From: military-radio-guy Full-Name: Dennis R Starks To: military radio collectors#3 Fcc: Sent Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 07:22:09 Subject: MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, June 22/99 Message-ID: <19990622.072111.5287.4.military-radio-guy@juno.com> X-Status: Sent X-Mailer: Juno 1.49 MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, June 22/99 Index: PRC-25, FORGOTTEN LEGEND; Part III, By Dennis Starks SPECIAL EVENT REPORTS; June 6/99 Antique Radio Club, Illinois SPECIAL EVENT REPORTS; June 6/99 Antique Radio Club, Illinois Dallas Hamcom, MEMBERS WRITE; 2DF4 Vice 3DF4, 6mtrs, Where Is Everybody? WHATZIT; RT-1175/GSQ? NEW MEMBER; Dennis Trimble HUMOR; *********************************************** PRC-25, FORGOTTEN LEGEND; Part III, By Dennis Starks The Legend Begins(1965-1970), This chapter in the PRC-25's lengthy saga has taken several forms. None seem to do it the justice it deserves. So I've decided to take a "time-line" approach to it's "Legend". I believe this will make it much simpler for the reader to follow it's progression, and judge it's impact on history. 1952, Requirements for the new generation of PRC-25 family of equipment are laid down. 1954, Development contracts with RCA are let. 1957, The PRC-25(XC-1) appears. 1958, The PRC-25(XC-2) appears. 1959, The PRC-25(XC-3) appears early in the year. 1960, November, Two modified PRC-25(XC-3) prototypes are tested. In June, the VRC-12 is adopted as a standard issue item of equipment. 1961, Though the PRC-25 had been officially adopted in May(after two years of testing and refining the final version), for some reason it would not be put into full scale production for another four years.This four year delay in production might be explained later, but by 1965 there would exist a dire need for these radios that surpassed any higher echelon excuses. October of this year saw an initial contract for production units with RCA. 1962, December, deleveries begin of production PRC-25's. 1963, In August, initial shipments, and distribution to U.S. forces on Europe begin. Europe had become our traditional test arena for equipment of all types some years before. 1964, Testing of the PRC-25 family of equipment, including the VRC-12(which had been adopted one year before the PRC-25), had been completed in South Vietnam. A few of the sets were tested by signal advisers who had concluded it was a significant improvement over the older PRC-10's. Despite their favorable conclusions, they were unable to obtain approval for it's adoption as the standard adviser radio. This was due in part to the extreme cost of the radios, and the lack of logistic support in place. Late in the year, 500 PRC-10's are dispatched to South Vietnam for use by advisers. 1965, By now only token quantities of the PRC-25 existed which had no doubt been built for the purpose of field trials. When combat troops began to deploy to South Vietnam in the Spring, they were supplied with the same early generation of equipment that the adviser groups before them had been, the PRC-10. Yes, the PRC-10, it was used extensively by all those involved, enemy & allied alike until the late 60's(much later than generally believed by most people). In the summer, the limitations of the PRC-10 began to result in excessive combat casualties with the Marines, and the 173d Airborne Brigade, General Westmoreland then issued an "urgent battlefield requirement" for 2000 of the new radios which had been tested in this theater the year before. The Signal Corps responded by shipping the entire stock of PRC-25's on hand(only 1000 sets which had been destined for Europe) and began emergency procurement for the remaining 1000 sets of the order. This initial 1000 new radio sets where in the hands of troops within a few weeks. 1500 would be received by advisers, and Special Forces, with the remaining 500 going to combat troops. An "X" mode requirement(speech security equipment) was added, to specifications for improvements to the PRC-25. This resulted in a re-designation of the radio to the PRC-77.(Note that it was not the redesign to eliminate the output tube that prompted this re-designation, nor the "X" mode requirement, it was the combination of all refinements that warranted the re-designation to PRC-77) 1966, "Operation Attleboro", In November, U.S. Forces(a small task force of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade) are prematurely drawn into the heavy jungle of War Zone C to ferret out Viet Cong storage depots. Instead, they stumble on to the head quarters of the notorious 9th Viet Cong Division who immediately surrounded the three company Task Force, cutting off all attempts at relief. Throughout the morning of the 4th, relief forces fought their way to the beleaguered task force. Using only a PRC-25, the task force commander, Maj. Guy S. Melroy, eventually controlled eleven companies from five separate battalions while lying pinned down by enemy fire. To aid this miraculous feat, Sfc. Ray Burdette had assemble a ground plane antenna(RC-292) and propped it up against a nearby tree. This for two days before pressure was relieved long enough to effect a withdraw of the battered task force. This was the first time that a large Viet Cong force stood and fought. The PRC-25 is now listed as a replacement for the PRC-9, and PRC-10 inclusive, in Australian tables for equipment(which also includes the PRC-64, -41, -47, -62, GRA-71, GRC-106, PRT-4 & PRR-9, and VRC-12 among others). 1967, 15,000 PRC-25's, and 7000 VRC-12's are now in the hands of U.S. troops, and another 9000 PRC-25's are being issued to the South Vietnamese Army. Issue to the South Vietnamese army had been purposely delayed to relieve frequency/traffic congestion. November, after the "Battle For Dak To" involving the 173d Airborne Brigade's 2d Division, and the 503 Infantry, against the 174th North Vietnamese Regiment atop Hill 875. Combat casualties for equipment alone were listed as 89ea PRC-25's, 22ea PRT-4's & 19ea PRR-9's(173d Airborne), and 32ea field telephones.(Note the PRC-25's and not PRC-77's!) Combat loses of equipment for this year deplete the Army's entire inventory of tape antennas. As an emergency expedient 15,000 special bushings are fabricated to adapt the old PRC-10's antenna to the PRC-25. It is discovered that only half of the radio operators using the PRC-25 are Signalman, or have received any formal training. Most operators are found to be simple infantryman drafted to the radio operator position to replace fallen radioman. The simplicity of the PRC-25 is a great success. Because of this simplicity it is proposed to initiate PRC-25 training to "all" Army trainees, and not just signalman, this is an unprecedented act! Fall of this year saw the completion of testing of the newer PRC-77. 1968, In May, shipments of PRC-77's began to Southeast Asia. They had been delayed due to deficiencies in the batteries for the KY-38 encryption equipment(because they could not vent, they were prone to explode), and for lack of a single capacitor which had been supplied by a subcontractor gone bankrupt. By December, 9000 sets where in the hands of U.S. troops. Theater commanders are unwilling to turn in their PRC-25's upon receipt of new PRC-77's. The PRC-25 had become "Too good, no one wanted to give them up!" 1969, Those who believed the war was to be fought and won as a counterinsurgency rather than a conventional war, profess that the PRC-25 alone had far more utility than a B-52 and it's associated support, or any troposcatter or satellite terminal. In late December, infantryman overrun the camp of the highly successful Viet Cong A3 Technical Reconnaissance Unit. Among the equipment captured included 1400 hand written copies of intercepted Allied messages, 2ea PRC-25's, 1ea PRC-77, and 1ea Chinese R-139 receiver. 1970, PRC-25's had become the primary targets for specially formed enemy units who entered battle with one mission, to capture these radios. In the beginning, the first priority for the issue of these sets went to Viet Cong units monitoring American traffic. By the early 70's, so many PRC-25's had been captured, or stolen, that it had become a standard issue item for most enemy line units. 1976, My first experience of many with a PRC-25(listening to Hispanic TV broadcast off the coast of Guantonimo). As of 1980, I had never seen a PRC-77. Dennis Starks; Collector/Historian Midwest Military Communications Museum email: military-radio-guy@juno.com Ref. #10.Janes,1979/80,Military Communications. Ref. #11.Janes,1981,Military Communications. Ref. #18.Military Communications,A TEST FOR TECHNOLOGY,The US Army in Vietnam by John D.Bergen,CMH Pub 91-12. Ref. #23.Items contained in my personal collection of equipment. Ref. #31, Military Collector Group Post: Backmail #52 CURRENT AUSSIE RADIO EQUIPMENT; Circa 1966, from Dave Prince *********************************************** SPECIAL EVENT REPORTS; June 6/99 Antique Radio Club, Illinois Not much activity. I made three trips through the area and left after about one hour. As expected lots of AM antiques but the only green stuff I saw was black. Two BC-221 Frequency Meters. A few Ham items, a very good looking Sky Buddy for $80, interestingly there was a less attractive one for $120. Go figure! There was a large oscilloscope encased within 1/8 inch metal. It was an early Radar scope but the owner had no idea what the number was and he said it was too heavy to move. The big meet is in August hope it picks up a little compared to last year. The Six Meter Club Hamfest was last Sunday and it was a wash out. This is one of the better local Hamfests but we had about 2-3 inches of rain the previous night and all through the day. I was told by a brave soul that only six Tailgaters were in the lot. Ed Guzick located@worldnet.att.net ------------------------------------------------------------------ Dallas Hamcom, Hi, Dennis, The story of Ham Com starts at the end: I left Ham Com Saturday afternoon on a nice, rather cool, Texas June day. On the way home, I was curious about the radio reports that I was hearing about high water rescues, no drownings, etc. When I arrived at the house, which is probably thirty miles from the Arlington Convention Center, I discovered that North Dallas had up to four inches of rain in some areas and severe thunderstorms. The story gets worse: my computer was dead! Damn, double Damn! Monday, I take the computer to the store where I had bought it and they charge me $75 to tell me that the mother (or is that motha?) board and the cache memory has been wiped out by a "power surge." Obviously, lightning had killed it. (should be a seven day waiting period for lightning) I go to Fry's and buy a neat package deal with an Intel motherboard, Pentium III chip and mid sized tower case, go home, assemble it with old hard drive (which contains all of my data), old CD drive, old floppy drive and old modem - computer lives. I get a new keyboard since the old one could not spell and a new Logitech wheel mouse. Wheel mouse is really neat! I try to install Version 2 of Windows 98 (recommended by many computer gurus as having many problems cured). Computer locks up during installation. Computer will no longer boot - triple Damn! I call Microsoft. After three and a half hours on the phone with them (it is now 2118 hours on Wednesday) Microsoft customer service person decides that a Microsoft "research engineer" needs to call me between 1000 and 1200 on Thursday - he doesn't. Quadruple Damn! 1500 CDT thursday, I call Microsoft with sob story, tears, groveling, pleading, praising Bill Gates, etc. I get another customer service person. We talk for three more hours. He concludes that his supervisor should call me. I wait. Supervisor does not call. I call back and get another customer service person. Supervisor calls on second line while I am talking to customer service representative. She says that Research Engineer is standing right beside her and will call me in fifteen minutes. One hour later, Research Engineer calls. We play with dead computer. He concludes that the hard drive has physical damage in the area of the FAT table. All along, I thought that was in my breakfast room! He suggests that I buy a new hard disk, install it, and transfer data (which appears to be good) from the old disk. Quintuple Damn! Fortunately, I have a removable hard drive and had backed up within the week. Back to Fry's for a new Western Digital hard drive. These guys have their act together! Simple installation. I reinstall operating system and backup from removable hard drive with much trepidation since this procedure had formerly initiated a three-week tryst when I last lost a hard drive and had to back up from a tape unit. Wonder of wonders - it worked! Everything worked! Oops! Printer does not work! Sextuple Damn! I reinstall printer driver - printer lives. Com ports do not work. Running out of Damns! It is now Friday. I screw around with the computer - no longer know what, when, or where I am doing things. The World is becoming an electronic fog. Not coming in on little cat feet but oozing in on sand - sand that has been melted, twisted, fused, sawed, sliced, diced, photographed, etched, potted, soldered, crammed into chips and twisted into evil. I recover critical business data from old hard drive - forgetting to recover e-mail files. Are we up to octuple Damns? I try to reformat old hard drive so I can use it for backup as suggested by Research Engineer. Does not work. I don't even know what nine Damns are! I call Research Engineer. It is now Friday afternoon. Research Engineer suggests that I cannot trust old hard drive and, since it is still in warranty, I should take it back and exchange it. I take it back and am told that the warranty requires that I mail it to the factory notwithstanding the fact that it has the store's name on it. After some discussion with the store manager, he suggests that I pay the $19 extended warranty fee and he will replace the drive. I walk out with an 8.4 gigabyte Western Digital - the smallest that they have. Wow, the smallest that they have? Where is technology taking us? I can't imagine what I would do with 8.4 gigabytes. I install new drive. Does not work. We must be up to TerraDamns by now. I't is late Friday night - I give up. Saturday, I try a new approach. I take the Western Digital manual into the john and sit down on the porcelain throne to cogitate. There it is! The two drives have to be on the same cable! I disassemble computer and change cables. I know that the CD drive and the backup drive won't work - this is too easy. With false bravado, I screw the cover on the computer case, plug everything in, put the Western Digital installation disk in the A drive and switch on. No smoke. Blue screens appear. It asks if I want it to format the new drive and copy everything from the old drive (now four days old). I say yes, knowing that it will erase my old drive and I will be left with nothing. It finishes and asks if I would like to reboot. Having no other choice, I do so. Miracle! It lives! There is hope for humanity! Ham Com? Well, there was not much military. Saw one nice BC-348 that the guy wanted about $300 for. It was sitting on top of a R-388 but I saw no need to ask its price. A few other relatively insignificant military items were there but, by now, my traumatized mind has forgotten them. We had a combined boat anchors and military radio forum. About a dozen people attended. Probably would have had more but the Ham Com folks forgot to put us in the printed program. About half were interested in Military radios. I gave them Dennis' name and e-mail address so we may have a new member or two. Lenox Carruth Dallas, TX carruth@geo-thermal.com Collector of WW-II Communications Equipment and Memorabilia ed) Probably the best line of excuses I have ever seen for not getting in a report. Far better than,"My Dog Eat It"! I had planned to attend Hamcom this year. I had been promised unlimited table space for exhibits, and rooms at the Marietta Hotel. But I guess the new, and inexperienced hamfest staff shit their nest along the line somewhere so I lost interest, especially as it would have require 1000 miles worth of driving. *********************************************** MEMBERS WRITE; 2DF4 Vice 3DF4, Dear Dennis, In all my years of tinkering with PRC-25's, I have never seen a bad 3DF4 in a PRC-25 either, mostly because the one tube in a PRC-25 is a 2DF4! (Smiling) Best Regards, Geoff Bunza ed) Well, at least I know now that somebody out there is reading this stuff! ------------------------------------------------------------------ 6mtrs, Where Is Everybody? OK guys .... where the heck are all of you? 6 has been w-i-d-e open several times during the past few days and I have made numerous calls on 51.6 and 51.0 with no answers. Surely some of y'all actually use these green beasties rather than let them sit around and die of capacitor rot. I have worked a few guys on 52.525 using 2W and the rubber duck on my HT, so I know a PRC-25 or a PRC-10 an a real antenna will do the job fine. Get off your duff and turn on a radio. I am hearing all sorts of mil activity on lowband too. Something was going on last night with a unit reporting he had arrested 5 civilian dissidents at the fence. Some other station was reporting his patrol was ready to start and he read off the munitions they were carrying. Lots of M16's and a couple of M60's and some other stuff I never heard of. 6 was open to New England at the time, but this stuff was down around 32-34 MHz so there is no telling where it was coming from. At least take a green radio to FD! Hoping to hear something on 51.6... de Conard, WS4S *********************************************** WHATZIT; RT-1175/GSQ? I have a "whatzit" for the list. The namenclature plate says RT-1175/GSQ NSN is 5820-01-349-5286 PIIN: A3160005 MFG:11447 There is a small barcode lable on the side that says "REMBASS A3160010 repeater" It was all sealed in the the original box with an OD painted quarter wave VHF antenna that can either mount to the front of the unit or be used as a ground plane with included radials and small mounting bracket. The unit itself is 4x5x12" including battery box, OD CARC. The front panel has a power switch, and antenna connector and a 12 pin Cannon MS-311 series connector. The battery box has 2 "standard" 6 pin cannon battery connectors for 2 batteries. Unit has 1980's date codes on the components inside. Any clues? A search of LOGSA with the nomenclature or the PIIN number turn up nothing, and it does not appear in any issue of PAM 25-30. According to a cage code lookup the mystery box was made by L-3 COMMUNICATIONS CORP COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS EAST 1 FEDERAL ST CAMDEN, NJ 08103 CAGE CODE: 11447 So that part is not as mysterious. Or maybe more so, as I can find no other mention of the company anywhere I have looked. Tom Norris ed) The designation of GSQ(though it does not appear anywhere officially) is generally associated with countermeasures equipment. Such as intrusion detection, and surveillance equipment. Maybe it's one of the clandestine repeaters that I've heard the DEA is placing all over the country on mountain tops.(the Carolinas, West VA, and Tenn. in particular). *********************************************** NEW MEMBER; Dennis Trimble I have read the 'regs' and will do my best to abide by them. I have been a ham since the early '50's. This led me to involvement with electronics when I joined the Navy. I served in Naval Air in P2V Neptunes and P5M Marlins in the '60's. During that time I became familiar with communications, navigation, and ASW gear as well as radar and ECM. I did a bit of radio operation, mostly cw, some rtty and ssb. Have used several callsigns including NRS NRR NZY4 5H55...ad nauseaum. aka N0RYQ, W4ODR, WA6TBY, K0AVB, G3, EI, DL.etc Current callsigns include W6LVY and W0QK de Dennis Trimble *********************************************** HUMOR; Prince Phillip was getting bored after dinner one night. He decided to hold a contest to see who at Buckingham Palace had the most impressive member. One of the footmen shot to his feet, pulled down his pants and tied a 5 pound weight around his weapon and sure enough it rose majestically. The housemaids cheered...the corgis swooned....Fergie salivated and the string quartet played a rousing burst of Handel's Messiah. Prince Charles stood up and yelled that it was he who had the mightiest chap. He dropped his pants and tied a 10 pound weight to his trouser snake and it immediately levitated. The butler blushed...Princess Anne waved a royal banner....Prince Edward fidgeted inadequately.....and the string quartet played a frenzied version of "You Sexy Thing" . After several more pretenders tried to prove their superiority, Prince Phillip rose silently and attached not a 10 pound, not a 20 pound, not even a 30 pound, but a 40 pound weight to his third leg and the offending beast soared instantaneously toward the ceiling. The silence was broken by the string quartet's sombre rendition of God Save The Queen. ----------------------------------------------------------------- There were two nude statues, man and women, standing across from each other in a secluded park. A few hundred years after they have been put in place an Angel flutters down to them. A wave of his hand, and suddenly the statues have been given flesh and released from their pedestals. The angel says, "I have been sent to grant the mutua request you have both made after hundreds of years of standing cross from each other unable to move. But be quick, you only have fifteen minutes until you must become statues again." The man looks at the woman and they both flush, and giggle, and run off into some underbrush. And intense rustling comes from the bushes and seven minutes later, they both come back to the angel obviously satisfied. The angel smiles at the couple, "That was only seven minutes, why not go back and do it again?" The former statues look at each other for a minute, and then they giggle and run back into the bushes. "Alright, this time you hold the pigeon down, and I'll poop on it." ----------------------------------------------------------------- Actual epitaphs from gravestones ... On the grave of Ezekiel Aikle in East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia: Here lies Ezekiel Aikle Age 102 The Good Die Young. In a London, England cemetery: Ann Mann Here lies Ann Mann, Who lived an old maid But died an old Mann. Dec. 8, 1767 In a Ribbesford, England, cemetery: Anna Wallace The children of Israel wanted bread And the Lord sent them manna, Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife, And the Devil sent him Anna. Playing with names in a Ruidoso, New Mexico, cemetery: Here lies Johnny Yeast Pardon me For not rising. Memory of an accident in a Uniontown, Pennsylvania cemetery: Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake Stepped on the gas Instead of the brake. In a Silver City, Nevada, cemetery: Here lays Butch, We planted him raw. He was quick on the trigger, But slow on the draw. A widow wrote this epitaph in a Vermont cemetery: Sacred to the memory of my husband John Barnes who died January 3, 1803 His comely young widow, aged 23, has many qualifications of a good wife, and yearns to be comforted. (ed: guess they did not have personnal ads then) A lawyer's epitaph in England: Sir John Strange Here lies an honest lawyer, And that is Strange. Someone determined to be anonymous in Stowe, Vermont: I was somebody. Who, is no business Of yours. Lester Moore was a Wells, Fargo Co. station agent for Naco, Arizona in the cowboy days of the 1880's. He's buried in the Boot Hill Cemetry in Tombtone, Arizona: Here lies Lester Moore Four slugs from a .44 No Les No More. In a Georgia cemetery: "I told you I was sick!" John Penny's epitaph in the Wimborne, England, cemetery: Reader if cash thou art In want of any Dig 4 feet deep And thou wilt find a Penny. On Margaret Daniels grave at Hollywood Cemetery Richmond, Virginia: She always said her feet were killing her but nobody believed her. In a cemetery in Hartscombe, England: On the 22nd of June - Jonathan Fiddle - Went out of tune. Anna Hopewell's grave in Enosburg Falls, Vermont has an epitaph that sounds like something from a Three Stooges movie: Here lies the body of our Anna Done to death by a banana It wasn't the fruit that laid her low But the skin of the thing that made her go. More fun with names with Owen Moore in Battersea, London, England: Gone away Owin' more Than he could pay. Someone in Winslow, Maine didn't like Mr. Wood: In Memory of Beza Wood Departed this life Nov. 2, 1837 Aged 45 yrs. Here lies one Wood Enclosed in wood One Wood Within another. The outer wood Is very good: We cannot praise The other. On a grave from the 1880's in Nantucket, Massachusetts: Under the sod and under the trees Lies the body of Jonathan Pease. He is not here, there's only the pod: Pease shelled out and went to God. The grave of Ellen Shannon in Girard, Pennsylvania is almost a consumer tip: Who was fatally burned March 21, 1870 by the explosion of a lamp filled with "R.E. Danforth's Non-Explosive Burning Fluid" Oops! Harry Edsel Smith of Albany, New York: Born 1903--Died 1942 Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the car was on the way down. It was. In a Thurmont, Maryland, cemetery: Here lies an Atheist All dressed up And no place to go. In a cemetary in England: Remember man, as you walk by, As you are now, so once was I, As I am now, so shal you be, Remember this and follow me. To which someone replied by writing on the tombstome: To follow you I'll not consent, Until I know which way you went. ********************************************** 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 ***********************************************