Radio Room

Military radio and wireline communications equipment, and related stuff.

TBY-4 Transceiver

 Radio Room  No Responses »
Nov 082007
 
TBY-4 Transceiver

I bought this TBY-4 transceiver in November, 2007 for the princely sum of $26. I plan to retore it to operation, and I’ll add more information about it here… someday. In the mean time, here are some pictures.

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AN/TRC-179 “Regency Net” HF/SSB Transmitter/Receiver

 Radio Room  No Responses »
May 292007
 
AN/TRC-179 "Regency Net" HF/SSB Transmitter/Receiver

The AN/TRC-179 Force Terminal is part of the “Regency Net” system, which was a radio system fielded in the 1980s. Regency Net was designed to survive the electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) from a nuclear airburst. Thus, its members are a lot more complicated than other radio systems with similar capabilities, with lots of filtering on all electrical inputs and outputs. The set covers 2.0000 to 29.9999 MHz with LSB, USB and data modes. The Regency Net members include a frequency-hopping Electronic Counter-Countermeasures (ECCM) mode. The sets can function in single-channel mode with the ECCM card removed, and they were often deployed this way to non-military users such as FEMA.

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US Navy Microwave Protective Clothing

 Radio Room  No Responses »
May 252007
 
US Navy Microwave Protective Clothing

This conductive mesh suit was developed to protect people who need to work in strong RF fields emitted by Naval shipboard RADAR systems. It provides a minimum of 20dB of attenuation from 200 MHz to 10 GHz, in fields up to 200 mW/cm2. A complete set also includes rubber boots and gloves, a hardhat, and cotton over-clothes which prevent arcing between electrical equipment and the conductive mesh suit.

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M38 Radio Installations

 Motor Pool, Radio Room  No Responses »
May 242007
 

Instructions for Installation of Radio Sets AN/GRC-9 or SCR-694-C in Combination with Radio Sets AN/GRC-3 to 8, AN/VRQ-1 to 3, AN/VRC-8 to 10, AN/VRC-16 to 18, AN/PRC-8 to 10, or SCR-619 in Truck, 1/4 Ton, 4×4, Utility, M38 & M38A1 (Warning: 35 meg PDF file!)

 

Thanks go to Ken Perkins for the scans, and Wes Knettle for passing them along to me.

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Chinese Type 102E HF Radio Set

 Radio Room  2 Responses »
May 032006
 
Chinese Type 102E HF Radio Set

I bought this Chinese HF transmitter/receiver set from seller redstarradio on eBay back around March, 2005. It came as a complete new set including the manuals, spares, tools, test equipment, etc. that would normally be issued with the set, all in original packaging. It was a lot of fun to unpack a brand new complete radio set in pristine condition! The historian in me felt bad about destroying the original packaging, but I just had to play with the radio! I compromised by carefully photographing everything as I unpacked it, paying special attention to packaging methods and markings.

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Radar Set AN/PPS-6

 Quartermaster, Radio Room  No Responses »
May 022006
 
Radar Set AN/PPS-6

Radar Set AN/PPS-6 is a lightweight non-coherent pulse Doppler combat surveillance radar operating in the X band between 9.0-9.5 GHz. When set up on its tripod, it allows the operator to detect moving objects at ranges of up to 1,500 meters (people) or 3000 meters (vehicles). The operator can measure the target range with a resolution of 50 meters. Transmitted RF power is generated by a magnetron tube, and the receiver local oscillator uses a klystron tube. It transmits pulses at a rate of about 2,000 pulses per second with a peak power of at least 100W and a width of 0.22-0.30 microseconds. An azimuth motor allows automatic scanning, and the motor may be disengaged for manual aiming. There is no display screen; the operator listens for the returned Doppler-shifted tone in the headphones, and reads out range on a mechanical counter after dialing in the range gate with a hand crank. The antenna is a 12 inch diameter truncated parabolic dish. The set operates either from an internal 12V silver-zinc rechargeable battery or an external 12VDC source.

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S-448 Communications Shelter

 Motor Pool, Radio Room  No Responses »
Nov 232005
 
S-448 Communications Shelter

I bought this S-448 communications shelter on 11/22/2005 from another military radio and vehicle collector. I plan to use it as my primary radio room at home. It originally housed a Collins AN/TSC-60(V)1 “Communication Central” set. The interior was completely stripped of equipment when the previous owner bought it, and he installed some equipment racks, desks, drawers, etc. He also re-wired it to run from single-phase power instead of three-phase power. The shelter would have originally had a panel on the right side of the door with a whole bunch of connectors and binding posts, but that has been replaced by a blank metal panel. If I need to add any external electrical connections, that would be the obvious place to do it. Some of the ventilation panels leak, but they look like they’ll be fairly easy to repair. Overall, the shelter is in good shape, and it’ll make a really nice radio shack.

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