[ARC5] Ht-4 Query

[Richard Knoppow]

    I highly suspect this story for several reasons. For one 
thing the first telephone cable to Hawaii was installed in 
1957. An article about this can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAW-1
  While telegraph cables date back to before the Civil War 
the first long voice cable was not installed until about the 
late 1950s.  Overseas telephone service was done via radio. 
AT&T set up the first telephone service to England in the 
mid-1920s (I have forgotten the exact date) using long wave 
(about 150 khz) and short wave service followed in the early 
1930s. Telephone service to Hawaii was provided by both AT&T 
and RCA Communications with terminal stations near San 
Francisco on the main land and for RCA at Kahuku Point, I am 
not sure where the AT&T station was. These stations were 
very certainly operating by the mid-1930s and would have 
provided whatever telephone communication was necessary.
    Also, prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor civilian 
manufacturers in the U.S. continued their civilian line of 
equipment.  After the entry of the U.S. in the war most 
production was turned to defense.  Prior to the war 
Hallicrafters had begun manufacturing a medium-power 
transmitter for ham use under the model number HT-4. 
Hallicrafters was approached by the Signal Corps about 
making this transmitter avaiable to the military.  The 
signal corps requred some modifications to the civilian 
version to make it more rugged particularly as it was 
intended to be mounted ina trailer for mobile use. The story 
of this can be found in promotional movie made by 
Hallicrafters called "The Voice of Victory" which can be 
found at http://www.archive.org and also on u-tube  A google 
search will find it. Also, the story of the FBI being 
involved in this is somewhat fishy.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com


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Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2014 10:07 PM
Subject: [ARC5] Ht-4 Query



The following excerpted from another message.   The book 
(new one on
me) was published in 1944 BTW.  Copy currently listed on 
AbeBooks for
$45.  Anyone know more -  other books, better sources, etc? 
I'm
certain that underseas cable as available Hawaii to the 
mainland by
that time (see Q. 2 below).

Dennis D.  W7QHO
Glendale, CA

*************

My name is Gerrit Jan Huijsman, callsign : PA0GJH, I am 
investigating
a story about the Hallicrafters high power amateurradio 
transmitter
HT-4. Perhaps you can help me or perhaps you know sombody 
who can.,
According to the story in the book The HT-4 goes to war by 
Will
H.Connelly the owner of Hallicrafters, Bill Halligan was 
visited in
august 1942 by an FBI-agent who demanded an HT-4. As there 
were none
available and the production was stopped. Bill provided his 
own
personal transmitter. It was shipped the same day to Hawai 
with a
bomberaircraft, where it was used to inform the main land of 
USA  on
december 7th about the japanese attack on Pearl Harbor., The 
questions
I have are:,
1.      Why the hurry?,
2.      Was there no other means of communications 
available?,
3.      The HT-4 was installed on Hawai  in august 1942. The 
attack
took place on december 7th, where ther rumours about an 
oncomming
attack?,

I am using the information fora n article in the Dutch 
Amateur Radio
Magazine Elextron. The HT-4 was, as you probably know, 
modified into a
military version called BC610 and was widespread used on 
battlefields
during WOII as part of the mobile installation SCR-299. 
After the war
the equipment became in use by the Netherlands army. Today 
several
BC610s are used by radioameurs in this country., I hope that 
you can
give some information., 73, Gerrit Jan, PA0GJH