[Milsurplus] GRC-14 trivia

[William Donzelli]

I always wondered why the R-808/ receiver was typed in the AN/GRC-14 -
certainly such a relatively high R- number should be in a
correspondingly high AN/GRC-. While sorting some directories, I found
out  why. AN/GRC-14 was reassigned at some point. The directory has an
entry for the AN/GRC-14(XN-1).  The main parts are - get this -
R-392(XN-1)/URR and T-195(XN-1)/GRC-19. Not a typo - the pictures are
pretty clear of the tags. Note that the R-392/ and T-195/ apparently
were originally sponsored by the Navy, probably for the USMC - but
every set I have ever seen has been Army.

It looks like the Marines tried the set, but did not accept it, and
the Army saw a good thing in the rubbish. The Navy then pulled a
double boner by freeing up the AN/GRC-14 slot and filling it with the
receiver and transmitter pair we know - R-808/ and T-631/, both of
dubious utility.

--
Will