[ARC5] 4010 kHz in 8th Naval District MARS...1967

[Mike Morrow]

Robert wrote:

>Before I went to Vietnam in 1967, I had a 4-transmitter 8-receiver 
>installed in an International Scout 80 and could reliably work into central and 
>western Oklahoma on 4010 KC from up the hill near my parents home in north 
>central Louisiana.  The Scout had a 14/28 VDC system installed, though, with a 
>second 14 V generator piggy-backed on the first.  The radios were all box 
>stock.  Antenna was a commercial center-loaded whip but I can't recall the 
>brand name.

Robert...now that's an amazing array of command set gear.  I'd love to know a lot more details.  Did you use the original racks and modulator and control boxes, and was it all AN/ARC-5 or all SCR-274-N?  You must have procured most or all of the gear on your own dime...for although the MARS equipment issue program wss going strong then, the USN/USMC MARS didn't have a lot of command set gear in the mid-1960s.  Plus...unlike the Army and USAF MARS, equipment accountability was maintained by the USN.  It wasn't dropped on my issued AN/SRR-13A and AN/ARR-15 until the mid-1970s.

You must have used CW on 4010 kHz since USN MARS normally used LSB there.  After 1967 I spent many hours each week on 4010 kHz in Arkansas during my late high school years as N0LTD.  I also spent a lot of time on the district frequency of 7375 kHz on CW and LSB nets.  I'll bet one of your transmitters was on 7375 kHz...do you remember station NAV8?  What was your call?

Your command set receivers must have been a bit of challenge for use on these LSB frequencies.  In the late 1960s, in Arkansas only Army MARS still had an AM net, a little below 3500 kHz.

My principal use of command set gear back then was copying maritime Morse between 400 and 510 kHz on a BC-453-B (which I still have).  I'm sure I'm not the only one here who would enjoy reading more details of your command set mega-installation and its use on MARS and 80/40m.

Mike / KK5F