[ARC5] Hallicrafters S-38 is dangerous

[mstangelo at comcast.net]

Nick,

Interesting story.

The reason technology companies disappear is because their products are obsoleted by new technology and they did not adapt.

In the 60's and 70's companies such as Halllicrafters, Hammarlund, National and Collins had two markets for HF radio.

Their primary customer the military. Their secondary market was Amateur radio

The primary market dried up as the military migrated to satellite. The introduction of Japanese Amateur radio equipment killed the secondary market for them.

Collins was acquired by Rockwell. It would be interesting to find out the fates of the other companies.

Mike N2MS 
----- Original Message -----
From: Nick England <navy.radio at gmail.com>
To: Mark K3MSB <mark.k3msb at gmail.com>
Cc: ARC5 <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tue, 17 Nov 2015 12:45:21 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: Re: [ARC5] Hallicrafters S-38 is dangerous

Hallicrafters was acquired by military contractor Northrop. As part of a
little-known CIA operation, they then designed and built AC/DC
powered countermeasures systems (AN/FLQ-17) whose plans were leaked to the
Soviets. The Reds deployed copies and the resulting chaos and deaths in
their missile control systems led directly to the fall of the USSR.
Later, since Hallicrafters technology was no longer needed, the company was
dissolved and the entire work force was sworn to secrecy and moved to a
retirement village near Phoenix.

True story. Well, some of it anyways.

Cheers
Nick

On Tuesday, November 17, 2015, Mark K3MSB <mark.k3msb at gmail.com> wrote:

> >>No wonder they are not around anymore.
>
> Still waiting to see how this issue caused the demise of the Hallicrafters
> company.
>