[Collins] S Line with gold anodized chassis

[Glen Zook]

I have never seen a Collins receiver with a gold
anodized chassis.  However, during the late 1960s
Motorola made a special run of 3 lowband (30 MHz to 50
MHz range) Motran FM mobile units (these were
completely solid-state - no tubes at all) for an Arab
shiek.  Every bit of metal except for the heat sink in
it was gold plated including the "lands" on the
circuit boards.  This included the front panel and the
mounting case.

There was a special repair kit included which provided
a means to replate any area that had to be repaired.

These units were made to be used on camels!  The radio
went in a saddle bag on one side of the camel, storage
batteries went in the saddle bag on the other side of
the camel, and a gold plated quarter-wave whip was
installed on a platform that went over the camel's
hump!

I wouldn't have believed it, but when I owned the
Motorola reconditioned equipment center for the
south-central United States the person who had been in
charge of this "special" project was working in
Motorola's Dallas area office.  He had several of the
"reject" circuit board assemblies in his posession. 
Even the shields on the coils (which could not be seen
when installed in the unit) were gold plated.

I don't remember the total cost of the project, but if
I remember correctly Motorola got over $100,000 for
the 3 radios and that was in 1960s money. 

Glen, K9STH


--- k5jv <k5jv at kingwoodcable.com> wrote:

I just picked up a 75S3-C with gold anodized chassis. 
I have never seen one like this. Transformers are
dated 1978.  It is stamped "Cedar Rapids" and has a
"D" on the end of the SR#.  Does anyone have any
information or comments on this?









Glen, K9STH

Website:  http://k9sth.com

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