[Milsurplus] Mods and hacking of NOS gear

[w8au at sssnet.com]

At 08:56 PM 6/22/06, David Stinson wrote:

>----- Original Message -----
>From: <w8au at sssnet.com>
>TDE aboard USS LST325 works wonderfully, but the keying is
> > very hard on "make" and has sidebands out much further than
> > allowed...
> > Consensus?
>
>IMHO, any change that is 100% reversable
>(save original solder, of course ;-)
>is OK.  No drilling, slicing or dicing, but tacking
>a resistor and cap or coil across the keying contacts
>sounds peachy.  If we're going to operate the rigs,
>we have to find non-destructive ways to make them
>"air-worthy" in today's environment.  Finding those ways
>is part of the challenge, at least to me.

Appreciate the comments from this astute group of preservationists.
Seems to be mostly on the side of "modify the keying, but keep it reversible."

As a participant in OMRN-CW (Old Military Radio Net, 3570 kHz 9 p.m. 
Sundays) we hear a cacaphony of different sounds from the WW2 gear 
and as the Mil stuff gets newer it begins to sound smooth and 
modern.  The  modern Mil gear "loses it's signature" so to speak.

A good ear can tell the difference between the very subtle "clang" of 
a TCS and slight "click-wobble" of an ART-13; The different chirps of 
a GRC-9 versus a SCR-284 (BC-654)... etc.

(musicians obviously get a lot more out of this... )  :-)

I suppose this is why we put them on the air... to have a vicarious
experience of listening during 1940-52.  If they all sounded clean 
(after mods) we'd lose that.

Maybe this is getting more philosophical than expected.  Just how 
comprehensive is "true preservation" when it comes to RF emissions?
(considering that this gear is not operated on a daily basis, anyway)

(whew)...  :-)

Perry