwear during a fire drill. Always take time to stop and smell the roses... and sooner or later, you'll inhale a bee. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me alone! If you don't like my driving, don't call anyone. Just take another road. That's why the highway department made so many of them. If a motorist cuts you off, just turn the other cheek. Nothing gets the message across like a good mooning. When I'm feeling down, I like to whistle. It makes the neighbor's dog run to the end of his chain and gag himself. It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal the neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it. A handy telephone tip: Keep a small chalkboard near the phone. That way, when a salesman calls, you can hold the receiver up to it and run your fingernails across it until he hangs up. Each day I try to enjoy something from each of the four food groups: the bonbon group, the salty-snack group, the caffeine group, and the whatever-the-thing-in-the-tinfoil-in-the-back-of-the-fridge" is group. Into every life some rain must fall. Usually when your car windows are down. Just remember... You gotta break some eggs to make a real mess on the neighbor's car! When you find yourself getting irritated with someone, try to remember that all men are brothers... and just give them a noogie or an Indian burn. This morning I woke up to the unmistakable scent of pigs in a blanket. That's the price you pay for letting the relatives stay over. It's a small world. So you gotta use your elbows a lot. Keep your nose to the grindstone and your shoulder to the wheel...it's cheaper than plastic surgery. This land is your land. This land is my land. So stay on your land. Love is like a roller coaster: when it's good you don't want to get off, and when it isn't... you can't wait to throw up. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Thought for today There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, to hammer a nail In the back fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us. Show your friends how much you care. *********************************************** (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) ***********************************************