[MilCom] Greetings to All/ Long

[odyslim at comcast.net]

 Hello Gang,

 I have been lurking here for quite some time now. Reading the mail and
getting used to what this group is all about. I want to introduce
myself and say hello to everyone.

 I became a SWL in 1973 while my Step Father was in Viet Nam. He gave
me a Heath Kit to build while he was away. It was a GR-91. My Elmer,
Lenny Schlagether, K6IOK (SK) helped me build it on his kitchen table.
He took me under his wing while my stepfather was away.

 Lenny worked out in the Mojave Desert near Devils Den CA for Stanford
University. He ran some type of transmitter/ Listening site there. 
That is when I knew radio was in my blood. It was so amazing to sit
up all night in converted ocean containers listening to whatever it 
was he was looking for.. The trailer was full of transmitters and
receivers. Mostly Collins. I distinctively remember the R-390A's, 389's
and the 390's. There were teletype machines, o-scopes and other test
gear as well. I remember how hot the trailer got in the summer heat
with those radios running. The antenna was some type of beverage.
>From what I remember it was so long, one could not see the end of it.
It just looked like driving and seeing the telephone poles coming at
you on a desert road.   Lenny used a 1943 Willys to ride the length of 
it to keep it maintained. That was the first time for me to drive and to 
double clutch BTW!
 I loved going out there in the desert with Lenny to the antenna site.
Unfortunately, my Stepfathers military career took us to FT Meade MD
in 1974 and that was the end of my SWL for a while. 
 While, on Ft. Meade, My stepfather taught me morse code and I was back
on the air with my GR-91 hooked to a wire and drooped in the trees.
I always wondered what all of those dots and dashes were. I discovered
girls and cars in 1975 and took a break from radio until around 1980 when I 
discovered a friend on mine, Ulis, K3LU had a radio. I was up and running 
again. This time I got my ham ticket. N3RQU, then KE3NV and now W3CV.
I made part of my hobby restoring and collecting Collins Receivers.
At one time I was up to 32. I had an R-388, R389, 12 R-390's and the
remainder was R-390-A's. I used them with antenna multi-couplers to
listen to all of them. I would park them on known military freqs to
get all of the traffic. Finally I got tired of repairing radios and
sold the whole lot to an E-bay seller. Now I just have solid state stuff.

I have recently become interested in UHF/ VHF monitoring as well as 
HF. 
 
 Here is my set-up:

 QTY, 4 Yaesu FRG-100 receivers HF
      1 Ten Tec RX-350 receiver HF
      4 Icom IC-R100 scanning monitors DC-Daylight
      2 Realistic Pro 2006 scanners

 All connected through  Striedsburg Engineering Multi-Couplers to the following
antennas
 
      Force 12 8 element multi-monobander up 50'
      Alpha-Delta Twin Slopers HF
      Gap Voyager low band vertical HF
      Hustler HB6TV vertical HF
      Discone on unknown manufacture  25-1200 mhz

 On the to do list is a
      Log periodic 50-1200 mhz
      M2 6 Element 50 mhz yagi

 Emergency power set-up consisting on several 12 volt Gel Cells and 5 KW generator

 Ham radio situation

      Ten-Tec Omni 6 plus
      ICOM 746 pro
      1 KW HF amp

 I just sold off 26 Collins R-390-A and plan to purchase some digital receiving
equipment as well as more HF receivers to replace the Collins gear with. I plan to
purchase a more modern scanner as well.

 My plans are to load one scanner with Andrews freqs and another with misc milcomm
freqs.

 Now that I am semi-retired, I have time to dedicate to my hobby. 

 I am sorry if my posting was too long. I was just reminiscing. I wanted to share
my experience to others. 
 


Regards, Scott W3CV  FM19PM, Odenton MD.