[Milsurplus] TCS ... AN/WRC-1 etc.

[Mike Morrow]

Robert wrote:

> ... a TCS (later an AN/WRC-1) ...

When I was in the service, the AN/WRC-1 [R-1051, T-827, AM-3007] was a set that I'd have loved to have owned personally.   I used to tell my Communications Officer not to worry if he ever came up missing one.  <g>  That was in the era before modern Asian HF ham gear became much more technically sophisticated than this type of military set.  I remember a couple of these sets sitting exposed to the weather for weeks on the MSO piers at Charleston.  It would be my luck to get one of those!

The similar AN/URC-35 replaced the R-1051 and T-827 with a RT-618/URC.  I saw a lot more AN/WRC-1 sets in service than AN/URC-35 sets.  I own an RT-618, a very interesting piece of gear (must have cost a fortune), but it needs the AM-3007 for power supply and transmitter amplification to be of any use.  I could kick myself for not buying one of several NIB R-1051 sets that a fellow was selling an a local hamfest for $300 ten years ago, or one of the AM-3007 units that a fellow was selling for $125 at Dayton in 1996.

These sets would make great authentic commo gear for restored military ships that were in service into the mid-1960s or later.  They could be used for actual memorial station use...so much better than seeing a bunch of ham or ham+military gear being "demonstrated" on a military vessel.  I remember seeing a YAESU HF station connected to ham antennas on a WWII submarine museum ship for a "special commemorative event" related to the ship's history.  That's a sure sign that the "operators" are more interested in hamming it up than presenting a usefully informed and researched operation that such ships deserve.  I had to wonder what the point was.

I really respect and thank those, such as several who are on this list, who go to great pains of research, donated time, and personal expense to help restore old surviving military ships and aircraft to **accurately** reflect the radio installations they carried in active service.   They definitely didn't use Japanese transceivers or Heathkit linear amplifiers!  The same thanks goes to those preserving commercial maritime ship and coastal radiotelegraph facilities.  It's good to see these valued radio historians defeat the common hacker half-a**ed ham mentality that would put ham gear, TA-33s, trap dipoles, and Butternut verticals in place of the authentic stuff.
 
Mike / KK5F