[ARC5] German Tank Radios (was Re: Off topic)

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 12:08 PM, Jim Haynes <jhhaynes at earthlink.net> wrote:

> One book I read on radio intercept work in North Africa said something
> to the effect that the German forces were using frequencies in the
> vicinity of 2 MHz.

I wonder if that was a typo or a wholesale change took place at some
point? There are several well-documented instances of Rommel's Afrika
Corps being received here in the US on 28MHz or somewhere in that
vicinity. One took place at a location in Massachusetts Telegraph Hill
or Signal Hill. One of the magazines that Tom Kneitel wrote for
featured an article about it many years ago, seems there was also one
in QST or CQ.

The Soviets of course took the 'overwhelming numbers of lesser
systems' approach during the Cold War. Seems like the Germans went to
the other extreme with their weaponry, preferring massive, impressive
systems that were either too unwieldy, too costly, or too
maintenance-intensive for reliable battlefield use. Some of those
siege guns were amazing, but it took dozens of people to set up and
operate the big railway guns, and they were limited as to where they
could be used.  They even had a design called the Maus that was a
house-sized tank sporting a 2 gun naval turret. Incredible power, but
how do you move it on the standard road system?

And of course, when they did come up with something they could use
well to their advantage like the ME-262, old bubblehead overruled the
generals and pushed its role as a bomber over its fighter
capabilities. I wonder what Normandy would've looked like had he
directed the V-1s at the beaches and temporary ports instead of London
a week after the landings.

Vanity and insanity even rhyme.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4