[ARC5] BC-611 Production numbers...now AMA

[MARK DORNEY]

Intercom/ radio selection switch for Armor crewman was mounted an the right side of the CVC, next to the earpiece. Throat mics, if they were any good, would be near perfect for armor crewman to use, since their wear would have not interfered with donning gas masks. Armor crewman had the M-20 gas mask, which had an internal mic. The M-17 series, which most other US soldiers carried until relatively recently, had a “voicemitter”, but no built in mic, not even for the officers and senior NCOs. One had to shout into the mic on a handset, and then quickly bring the earpiece up close to your ear to hopefully hear any response. I know this through personal experience.  If the throat mic was good, or even adequate, it would have been retained for this specific situation.  It wasn’t. And unless the wearer is pressing the mic elements up into their throat, the transmission isn’t all that clear. So one had to  press the mic into the throat so their radio transmission might be intelligible with one hand while pressing the push to talk switch with the other while maybe even engaging the bad guys with their own weapon(s). And to answer the question about foot switches, no, there are no foot radio switches inside a modern main battle tank. Armor crewmen don’t do a lot of talking when going through battle drill. The TC determines target and method of engagement, and sends the various commands to the crew. Replies are short. That’s how it works. 

Mark D. 

“In matters of style, float with the current. In matters of Principle, stand like a rock. “.   -   Thomas Jefferson 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 17, 2021, at 10:47 PM, Michael Hanz <aaf-radio-1 at aafradio.org> wrote:
> 
>  Well, just to be the devil's advocate, how did that work out for them satisfactorily?  (Ducking and running as fast as my widdle legs can do it.)  😁  
> 
> I'm just teasing, Hue.  Your point is well made, but the Allies' shift to higher and higher aircraft altitudes pretty well forced the conversion to microphones inside oxygen masks.  That in itself brought a big leap in intelligibility.  The ground ops closely followed suit - the T-45 was just one reflection of that need to have hands-free operation with better word understanding.  
> 
> Not being conversant with green things, I'm wondering if the floor and gun switches used in aircraft towards the end of the war were ever adopted in tanks and other crew served vehicles?  That SW-141 hand switch certainly had to be a distraction in combat.
> 
> - Mike
> 
> On 2/17/2021 7:33 PM, Hubert Miller wrote:
>> We weren't discussing subsequent developments. We were discussing how well and if they worked.	
>> Somehow, this device worked satisfactorily for Germany and Japan 1937 - 1945. 
>> -Hue 
> 
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