[Milsurplus] Mil HF rigs not NTIA compliant

[Mike Morrow]

Peter wrote:

>I would like to use mil surplus (and very rugged and reliable) equipment
>for CAP etc. but am prohibited due to this non-compliance.

Hi Peter,

I guess we've come a long way from the Heathkit HW-18-1 (about 4630 kc, USB, 200W PEP) rigs that were popular when I was active in Civil Air Patrol communcations in the late 1960s.  I hear that MARS has or will adopt the same NTIA specs.  (I was in Navy or Army MARS for 20 years, but since MARS banned Morse operation a decade ago, I've had no interest in it.)

Does anyone check your selected radio for compliance with specifications?  If not, who cares what equipment is being used?

For lower-powered (less that 100W) USB voice communications (as opposed to high power or data communications), the required NTIA spec is nonsense.  It's just the sort of thing decreed, promulgated, and enforced by government bureaucrats with very poor understanding of the technical principles involved.

I personally find recent (1960 to date) military HF equipment to be interesting technically and historically, but such equipment is usually *not* very reliable over the *long* run, nor easy to troubleshoot and repair without the specialized test equipment and supply infrastructure of the DoD.  I'd rather use a modern, light, compact, more capable, more versatile, more efficient commercial ham set when it really counts (like right now, if I were in the path of a hurricane).  A GRC-106 or -165, a URC-32 or -58, a PRC-47, -74 or -70 or -104, an ARC-58 or -65 or 94?  Novelty use only!

73,
Mike / KK5F