MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, May 20/98 INDEX: ANNOUNCEMENTS; My Spring Cleaning/Shipping DAYTON REPORTS; MEMBERS WRITE; Readily Available Radio Data? M-37/T-245? Auction Web Sites, More Dayton SSTR-1, ON THE COMMERCIAL FRONT; HUMOR; *********************************************** ANNOUNCEMENTS; My Spring Cleaning/Shipping, Those that have not received their goodies as offered in my Spring Cleaning project, fear not, I haven't forgotten you. I had to curtail elective shipping long enough to get some business shipping done, and now PRC-6's are beginning clog up the shipping room which will further serve to slow me down. But I'm gettin back to ya. It's 05:00, thunder and lightning out but no rain yet, and I left the door open last night and this place is full of mosquitos, so this post is gonna be rushed! Hope Bill finds something of interest in this Group Post, if not, tough shit! Dennis *********************************************** DAYTON REPORTS; Dennis: Just an update about the Dayton Hamvention. There was much less surplus equipment this year, than last year. I didn't even see one PRC-77!! I did see a few PRC-126's and PRC-68B's, but their price was high. I bought a PRC126 complete with case, battery, antenna, instruction manual for $550--and that was a deal! I know you will say it was too much, but it was in really good shape. I saw a piece of unknown gear--looked new and was a back pack unit. Someone was saying the guy was asking $1150 for it so, since it looked new I was interested. Then I noticed that the price wasn't quite correct: add one Zero! He was asking $11500!!! I didn't look any further. And besides a few old pieces, I didn't see anything else. One item I did see and bought ( tried to call you Friday afternoon, but you didn't answer) was a PT300S, Model P1534AH, looked like it had encryption. They were selling the unit with handset and charger module ( no battery box or antenna) for $25.00, and they had plenty. They were 12 channel units and I ASSUME high band. They were in "like new" condition. A far cry from last year when I saw them for $200/ea. I saw Jim Karlow and he was selling a kit to modify the PRC-74 for lower sideband--without adding any additional holes for $35/ea. I didn't get back with him but the kit was thorough and complete--I will find him and get one for my PRC-74. He didn't have any radios for sale. He seems to be a really good guy who really enjoys the hobby. Anyway, that's all I saw that was green, and I was disappointed. Jim Hopper ed) Sorry you couldn't get me Friday, but hearing loss is near complete, can't hear the phone ring unless I'm setting here at the desk(then it's only a foot away). I carried a cordless around all weekend in my shirt pocket, but unless it's dead quite can't hear it either, and as I live 30 feet off a major highway, quite doesn't come very often. $400 would have been much better for the PRC-126, but I guess after the trip there and back from Texas your purchase is understandable. At $25, why didn't ya get me a PT ya cheep shit! (See the hole story on Jim Karalow's selectable sideband PRC-74 offering in tomorrow's Group Post) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My box is broke so I'm usin Dan's. Best deals were on Sun morn. I got to tell you about the truck stop commandos. They been commin to dayton for a few years. They strut around in their camo bdu's and trick prc 126's and stuff and act all KEWL. When me and Dan quiz them on specs and functions they get all tite lipped and jazzy. They drove in in a dodge p/u with a commo shelter on back and were all giddy about havin it set up with original equip. I asked a few questions about it and of course you don't ask military GODS questions cause they have all the answers and you don't need to know. Anyway Garmin factory reps were there and Roy bought the last 3 handheld walkies/gps for $75 a piece !!! VHF marine and GPS but the factory will reprogram to 2 meters !!! They are trick. Not a whole lot of green stuff, just a spattrering here and there. The usual collector guys with the high end back pack radios. Everyone wants 106's is their something I should know? Baranowski was across from us. He had the usual supplies and stuff, nothing special. Saw some HF ssb backpack Harris's. $1500 ea. A lot of guy's looking for sat comm antennas. Should I know something here too?? I'll call later. Steve Wagner ed) Steve, I've seen the guy's your talking about at the Peoria Ill. hamfest. They didn't seem like real amiable fellas to me either. The 2mtr/GPS thing does sound real neat. I realy don't know what the current satcom antenna craze is either. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Dennis: Not a hell of alot to tell you- "green" radios were scarce and pricey. I bought an R-902 (XE-2) which looks like a 1960's vintage 80 to 400 Mhz DF receiver. It runs on 24V and has an internal inverter for 45 and 90V. Hopefully will try to operate it tonight. Jim Karlow was there on Friday, and probably saw much more. I had fun with my PRC-68, lots of folks on 51.0. Saw some things like PRT-4, R-392, SP-600, URC-101, PRC-25/77, BC-348 and ARC-5 stuff, but not a whole lot. Only saw 2 PRC-47's and they wanted 200 bucks for one with no accys, and 300 for one in the box with all the goodies. Didn't see any RT-70, PRC-74, PRC-10 or even any PRC-6s, and only one real sad looking GRC-106. No Russkie stuff either. Where are all the green radios????? In Japan or what??? Oh well, the weather was gorgeous, didn't have to do any chores all day and had a big steak for dinner on the way home, so I guess it was OK. Mark Gluch ed) your R-902 sounds real good, it is of course an experimental and as such would most likely appeal to the most masacistic of collectors, like me! From your description it would appear that was meant to be a VHF/UHF companian to the R-904(HF). On the other hand there is a VHF/UHF version of the R-744/PRR. One variant(SRR-4) is pictured in one of Keith Melton's books, it looks identical to the R-744, but has a different frequency range. It is reported to have been used to listen to and record Bugs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, Daddy, I'm back. Left a week ago Sunday, back Sunday nite late. 730 miles. Check's in the mail for $20 on PRC-6. Dayton. Got there Wed. nite, was on the grounds Thursday thru closing Sat. Mil. stuff -- Not much. Here's what I saw / bought : *ARC 5's - A trunkload of X's / R's, connectors gone, covers, IF cans,antennas gone. Pricing evasive. Junk. Unsold when I left. * Several nice ARC 4's, priced cheap, unsold. *PRC ?? 38 -76 Mcs, 50 Kc spacing, nice, $750, unsold. *R 390, manual, top / bottom covers, $500, unsold. *R 391, fair / good, no covers, no manual, $500, unsold. *R 392, 2 places, $200,$250, both unsold. *Bc 348, good cond.,$75,sold late Sat, sold price unknown. *R 648, good cond, bad paint, with manual, home built PS, new shock mount, $200, sold Sat. AM.(Collins ARR-41, it's a mini/aircraft version of an R-390A) *BC 342, good condition, Started at $110, was $86 late Sat., Unsold. *Saw 6 R 390's, Had yellow stripes on them Thursday, stripes gone by Friday ( saw a gal with paint remover Thur. working on them )Cheapest was $165, no meters, bad shape. 4 were unsold when I left. *Several SP 600's, Junkers, cheapest was $160. Unsold. I got an R 390, T/B covers, very good shape, with a depot manual, R 388 depot manual, Misc. 390 / 390A manuals. Also a new AM 598 shock mount, and misc. parts. Saw Steve H. and picked up some manuals he brought for me. Nice guy. William Perry Connectors was close to him, had R392 connectors for $10, R 390 conn. for $5, and a bunch of NEW manuals R 108/9/10, RT 68 T 195, etc. for $ 3 or $5. I'll call him and get the whole list and pass it to you. In all, there wasn't much Mil stuff there. Surprisingly, a lot of stuff was passed over. Maybe the interest is waining or the prices are driving buyers away. Dave Sundheimer W0NBZ w0nbz@juno.com Burnsville (near Minneapolis) Minnesota ed) Now this guy's a damn good reporter! Hate to print that though where all will see, his head/ego swells easy! Which Dayton were you other guy's at? Dennis *********************************************** MEMBERS WRITE; Readily Available Radio Data? I still would like to find out about the web site that has this military radio data base maybe you could put it in the post and maybe someone might know about it or where there is a data base program you can buy and use please help on this. Carl ed) There is no web site/data base for the descriptions of military radio equipment. There are several web sites listed in the backmail sent you that are related, most however are only list of radios, and have very little or no descriptions. One is maintained by Tom Norris, one of our members, and it's address has been included several times in our post, and again each time he has ever sent us his input. Another is the site maintained by the Signal Corps Museum at Ft Gorden, but this site too is mainly just a list. Numerous reference books have been named via this forum, and some times the locations they can be found. Read the backmail, and back issues, that's what their there for. I once asked for everyone to send in their pet enternet sights so that they could all be posted at once, but not a responce one was received. There are several data basis on CD that can be had, but are very expensive, and hard to get. One is Fed Log, it's on 4 CD's, and the 1995 cost was $385.00. It is only available to government entities and contractors. There is a couple of civilian legal versions but I have never seen them. In every case, the information they provide is very limited, and can best be used to augment information found elsewhere. I have over a thousand books in my library, over four thousand excess manuals, Fed Log, and internet access if I really need it, besides the volumes that I've written on radio identification, but I still can't tell you what everything is, nor can any other single source, or even combination of sources in existence. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- M-37/T-245? I like the idea of using another day and seperate posting for manuals and other printed items to be listed, it would certainly free up some room on the equipment want/trade list. I am searching for my book on the history of the M-37 to find the info on the T-245, I think it was a prototype of some sort but need to look it up to confirm that -----I think that it may have been a little longer and had a different tranney, and that a small production batch was built ------ probably take me a few days to locate that book. Have a good one and talk to you later. Kevin Hough ed) glad to see that more than one person thinks that the "Manuals Day" idea could fly. I don't think the T-245 was any sort of an experimental, or limited production unit. This because they are far too common, I see a couple of them at every sale. Appox 20% of the M-37 type vehicles offered at auction will in fact be a T-245's. Externally they look identical. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Auction Web Sites, You can go and look at more-or-less current DRMO offerings at: http://131.87.1.51/ And for funsies, take a look at his web page.... http://www.txdirect.net/~mrt53/trash.html There are numerous listings for http:/drmo.com/ , but I have yet to get any of these links to work. Good luck, and happy hunting! Tom Norris HTTP://www.telalink.net/~badger/millist/mi.html ed)The last GSA/DRMO re-enlistment card that I received was a combined questionnaire, in it they repeatedly asked questions about fax abilities and enternet, while completely negating the normal methods of participation. It would seem that it was a survey deigned to be used as their guide to future sales methods. It could be that those web sites that you list as nonfunctional might be intended for future use. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Dayton SSTR-1, Hi Dennis, Thanks for the backmail with info about the SSTR-1. I just read it once over quickly and I'll read it more carefully tonight. The set I got is one of the later improved ones with the roller coil. I smiled when I read the part about the receiver tuning being touchy. They said they solved it, but they didn't -- it still is touchy on my late model set. I met Jim Karlow at Dayton last weekend. We are talking about trying to have a SSTR to SSTR on the air contact using his father's set and mine. I'll send you more details about the set when I have time and some pictures when I get them taken. Bill Strangfeld ed) Ya, rub it in some more why don't ya! Dennis *********************************************** HUMOR; MICROSOFT TESTS NUCLEAR DEVICE AT SECRET HANFORD FACILITY REDMOND (BNN)--World leaders reacted with stunned silence as Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) conducted an underground nuclear test at a secret facility in eastern Washington state. The device, exploded at 9:22 am PDT (1622 GMT/12:22 pm EDT) today, was timed to coincide with talks between Microsoft and the US Department of Justice over possible antitrust action. "Microsoft is going to defend its right to market its products by any and all necessary means," said Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. "Not that I'm anti-government" he continued, "but there would be few tears shed in the computer industry if Washington were engulfed in a bath of nuclear fire." Scientists pegged the explosion at around 100 kilotons. "I nearly dropped my latte when I saw the seismometer" explained University of Washington geophysicist Dr. Whoops Blammover, "At first I thought it was Mt. Rainier, and I was thinking, damn, there goes the mountain bike vacation." In Washington, President Clinton announced the US Government would boycott all Microsoft products indefinitely. Minutes later, the President reversed his decision. "We've tried sanctions since lunchtime, and they don't work," said the President. Instead, the administration will initiate a policy of "constructive engagement" with Microsoft. Microsoft's Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myrhvold said the test justified Microsoft's recent acquisition of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation from the US Government. Not only did Microsoft acquire "kilograms of weapons grade plutonium" in the deal, said Myrhvold, "but we've finally found a place to dump those millions of unsold copies of Microsoft Bob." Myrhvold warned users not to replace Microsoft NT products with rival operating systems. "I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of a radioisotope thermoelectric generator inside of every Pentium II microprocessor," said Myrhvold, "but anyone who installs an OS written by a bunch of long-hairs on the Internet is going to get what they deserve." The existence of an RTG in each Pentium II microprocessor would explain why the microprocessors, made by the Intel Corporation, run so hot. The Intel chips "put out more heat than they draw in electrical power" said Prof. E. E. Thymes of MIT. "This should finally dispell those stories about cold fusion." Rumors suggest a second weapons development project is underway in California, headed by Microsoft rival Sun Microsystems. "They're doing all of the development work in Java," said one source close to the project. The development of a delivery system is said to be holding up progress. "Write once, bomb anywhere is still a dream at the moment." Meanwhile, in Cupertino, California, Apple interim-CEO Steve Jobs was rumored to be in discussion with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison about deploying Apple's Newton technology against Microsoft. "Newton was the biggest bomb the Valley has developed in years," said one hardware engineer. "I'd hate to be around when they drop that product a second time." posted on 14 May 1998 Copyright 1998 by the Bogus News Network. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An engineering student was walking on campus one day when another engineering student rode up on a shiny new bicycle. "Where did you get such a nice bike?" asked the first. The second engineer replied "Well, yesterday I was walking along minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said 'Take what you want!'" The second engineer nodded approvingly, "Good choice, the clothes probably wouldn't have fit." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Different States Have Weird Sex Law's" Bozeman, Montana, has a law that bans all sexual activity between members of the opposite sex in the front yard of a home after sundown-if they're nude. (Apparently, if you wear socks, you're safe from the law!) During lunch breaks in Carlsbad, New Mexico no couple should engage in a sexual act while parked in their vehicle, unless their car has curtains. In Cleveland, Ohio women are not allowed to wear patent-leather shoes. Clinton, Oklahoma has a law against masturbating while watching two people having sex in a car. It's safe to make love while parked in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Police officers aren't allowed to walk up and knock on the window. Any suspicious officer who thinks that sex is taking place must drive up from behind, honk his horn three times and wait approximately two minutes before getting out of his car to investigate. [Hmmm... okay, there's one place with a law that makes sense... -psl] In Connorsville, Wisconsin no man shall shoot off a gun while his female partner is having a sexual orgasm. In Florida it is illegal for single, divorced, or widowed women to parachute on Sunday afternoons. The owner of every hotel in Hastings, Nebraska, is required to provide each guest with a clean and pressed nightshirt. No couple, even if they are married, may sleep together in the nude. Nor may they have sex unless they are wearing one of these clean, white cotton nightshirts. In Merryville, Missouri, women are prohibited from wearing corsets because"The privilege of admiring the curvaceous, unencumbered body of a young woman should not be denied to the normal, red-blooded American male." In Michigan, a woman isn't allowed to cut her own hair without her husband's permission. An ordinance in Newcastle, Wyoming, specifically bans couples from having sex while standing inside a store's walk-in meat freezer! In Norfolk, Virginia, a woman can't go out without wearing a corset. (There was a civil-service job-for men only-called a corset inspector.) In Oblong, Illinois, it's punishable by law to make love while hunting or fishing on your wedding day. In hotels in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, every room is required to have twin beds. And the beds must always be a minimum of two feet apart when a couple rents a room for only one night. And it's illegal to make love on the floor between the beds! A Tremonton, Utah law states that no woman is allowed to have sex with a man while riding in an ambulance. In addition to normal charges, the woman's name will be published in the local newspaper. The man does not receive any punishment. Utah state legislation outlaws all sex with anyone but your spouse. Next to that adultery, oral and anal sex, masturbation are considered sodomy and can lead to imprisonment. Sex with an animal - unless performed for profit, however is NOT considered sodomy. Polygamy - provided only the missionary position has been applied - is only a misdemeanor. In Ventura County, California cats and dogs are not allowed to have sex without a permit. The only acceptable sexual position in Washington D.C. is the missionary-style position. Any other sexual position is considered illegal. In Willowdale, Oregon no man may curse while having sex with his wife. In the state of Washington there is a law against having sex with a virgin under any circumstances. (Including the wedding night). *********************************************** (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 are included. For more information conserning this group contact Dennis Starks at, military-radio-guy@juno.com) ***********************************************