[Milsurplus] Military vehilce interiors

[Hue Miller]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Stinson" <arc5@ix.netcom.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 08, 2002 11:33 AM
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Military vehilce interiors

> > Here's a link for a an article on the LVT(4) landing
> > craft,  with photos of the TCS install. To me, having
> > a TCS class radio here is really overdoing it - way
> > too much radio for a 2-crew armored vehicle, a
> > simple 2 channel FM radio would have been more
> > realistic...
> 
> Many of these type vehicles were equipped with HF, and 
> the TCS is an extremely rugged little radio, capable of
> being lock-tuned. The radioman would have tuned the radio
> up before the invasion.  

Maybe the vfo operation was an advantage, but i sort of suspect 
that, under combat conditions, you might want better frequency
control, especially for a combat vehicle. If you have a 2-man
crew, you don't have money or time to train a radioman, 
especially for a tank-class, expendible, vehicle. CW operation
was clearly a waste, for this role. I maintain a far better choice
for this role, would have been one of the small FM transceivers,
actually maybe a BC-1000 type. ( VRC-3, when built with 
vibrator vehicle supply. ) Alternativley, a low power ship to 
shore type AM voice transceiver would have done just fine,
such as the USCG's TRP-109 or the Navy's MAK, with 
2 - 4 channels. If getting away from the hassle of crystal 
control was of high value, and i  expect it was, the BC-1000
would still seem to have been a best choice. This radio
required a little training, but operator training, not radio
theory. 
> 
> HF was more extensively- though by no means exclusively-
> used in the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO).

Well, we know from 1943, the BC-1000 was extensively
used.

> For instance- did you know that, unlike earlier and later
> versions of the GF/RU,  the GF-11 / RU-16 radios
> were intended for landing craft and ground vehicles
> (Yes- I can quote a primary source)?

I have a manual for installing it in a Marine Corps SP gun, but 
i suspect this was early, and only done in the USA, and soon
abandoned. I have seen reference, maybe a photo, of same
radio in airfield ambulance, but again, i suspect this was way 
less than an optimum solution, and i suspect it was soon
superceded by better solutions.

> And the SCR-288 stayed in service in the Pacific 
> theater long after it was officially to be replaced by SCR-284
> (also from primary sources). 

Maybe- but i believe- from photos - that by Okinawa, the 288
was "history".

> Come to think of it- has anyone seen a photo of an FM 
> vehicular set deployed in the PTO before 1945?

Dave, what about the Sherman tanks used at Saipan and other
islands?

> I can't remember one.  The official Army history of the 
> campaign to recapture the Philippines should provide 
> some information on this, and I'll see what I can find
> next time I'm in a major library.

--Hue Miller