There was probably a competition in the 1950s for mobile RTTY rigs. Collins made the R-392 and T-195 setup with external modem and FSK converter, Federal Telephone and Radio made the GRC-14, of which the R-808 was the receiver. The modem was in the R-808, and the FSK exciter was built into the transmitter. The power supply for the GRC-14 is very heavy. Both receivers used 24 volts on the plates of the tubes, the R-392 is all tube, the R-808 has some transistors in the audio section. Two very different approaches to mobile RTTY. The GRC-14 was used mainly by the Marines, the R-392 and T-195 were used mainly by the Army.

  B. Gentry, KA2IVY

R-808: HF RX with FSK converter in the same box.  Mostly tubes, but some solid state circuitry.

I played with one once - all I remember was severe QRN interference from the TTY switching. But that was probably a problem with that one unit.  I can't see the military accepting something that bad.

$200 seems high if you don't know  if it works and something obviously loose in the tuning dial.

YMMV

have fun,

Duncan
K2OEQ

On 8/4/2025 9:44 PM, MIKE MCAULEY wrote:

Just saw this at my local electronics surplus store in Tucson, AZ today. Don't know if anyone would be interested but thought I'd pass it along. 

______________________________________________________________
GreenKeys mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[email protected]

Jordan Spencer Cunningham's GreenKeys Search Tool: https://teletype.net/gksearch
2002-to-present greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/
1998-to-2001 greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/archive/greenkeys/greenkeys.html
Randy Guttery's 2001-to-2009 GreenKeys Search Tool: http://comcents.com/tty/greenkeyssearch.html

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Message delivered to [email protected]

______________________________________________________________
GreenKeys mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[email protected]

Jordan Spencer Cunningham's GreenKeys Search Tool: https://teletype.net/gksearch
2002-to-present greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/
1998-to-2001 greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/archive/greenkeys/greenkeys.html
Randy Guttery's 2001-to-2009 GreenKeys Search Tool: http://comcents.com/tty/greenkeyssearch.html

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Message delivered to [email protected]