From: military-radio-guy Full-Name: Dennis R Starks To: military radio collectors#3 Fcc: Sent Date: Fri, 2 Apr 1999 04:04:45 Subject: MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, Apr.2/99 Message-ID: <19990402.040316.15407.7.military-radio-guy@juno.com> X-Status: Sent X-Mailer: Juno 1.49 MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, Apr.2/99 Index: ANNOUNCEMENTS; VISITING THE MILITARY-RADIO-GUY; by Bob Simpson N0NTC REVISED SEM-52 DATA; RALPH's WEB SITE; MEMBERS WRITE; Regard the PX-300 Purchases/Questions, & Manuals, New Rescue Radio, Navy PRC-149, SR-MP-25? BG-164? HUMOR; *********************************************** ANNOUNCEMENTS; The "Paper Trail", and "Group Want's/Trade's" will be purge this weekend and we'll start fresh. So get your entries in by tonight for the "Paper Trail", and by Saturday night for the "Group Want's/Trade's". We will do this regularly the first weekend of each month. *********************************************** VISITING THE MILITARY-RADIO-GUY; by Bob Simpson N0NTC [*] inserted by the editor, that's me. Consider this an After-Action Report followed by detailed analysis. In mid March, I decided that I needed to make the trip to Cross Timbers to pick up some BA-4386/PRC-25 batteries. There were also some BC-733's to be sent to Pete in Australia. After making the necessary phone-call, I set out. (Be sure to give him some notice!) It's a two-and-a-half-hour drive through the scenic Ozarks in my rusty 1976 GMC. I had some "trade-goods" with me(see analysis). I arrived at Dennis' roadside compound at 12:25, noting some extra vehicles in his driveway. I stepped around the Harley-Davidson golf-cart parked directly in front of his front door and found him in the living-room talking to another of his many friends. The leg is about half healed, and he's been using the golf-cart as a motorized wheelchair around his compound area. After presenting the "trade-goods", we set out to locate the PRC-25 batteries and BC-733s. In the Museum, I noticed that the bulky KWT-6/URC-32 has been moved, and some of the floorboards were actually visible. Further in were the familiar ranks of green, grey, and black radios; only Fair Radio Sales has more tonnage of vintage military radios, but Dennis has greater variety. On a top shelf rested a minty-looking KWM-2, newly acquired. Next, we toured the Big Yellow Bus. This vehicle is permanently parked, and is crammed with treasures; crates of 4-125As[is that what those were!], rows of ARC-5 subassemblies, BC-348's, RT-505's, heavy radios like SX-28-A, R-389, R-390A, etc. We had to climb in over a grey panoramic adaptor(looks like a BC-1031B in a Navy case), and piles of 1940's-era mobile radios. After that, we checked out the big house-trailer that serves as work-shop and commercial-radio storage. This is where we found the fourteen PRC-25 batteries. After collecting and testing the batteries, Dennis showed me some of the test equipment he'd bought at the Missouri State Highway Patrol surplus sale; some beautiful old General Radio instruments like the RF Impedance Bridge's, Laboratory Power Supply, RF Oscillator, and a neat little 20MHZ 'scope by Goldstar[pez-o-shit, glad he hauled that damn thing off, but had to give him a caddy to go with it first. Damn sorry deal when ya gotta bribe somebody ta give um somethin]. In the yard outside the trailer were mountains of FM-VHF gear, dispatch base-station accessories, VHF repeaters in weatherproof cabinets, and modular racks. Next, we went to an old 2 ton Step-Van to get the BC-733's for Pete. It's another permanently-parked vehicle used to store a variety of foreign radios, British, Italian, Russian, plus some extra examples of Hallicrafters Village Radios that a suitable place has yet to be cleared in the museum for. After that, we took a look through the military trailer that hooks on behind the big Dodge Power-Wagon Ambulance that serves as the main Hamfest vehicle[Hill-Billy RV]. It was still packed up from the last Hamfest, ready to go to the next one! [not really, the booty from the Peoria hamfest of last year has yet to be unloaded] I was there from 12:25 to about 4:00PM(I had to get home before dark to feed my horses) and had a great time. Analysis: For those members who have never met Dennis Starks face-to-face, he's a red-headed[dark blond] wild-looking[intelligent-looking] Scot, proud of his ancestry,(who isn't?) and capable of breathing fire on those who earn his displeasure. His knowledge of military radio is encyclopaedic, his tech-library is bigger than that of most NAVCOMMSTA's, he has enough equipment to outfit a Regiment. He looks like a young fellow to me, but he's seen forty. His location: Dennis' compound is right on Highway 65, on the south edge of the small town of Cross Timbers, in Hickory County Missouri. His place of business is a decommissioned gas station originally built in the 30's, large house-trailer, big yellow school-bus, and several smaller sheds and vehicles used for storage. The areas around and in between are piled high and wide with antennae, tower-segments, tarp-covered radios and accessories of all kinds, coils of Twin-ax and RG-62A, hardware imbedded in the bare ground for far-future archeologists to find! The main exhibit area of the Midwest Military Communications Museum is in the old gas station building, and for anyone with an interest in military radio, it's an eye-popper. His quarters are the yellow-stucco house south of the main compound, and he's kept it relatively tidy. Suggested Vehicle and Equipment to bring: A full-size pick-up should be considered the minimum practical vehicle. I drive a half-ton GMC, and have had to leave stuff behind more than once[thats what he say's, I say we could have fit more if he'd run the tire presure up to 65lbs]. Folks showing up with a compact car have gone home cramped indeed. Wear sturdy shoes or boots and durable garb, you'll be clambering over and through amazing and facinating terrain. Be sure to call ahead or E-mail, with estimated ETA. Things to Bring: The smart visitor will check Dennis' latest Want-list. Visitors are STRONGLY encouraged to bring something interesting from the list to set the tone of trade, or his general mood.Don't bother to bring some old radio from a fleamarket; unless it's on his want-list, he already has six of 'em. Bring original military knives, books about ancient weapons, high-quality swords. He has already liberated ALL of my knives and swords, all of my sword-books, the cream of my firearms collection including 2ea Mauser Broomhandles, 1873 Trapdoor Springfield, Type 99 Arisaka, 91/30 Moisin-Nagant, SKS, 1927 Systema Colt, 1955 Smith, Colt AR-15, and others. In return, I got many fine big military communications receivers including R-390/URR, BC-342, R-388, SX-73/R-274D, R-270(SP-200), BC-779B(SP-200), SP-600/R-274B, SX-28-A, British #19 MKII Wireless Set, 2ea National HRO with many coils, and two metric tons of other things, even the little gas furnace that will heat my new garage![all that heavy shit was in the way, boy did I find me a sucker! I was sorry to see the R-388 and the SX-73 go, but found me an R-388A/51J4, and how many SX-73's can a person use.] On this trip, the "trade-goods" were an original Nazi-marked unissued Mauser Bayonet with matching serial numbers on the blade and scabbard, and a flight-deck cranial-helmet with built-in hearing protectors, and 2ea 16oz bottles of Lipton Tea.[damn sorry fodder, but if it'll get some shit hauled off, what the hell!]. I brought some cash too, but that doesn't often do much good. I left with 14 batteries for my PRC-25, an R-1289/PRR Bomb-shelter Radio, 20MHZ Goldstar Oscilliscope on a new-looking Tektronix Scope-Mobile, that little gas furnace, and Pete's BC-733's and manuals. He tried to give me some big equipment racks, but there just wasn't room in my truck! Bring something interesting, and he'll load you down with GOOD STUFF. Show up empty-handed, and he might load you down anyway, but don't count on it, it's best to be prepared. Try to arrive early in the day; time will fly while you explore the Museum and surrounding territory. Dennis will regale you with radio history and his experiences in the U.S. Navy. He came away an RM2 with exceptional technical knowledge; I'm a retired Navy Chief Electronics Technician, I can tell. Summary: If you're planning on visiting the Military-Radio-Guy, get some interesting stuff to trade, or to present as tribute, it need not be large elaborated or expensive. Call ahead to set the day and time, drive something with serious cargo-capacity, and give yourself plenty of time to visit; it's an all-day thing.[I have room for campers, but bring a chain saw, ya may need to cut some brush.] Bob Simpson *********************************************** REVISED SEM-52 DATA; ed) The below data is for crystal information, and the values of resistors needed on the xtal board per the frequency of operation. We beleive the xtal to be an overtone type. Peter Berg came up with the following information about the SEM 52-A crystal and VVC tuning. Thank you Peter. Quartz:UM-1 Intermediate frequency:20MHz Operation Freq. +Intermediate Freq.= Quartz Freq. Example: to operate on 51 MHz, 51.00MHz+20.00MHz=71.00MHz Crystal Quartz precision:10ppm C=15pF Resistor divider consists of R1+R2=220K[+/-20K] Operation Freq. R1 R2 51.00 56K 160K 51.10 60K 160K 51.20 62K 160K 51.30 62K 160K 51.50 66K 158K 52.00 75K 145K 53.00 96K 123K 53.90 110K 110K Where R1 and R2 are per the Japanese web sites, http://www.angel.ne.jp/~sgk1sig/sem52a6.gif http://www.angel.ne.jp/~sgk1sig/sem52a7.gif i.e. R1 is the resistor that goes to one of the crystal terminals and to ground, and the other resistor is R2. Alan Tasker *********************************************** RALPH's WEB SITE; www.qsl.net/wb4tur I've got lots of military radio related url links with many more to add. I will also be moving the dc-dc article from my old web site to this new one as well. I think I will make the dc-dc article and schematics a little easier to find too. I'm getting ready to reorgainize the military section into categories: Books & Manuals Databases Gov. Pages Historical Museums Personal Collector Pages Radio Pictures Sources Vehicular Ralph Hogan Huntsville, AL. ralph.hogan@vmic.com ED) The series of articles we did on the universal DC-DC power supplies for portables can be found on Ralph's web site along with schematics. *********************************************** MEMBERS WRITE; Regard the PX-300 Purchases/Questions, & Manuals, Hello Dennis, Could you tell the group to send any technical questions about the PX300 to me rather than Ron. He doesn't know anything technical about the radios. Also, I have only received on request for a manual copy. I guess there will be more when people get their radios. Anyway, I want to wait until I get all the requests in before I go copy the manuals. Thanks, Tom Bryan tbryan@nova.org ----------------------------------------------------------------- New Rescue Radio, Navy PRC-149, Details are sketchy, but it is being reported that the Navy has a new rescue radio being made by Tadiran. It is designated the AN/PRC-149, a fitting number as the first all solid state rescue radio was the Navy developed AN/PRC-49. Frequencies available include 121.5, 243, another UHF frequency (282.8?) and 406 MHz. In addition, a code can be loaded into the unit that IDs the pilot. Size is supposed to be about the same as that of the AN/PRC-90. Alan ------------------------------------------------------------------ SR-MP-25? Hi Dennis, I have a receiver that looks to be military, but it doesn't have any military ID plates. It was made by Scientific Radio Systems, Inc. Rochester, NY. It is model number SR-MP-25. It is a solid state digital readout receiver that tunes from 2-15mc. It has a 12 volt internal rechargeable battery and is about 11in. wide by 4.5 in. high by 13 in. deep. Any information including a copy of the manual would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Ron Hinze KB0WAR ----------------------------------------------------------------- BG-164? Dennis, Do you know what WWII radio a BG-164 water-proof bag would have been used for? Thanks, Bill Jewell *********************************************** HUMOR; IT'S ALL IN THE INTERPRETATION: WANTS AND NEEDS (wontz and nedz) n. Female: The delicate balance of emotional, physical and psychological longing one seeks to have fulfilled in a relationship. Male: Food, sex and beer. THINGY (thing-EE) n. Female: Any part under a car's hood. Male: The strap fastener on a woman's bra. GLASS CEILING (glas see-ling) n. Female: The invisible barrier that stops women from rising to the upper levels in business. Male: What would really be great at work since that hot babe took over the office one flight up. VULNERABLE (vul-ne-ra-bel) adj. Female: Fully opening up one's self emotionally to another. Male: Playing ball without a cup. COMMUNICATION (ko-myoo-ni-kay-shon) n. Female: The open sharing of thoughts and feelings with one's partner. Male: Scratching out a note before suddenly taking off for a weekend with the guys. BUTT (but) n. Female: The body part that every item of clothing manufactured makes "look bigger." Male: The organ of mooning (and farting). COMMITMENT (ko-mit-ment) n. Female: A desire to get married and raise a family. Male: Not trying to pick up other women while out with one's girlfriend. ENTERTAINMENT (en-ter-tayn-ment) n. Female: A good movie, concert, play or book. Male: Anything with one ball, two folds, or three stooges. FLATULENCE (flach-u-lens) (also known as "gas") n. Female: An embarrassing by-product of digestion. Male: An endless source of entrainment, self-expression and male bonding. MAKING LOVE (may-king luv) n. Female: The greatest expression of intimacy a couple can achieve. Male: What men have to call "boinking" to get women to boink. REMOTE CONTROL (ri-moht kon-trohl) n. Female: A device for changing from one TV channel to another. Male: A device for scanning through all 75 channels every 2 minutes. TASTE (tayst) v. Female: Something you do frequently to whatever you're cooking, to make sure it's good. Male: Something you must do to anything you think has gone bad, prior to tossing it out. ----------------------------------------------------------------- A man takes his wife to the county fairs' stock show. They start heading down the alley that had the bulls. They come up to the first bull and his sign stated: "This bull mated 50 times last year." The wife turns to her husband and says, "He mated 50 times in a year, you could learn from him." They proceed to the next bull and his sign stated: "This bull mated 65 times last year." The wife turns to her husband and says, "This one mated 65 times last year. That is over 5 times a month. You can learn from this one, also." They proceeded to the last bull and his sign said: "This bull mated 365 times last year." The wife's mouth drops open and says, "WOW! He mated 365 times last year. That is ONCE A DAY!!! You could really learn from this one." The man turns to his wife and says, "Go up and ask if it was 365 times with the same cow." ----------------------------------------------------------------- One night, a police officer was staking out a particularly rowdy bar for possible violations of the driving-under-the-influence laws. At closing time, he saw a fellow stumble out of the bar, trip on the curb, and try his keys on five different cars before he found his. Then, sat in the front seat fumbling around with his keys for several minutes. In the mean time everyone else left the bar and drove off. Finally, he started his engine and began to pull away. The police officer was ready for him, and quickly pulled him over. After stopping the driver, the officer read him his rights and administered a Breathalyzer test. The results showed a reading of 0.0%. The puzzled officer demanded to know how that could be. The driver replied, "Tonight, I'm the designated decoy." ----------------------------------------------------------------- A man, called to testify at the IRS, asked his accountant for advice on what to wear. "Wear your shabbiest clothing. Let him think you are a pauper," the accountant replied. Then he asked his lawyer the same question, but got the opposite advice. "Do not let them intimidate you. Wear your most elegant suit and tie." Confused, the man went to his Rabbi, told him of the conflicting advice, and requested some resolution of the dilemma. "Let me tell you a story," replied the Rabbi. "A woman, about to be married, asked her mother what to wear on her wedding night. 'Wear a heavy, long, flannel nightgown that goes right up to your neck.' But when she asked her best friend, she got conflicting advice. Wear your most sexy negligee, with a V neck right down to your navel." The man protested: "What does all this have to do with my problem with the IRS?" "No matter what you wear, you are going to get screwed." ----------------------------------------------------------------- YOU SWEET THANG Kudzu is green, my dog's name is Blue, And I'm so lucky to have a sweet thang like you. Yore hair is like cornsilk, a-flappin' in the breeze. Softer than Blue's, and without all them fleas. You move like the bass, which excites me in May. You ain't got no scales, but I luv you anyway. You're as graceful as okry, jist a-dancin' in the pan. Yore as fragrant as SunDrop, right out of the can. You have all yore teeth, for which I am proud; I hold my head high when we're in a crowd. On special occasions, when you shave yore armpits, Well, I'm in hawg heaven! Plumb outta my wits! And speakin' of wits, you've got plenty fer shore. 'Cuz you married me, back in '74. Still them fellers at work, they all want to know, What I did to deserve such a purty, young doe. Like a good roll of duct tape, yore there fer yore man, To patch up life's troubles, and stick 'em in the can. Yore as strong as a four-wheeler, racin' through the mud,Yet fragile as that sanger, named Naomi Judd. Yore as cute as a junebug, a-buzzin' overhead. You ain't mean like no far ant, upon which I oft' tread. Cut from the best pattern, like a flannel shirt of plaid, You sparked up my life, like a Rattletrap shad. When you hold me real tight, like a padded gunrack, My life is complete; ain't nuttin' I lack. Yore complexion, it's perfection, like the best vinyl sidin'. Despite all the years, yore age, it keeps hidin'. And when you get old, like a '57 Chevy, Won't put you on blocks, and let grass grow up heavy. Me 'n' you's like a Moon Pie, with a RC cold drank, We go together; like a skunk goes with stank. Some men, they buy chocolate, for Valentine's Day; They git it at Wal-Mart; it's romantic that way. Some men git roses on that special day >From the cooler at Kroger; "That's impressive," I say. Some men buy fine diamonds, from a flea market booth. "Diamonds are forever," they explain, suave and couth. But for this man, honey, these will not do. For you are too special, you sweet thang you. I got you a gift, without taste nor odor, Better than diamonds; It's a new trollin' motor! ----------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Clinton and Al Gore go into a local diner for lunch. As they read the menu the waitress comes over and asks Clinton: "Are you ready to order?" Clinton replies, "Yes, I'd like the quickie." "The quickie?!" the waitress replies. "Sir, given the current situation of your personal life I don't think that is a good idea. I'll come back when you are ready to order from the menu." She walks away. Gore leans over to Clinton and says, "It's pronounced Quiche." *********************************************** (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) ***********************************************