[Collins] Collins military S line

[antqradio at sbcglobal.net]

I was stationed both in the Philippines and in Germany while in the Air Force as a Ground Radio Tech between 1968 and 1972.  The only use by the U.S. Air Force for the S-Line and the KWM-2 & 2A, that I saw, was in MARS.  IIRC, the standard MARS setup was one S-Line, one or two KWM-2A's, one 30S-1 and at least one 30L-1.  The KWM-2 was the preferred radio by the operators, along with the 30S-1 linear amplifier.  The S-Line and an Eldico clone I later saw in Germany, although both were operational, were hardly ever used.

The radio shop at Mactan was a shared shop by both the USAF and the Philippine Air Force (PAF).  PAF had a KWM-2 that they used in deployment as a tactical radio along with a 30L-1 amplifier with the suitcases for transport, the tape antenna and the auxiliary crystal pack.  They used it when deployed to Mindanao in early 1970 while I was stationed at Mactan.  It seems that there was at that time (and probably still is) a gorilla war going on between different political factions on Mindanao.   


When I was later stationed at Zweibruken AB in Germany, I worked on getting a TRC-89 Van operational which had two KWT-6's, one 50E-6, one R-390A, two GRC-27 UHF transmitter-receiver systems and two Collins single channel VHF transmitter-receiver systems.  Needless to say, the TRC-89 had it's own air conditioning!  We never used VHF in Germany but everything else was used by the Comm Center as Tactical Radios.

When I was in radio school at Keesler AFB, Mississippi, all of the above radios were in the "Sets" portion of the Ground Radio course except for the S-Line / KWM-2 and the Collins VHF radios.  Those I picked up through on-the-job training.
Jim



________________________________
 From: Bill Riches <bill.riches at verizon.net>
To: 'L Ritta' <vk5abc at adam.com.au>; Collins at mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Monday, July 7, 2014 6:41 AM
Subject: Re: [Collins] Collins military S  line
 

One use was in the European area - Germany, Great Britain, Ethiopia, Turkey,
Greece, Africa and other locations for Ground to Ground phone patches.  I
worked in a ground radio site in Athens Greece in the 60's repairing a bunch
of s-line and KWT-6 rigs.  

73,

Bill, WA2DVU

-----Original Message-----
From: Collins [mailto:collins-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of L Ritta
Sent: Monday, July 07, 2014 1:31 AM
To: Collins at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Collins] Collins military S line


Hello All

I have an interesting question about the Collins S line and it's use in the
US military.
I understand it was used for Mars, but was it used in combat for tactical
communications.
If not what was it's primary mission?

73's Lee


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