Radio equipment and accessories.
I just received this RU-19 aircraft radio receiving set from an eBay purchase. I plan to mate it up with my Westinghouse GP-7 transmitter. According to this chart of WW2 Navy radio gear, this particular combination would have been used in one of the Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless dive bomber configurations. I’ll also need to obtain an LM-7 frequency meter, DU-1 direction finder and various accessories to complete the set.
I found this code practice oscillator on eBay, and purchased it out of curiosity. I haven’t seen one like it before. The only markings are “SER NO 1382” engraved on the hinged cover, and a paper instruction label pasted inside the cover. The type of audio connectors used indicate that it was most likely made in the 1950s. It operates on 4 D-cells, with the oscillator potted in a green resin. The potted module appears to contain a piece of perfboard, and looks like it was cast in an ice cube tray. It is marked “CTI P/N AD183”. I haven’t managed to dig out audio accessories and batteries to test it yet… so many projects! :)
Have you seen an oscillator like this one before? Do you know when and where it might have been made? Do you have something interesting that you would like to trade for it?
I recently bought a Westinghouse GP-7 transmitter in the swap meet at this year’s annual West Coast Military Radio Collectors Group meeting, held in San Luis Obispo, CA at the beginning of May. This transmitter was made for use in Navy aircraft, and it requires 120 VAC 800 Hz power like other Navy radios of its era. Aircraft commonly use AC power at higher frequencies than our common 60 Hz “wall power” so that their transformers and motors can be lighter. The higher power frequencies allow transformers and motors to use less massive iron cores without magnetic saturation. 400 Hz power is now commonly used in large aircraft that require AC power supplies, but this transmitter was made before 400 Hz power became the standard. Unfortunately, it can’t simply be plugged into 60 Hz power. That would saturate the transformer cores, and then they would release their magic smoke and stop working.
Last weekend, the 18th annual meeting of the Military Radio Collectors Group was held in San Luis Obispo, California, at Camp San Luis Obispo’s NCO club. The event included equipment displays, presentations, field operations and a swap meet. I had a great time, and nearly every other comment I heard about this year’s meet was positive. I’m already looking forward to next year’s annual meeting, as well as the occasional field events we’ll probably have throughout the year.
The annual Military Radio Collectors Group meeting at Camp San Luis Obispo is almost here! This year, I’m pleased to announce that we’ll be conducting a joint crypto-related operation with the Maritime Radio Historical Society’s Coast Station KSM. Here’s their announcement of the operation.
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.
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.
Here are some pictures that I took at the 2007 West Coast Military Radio Collector’s Group meeting on May 4 and May 5 in San Luis Obispo, California.
Here are some pictures that I took at the 2006 West Coast Military Radio Collector’s Group meeting on May 5 and May 6 in San Luis Obispo, California.
I bought this radio at the 2006 West Coast Military Radio Collector’s Group meeting, and then later traded it away for something else.
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.
Here are some pictures that I took at my team’s site during the 2005 Military Radio Collector’s Group Field Exercise, on November 5, 2005 near Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California. Bill Feldman N6PY and I set up in a parking lot at Friendship Park, with a nice view overlooking the ocean. We fielded a BC-1306 HF backpack transceiver, a BC-659 10m FM transceiver, and my Chinese Type 102E HF transceiver.
I bought this PE-101-C dynamotor through eBay in March of 2005, with plans to add it to my junk pile for potential use as a power supply for some future homebrew project. It appears to be unused WW-II surplus. It turned out to be interesting enough that I’d rather use it as part of a proper restoration of the radio system that it belonged to.
I took these pictures while unpacking my Type 102E set on March 6, 2005. I paid special attention to packing methods and markings, so that information wouldn’t be lost. These pictures are presented in roughly chronological order as I unpacked each item.
Once again, the annual meeting of the Military Radio Collector’s Group was held at the Camp San Luis Obispo NCO’s club. The meeting was held on Friday, May 5 and Saturday, May 6, 2000. Friday was mostly dedicated to informal activities and display setup, along with some radio operating events and several really fun hidden transmitter hunts using 6m FM military radio gear. Cam Ogan, WA6VVC provided a fancy little hidden transmitter for us to find, and I bet it was funny to watch all of us guys running around with big, green radios and “rug-beater” direction-finding loop antennas! The swap meet, formal presentations, and David Ragsdale’s great barbecue were on Saturday. Unfortunately, I had to cut my visit short due to some engine trouble with my HMMWV, so I missed most of the fun on Saturday this year.
This page contains links to scanned images of a 1966 installation manual which describes the “correct” way to install radio set AN/VRC-12 in 2.5-ton 6×6 trucks. Each page was scanned at 150 DPI and saved as a GIF image. This is the complete manual; the original was unbound, and consisted of two double-sided sheets followed by five foldouts, 3-hole punched and stapled together without any cover. The scans were performed by Buzz KD7BZ, and then I touched them up and spliced together the foldouts. Buzz’s scans looked better before I converted them to 2-color images to make the files smaller… :-)
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