[Hallicrafters] Self-Destruct you Hallicrafters?

[Robert Nickels]

A discussion of the RQ-170 drone recently captured by Iran prompted a 
discussion on another list of self-destruct mechanisms, and whether one 
was present or not.

One article included a reference to an e-book version of "A Test for 
Technology" by John D. Bergen, which includes an interesting reference 
to the Hallicrafters-built "Village Radios" that were built during the 
Viet Nam war era. According to the article:

"A U.S. communications engineer named Paul Katz equipped his innovative 
handheld radio with a button that destroyed the circuit board to keep 
the technology out of the hands of the Viet Cong. The problem was that 
our Vietnamese allies had a habit of pressing the button by accident—or 
even intentionally, so they could selectively ignore orders. Katz 
scrapped the feature in later versions."

I've had a couple of HT-1E Village Radios for some time, and they don't 
have any self-destruct button. But it's shown on the schematic and it's 
pretty much worthless. All the switch does is blow a fuse in the emitter 
of the driver stage of the transmitter, which would disable the 
transmitter but certainly woudn't destroy anything, and wouldn't affect 
the receiver. You can read the excerpt here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=PxFh1CQe5R4C&pg=PA63#v=onepage&q&f=false

If you want to destroy a radio, you'd best use a hammer or firearms, as 
we've all seen Hallicrafters that keep on working despite neglect and abuse.

73, Bob W9RAN