[Milsurplus] Re: [ARC5] SCR-274N Makes It on ARRL.ORG

[David Stinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <MillerKE6F at aol.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 11:43 PM
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Re: [ARC5] SCR-274N Makes It on ARRL.ORG


>.......... Like it or not these
> old war horses were not fit to be put on the  air in their avionics
> configuration and for the most part even using the rear  connector without
additional
> bypassing was an invitation for TVI....

Sorry, Miller.  "Surplus rigs as TVI gens" is a false myth cooked-up
in half-baked CQ magazine articles and parroted over the years.
It was based in a lack of understanding of television technology of the day
and impatience to get something on the air without spending the
time to learn how to tune and use milrigs correctly.
Abuse any transmitter- mistune it outside design limits
or chop-out carefully design circuits
and you get trouble, milset or no.

I've done the measurements with state-of-the-art
test equipment and most of these WWII sets are cleaner than many ham rigs,
when run as designed.  As for them being "not fit to be put on the air in
their
avionics configuration-"  that's news to me, since I've made hundreds of
contacts
over many years with them in just that configuration and with no trouble at
all.

As for your point that hack-jobs have their place in  history-
I understand your point, and even support it to a degree,
but the cost of each "successful" modification was a pile of junked rigs.
The vast majority of ham-hacks ended-up disappointing the hacker
and the now-ruined radio landed on the junk heap.
When one attempts to make a racy sports car out of a Model "T" Ford,
he ends up with something that is "neither fish nor fowl,"
neither the sports car he wanted nor the vintage vehicle it was.
He is usually unhappy with the result, abandons the now ruined car
and leaves the world short another Model "T."
I dare say dozens of sets ended up half-hacked and abandoned
for every one that gave the owner satisfactory results for his "work."
He would have done better to learn about and enjoy his Model "T,"
rather than destroy it in a futile attempt
to turn it into a sports car.

73 Dave S.