[Milsurplus] My rescue trip (should I play a dirge?)

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

Yes. Play a dirge. In fact, hire a bagpiper and have him/her play 
"Flowers of the Forest" and "The Mist Covered Mountains" (this last was 
played at President Kennedy's funeral by the Air Force Pipe Band, since 
dis-banded IIRC). This is one of the saddest stories I have heard in a long 
time.

Now to the equipment.

> First, there was an MT-283 ART-13 Transmitter    No Vacuum relays due to
> the broken glass and no 837 tube. Has all other tubes including 2 811's
> and 2 1625 tubes.

Excellent HF aircraft transmitter. 813 in the final. Used a dynamotor 
powersupply, but most hams built external AC supplies for them. Built 
by Collins. Very stable. Had one of the first Collins Auto Tune 
mechanism. Your MAY have the very rare Low Frequency module. I 
would like to see photos. Fair Radio has some few left for sale at $375 
each. If it is restorable, by all means do it. Fair also has manuals (copies) 
for it.

> A Hallicrafters SX-42 in sad shape.  

<SNIP>

The Halli sounds like a basket case. Probably useful only for parts As 
others have mentioned here be VERY CAREFUL of hantavirus, although 
it MAY not have reached the islands yet, one cannot be too careful. This 
is a VERY DANGEROUS disease and proper precautions are not difficult 
to maintain.

The R-390s sound salvagable, but don't try to repair the panels. Get used 
ones from Fair. The brown covering is Moisture-Fungus Proofing (MFP) 
which is harmless unless you burn very much of it. I like the smell of it, 
but it does contain mercury compounds and must be treated with some 
respect.


>  There is also an R389 receiver, but it was not dripped on.

This is a fairly rare VLF version of the R-390, built for the Army, for 
some strange reason. Motor driven tuning mechanism, and automatically 
switches RF filters as you go lower in frequency. Covers 15 Khz through 
1500 Khz. I have an original manual for this and will copy it for you. It is 
pretty large. You might want to send it to Rick Mish for repair and 
restoration if you don't want to do it yourself. It is worth about $1500 the 
last time I looked. DO NOT attempt to run the motor drive until you 
make absolutely certain the LMO shaft is free and the motor end-stops 
work. You can irreparably destroy the LMO if the above is not OK. It will 
spin in its case.

>  There was an RAK-6 receiver set. It appears that there are 2 parts of
> this RAK, the CRV-46155 Receiver and the CFT 20131 Rectifier power unit. 

The RAK is an excellent, fairly simply VLF (15 Khz through 600 Khz) 
TRF receiver with a regen detector. One of the most stable and 
impervious to nearby transmitters of any Navy VLF receiver. Classified 
as a "hopeless antique" by CQ magazine's Surplus Conversion Manual. 
All I have to say to that comment is "BULLSHIT!". I have several and 
really like them. I also have the HF version, the RAL, which is also 
excellent.

Don't worry about the powersupply. All you need to operate the RAK is 
6.3 VAC (preferrably center-tapped) at 2.3 Amps, 180 VDC at 45 mA, and 
90 VDC regulated at 1 mA, and it will run just fine without the 90 VDC. 
I have a manual for this if you need one too.

>  1 ea Coupler Transmitter for the SRT-14, 15 and 16 Transmitter.  I
> think August Johnson is building the SRT system, but don't know where he
> is.  I lost track of him when I was on CompuServe and have never found him
> since.

The SRT-14 etc, is one of the nicest rigs I have ever seen. I drool when I 
see one. I could never afford one...

> 
>   1 ea NM-20B Interference and Field Intensity Meter made by the
> Stoddard Aircraft Radio Co.

These make EXCELLENT VLF/MF receivers. I hope you get the 
accessories and the external power supply with it. The accessories include 
three different sizes of precision built shielded loops, the smallest one is 
about 1" in diameter, the largest is 3 feet in diameter and mounts on a 
tripod. I have manuals for this too. It is called the AN/URM-6 in its 
military clothes. I have spare power supplies for these too. Stoddart built 
many different version of these covering the spectrum from LOW VLF 
through HIGH UHF in various models. Built like the finest Collins gear 
and usually on the cutting edge of technology for the time.

> 1 ea	real old OS-189A Oscilloscope marked USM-281A Has HP plug-ins
> PL1186A (Vert Amp) and PL1187A (Time Base) This is a mess as many of the
> other rust buckets.

This is actually the military, Hewlett-Packard built version of the 
Tektronix 7000 series, at least 100 Mhz, scopes. Excellent piece of test 
gear, and both the plug-ins and manuals are available from Fair Radio 
Sales. Too bad.

<SNIP THE REST>

Ye gods and little fishes! What a haul! It literally make me want to bawl 
with frustration to hear of so much good gear being wasted and 
destroyed. 

I have a similar situation in Missoula, Montana. The ham who had the 
gear died a while ago and his wife thinks it is worth 10X what it really is, 
so it sits and rots. He bought several boxcar loads of surplus mil gear 
after WWII and was very active in MARS for many years. He has a T-
350-XM which was issued to me by AFMARS. It was NIB when I got it. I 
"gave" it to him when I left Montana, stupidly thinking that when I got 
out of MARS I should give the gear back. His son, who is a ham, told me 
that the only way the gear would ever get used is for his step-mother to 
die, and she is hale and healthy and meaner than a junk-yard dog, and 
will probably live to be 115 years old.

Oh, well. I have too much junque anyway...

Ken W7EKB