[Milsurplus] blind sow finds an R-808

[Fred Chapman]

The USMC Electronics design group was an office under the Bureau of
Ships
and later Naval Electronics Systems Command.
The equipment was developed under the Bureau of Ships period.

Fred W4CHT/NNNB0PPE/NNN0USN 

aGEnuine ham wrote:
> 
> OK, group:
> 
> So I try to pay attention, and all I get is confused.  I was entertained
> by Eric's R-808 story, and informed by Robert's reply, but it raised a
> couple of questions, to wit:
> 
> What's the Navy doing with a /GRC?  My encounters have been with AN/Sxx
> on ships, and AN/Fxx at fixed sites.  And some underwater stuff, but
> let's not go there.  It finally dawned on me, Marines.  Aha!
> 
> Next, I was baffeled by the hierarchy of nomenclature.  R-808/GRC-14, I
> get, but why does a top nomenclature AN/GRC-14 become part of a
> AN/MRC-55, and since my decoder ring has disappeared, what is M anyway?
> I thought V was vehicular and S shipboard, so what's different about M?
> And since G is supposed to be immobile anyway, does M mean motionless?
> 
> Then, since neither G nor M are shipboard, how does the manual end up
> being a NAVSHIPS publication?  Seems to me mil standardization ain't so
> standard.
> 
> I'm reading "The Invention That Changed the World" by Budiansky about the
> concept and development of RADAR.  Not too deep technically, but it is
> very informative about the difficulties getting the upper military brass
> to accept new ideas, concepts, hardware, anything, back in the 30s.
> Explains a lot about some of the 'why was development so slow?' questions
> which appear here from time to time.   Old Admiral King was something
> else.  He would probably have been happy with 3 masted schooners.   Newer
> hardware need not apply.
> 
> 73,
> George
> W5VPQ
> 
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