[Milsurplus] Comparison of Navy vs Army Air Corps equipment

[WF2U]

I have no problems getting on frequency with the TCS - I use my LM-18
frequency meter of the same vintage. With an extra pair of headsets plugged
into the LM, it makes a great keying monitor too - that's what I do when I
use the TCS station.
The SCAF audio filter helps with the selectivity and makes life much easier
when the band is crowded. It plugs in to the headset jack and the headset is
fed from the SCAF output. No invasive mods...

My TCS station BTW carries a 1958 depot refurb and test tag, and came still
sealed in the original depot cardboard boxes.

73, Meir, WF2U / NNN0AAF
Landrum, SC

> -----Original Message-----
> From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Hue Miller
> Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 9:20 PM
> To: Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Comparison of Navy vs Army Air Corps equipment
>
>
> I have always felt the TCS  receiver  was the weak spot of a T/R
> set which otherwise
>
> would have been extremely attractive to post-war hams. The
> transmitter, on the other
>
> hand, is a jem, and with little work and a PS, you had a
> poor-man's Ranger.  The
>
> receiver weak point is the bandspread, and for me, the lack of
> any dial escutcheon,
>
> or lighting. There's only a  metal disk, unlighted, behind a
> cutout in the front panel,
>
> pretty basic. Of course, as with all other mil tactical sets, the
> use was pre-determined
>
> channelized, not intended for weekend use looking for novice
> signals in a crowded band.
>
> I have thought that if one was gung-ho on the dial, one could
> fabricate a new  tuning
>
> disk from clear plastic, number it, and have a pilot lamp mounted
> behind it. But unless
>
> you limit the tunng range, the bandspread is still terrible. The
> selectivity certainly is not
>
> inferior to any of the 3-6 or 6-9 Command Set receivers. Consider
> that the 3-6 Command
>
> set, the IF is somewhere like 1/2 of the lowest working
> frequency, while the TCS is
>
> around 455 kHz. When i used a TCS receiver on the bands, i
> coupled a Heathkit Q-mult
>
> into it, and that worked just fine. Oh- also re the selectivity -
> there were some TCS
>
> receivers, not many i think, that were intended for land vehilcle
> use and were therefore
>
> built for wider selectivity.  The RBD receiver has approximately
> similar physical
>
> architecture and roughly equivalent usage and with a much nicer
> dial assembly
>
> but still you're stuck with the 1.5-3, 3-6, 6-12 tuning, plus
> the IF i think is 915 kHz.
>
> I think the reasons you didn't see that many TCS setups in
> hamshacks compared to
>
> Command Sets, was for one thing, as another person posted, there
> weren't that many
>
> built, also that the Navy hung onto some as long as possible
> (last new ones i saw
>
> given to MARS members was Dec. 1976, when HF AM was no longer
> permitted for
>
> marine use - otherwise the Navy would still have some in stock,
> i'm sure. )  Also the
>
> prices pretty much held up - maybe there were still some
> commercial or military users
>
> overseas who still bought them - compared to real bargain prices
> on the Command Sets.
>
> -Hue Miller
>