[GreenKeys] AN/MRC-2 US Army's first deployable RTTY??

[LEE BAHR]

I used to operate an AN/GRC-26 while in the Army, Big Red One, Ft Riley, 
Kansas.  Callsign:  FOGHORN.

Lee, w0vt
Houston, Texas


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Duncan M. Brown" <duncanancy at earthlink.net>
To: "greenkeys" <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 9:24 PM
Subject: [GreenKeys] AN/MRC-2 US Army's first deployable RTTY??


>
> We were having a discussion on another list about the US Army's first
> tactical/deployable radio teletype system.  I believe it was the AN/MRC-2
> (a derivative of the WWII SCR-399).  I have scanned a few pages of the
> manual that describes it and it can be seen at
> http://www.commcenter-2.net/media/cpg/displayimage.php?album=5&pos=3
> (Due to the binding and the fact that it is 350 pages, I didn't scan the
> whole thing!)
>
> The AN/MRC-2's earliest TM 11-624 manual date is Nov 1947. The AN/MGC-2 is
> basically an SCR-399 with the addition of a 2KW amplifier added on to the
> BC-610, diversity radio teletype converters and Teletype Corp. model 14 
> and
> 15 teletypewriters in three shelters.
>
> A similar, but smaller unit is the AN/GRC-26.  It is a MRC-2 without the 2
> KW amplifier and in a single shelter.  The earliest manual date I have
> found for the AN/GRC-26 is Nov 1950.  However the GRC-26's manual number,
> TM 11-264, precedes the MRC-2 by quite a bit, so maybe the GRC-26 had been
> in the planning stages for a while.
>
> On the Ft Gordon web site, there is a page on the SCR series radios
> http://www.gordon.army.mil/ocos/museum/scrcomponents/scrPart2.asp and it
> states that the SCR-399 "Developed into the AN/GRC-26 & AN/MRC-2."  It 
> also
> says that there was a modification "MC-543 provides added equipment for
> two-kw RITTY operation."  So perhaps the AN/MGC-2 equipment combination
> existed prior to 1947 as a modified SCR-399.
>
> During WWII, the 3104th Signal Service Battalion operated radio teletype.
> They arrived in France on 22 July 1944 and initially set up RTTY circuits
> using commercial equipment.  They also had SCR-399 radios and they may 
> have
> modified them later for RTTY.  (
> http://www.fgrubbs.com/3104/3104grubbshistory.htm )
>
> If you have never seen "Voice of Victory", the story of the SCR-299/399 
> and
> the militarization of the Hallicrafters HT-4 transmitter into the BC-610
> transmitter, it is available on Youtube at
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jps0_2adUvo
>
>
> Just a little history for your enjoyment.
>
> have fun,
>
> Dunca
>
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