[Milsurplus] PE-237...Collector whims!

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

In a message dated 11/9/2006 2:38:51 PM Central Standard Time, 
kk5f at earthlink.net writes: 
> >... I tried that with a complete AN/GRC-9A but couldn't quite
> >get my arms around all of it.  :-)
> 
> Try that on its pre-WWII portable classic ancestor, the SCR-178.

True.  But few on this list have ever owned anything near to a complete 
SCR-178 and had to move it a few times.  But most will at least have seen an 
RT-77A/GRC-9, so it seemed the better tongue-in-cheek example.  :-)

> 
> >But the real answer to your question is that Korean War vintage radios have 
> 
> >only relatively recently been seen as old enough by a significant fraction 
> of 
> >either MV or MIL Radio collectors to be worth fooling with.  Ten years ago, 
> you 
> >almost literally couldn't give it away to most collectors.
> 
> I've always been fascinated by the AN/GRC-3, 5, 7 series of Korean War/Cold 
> War sets since I first saw the manual and the insides of an RT-68/GRC back in 
> 1968 (a fellow Navy MARS member had one).  I wish there was more information 
> freely available about the development and history of this gear.  The JAN 
> component numbers assigned (RT-68, R-110, AM-65, etc.) would seem to point to 
> late WWII when number assignments were made, but I've never seen manuals or 
> order numbers earlier than 1949.   Ham magazines into the late 1960s regularly 
> carried advertisments from commercial vendors seeking to buy components of 
> this series...I suppose they were destined to go to foreign governments still 
> using it.

The system nomenclatures were assigned apparently before the end of the War.  
But developement time was longer than it had been earlier in the decade.  So 
except for AN/GRC-9, the first orders weren't let until FY '49.  The AN/VRC-12 
was even longer between RFQ and Order.
 
Actually, the RT-68 was still in US service as late as mid-1967.  There were 
two on USS Valley Forge that had been in full time use the previous cruise.  
They only got replaced by RT-524's late that year.

> 
> >Vietnam War gear seems to have come out of that stage a little more
> >quickly
> 
> What series of US military communications gear had the long active service 
> life of the Vietnam-era AN/VRC-12 and AN/PRC-25/77 series?  It was about 30 
> years in the US military alone, and doubtless some foreign outfits are still 
> using this gear.  Certainly a AN/PRC-77 is much easier to use than a AN/PRC-119 
> if frequency hopping isn't required.  This is pretty important gear in the 
> history of US military communications technology.  Apparently the US 
> government tries to de-militarize the stuff prior to release nowadays.

The AN/VRC-12 was actually phased out in the late 80's.  I had two or three 
surplus RT-524's pass through here.  Then Desert Shield revealed a problem with 
the SINCGARS gear and some of it was bought back up I'm told.

ATC & AN/ART-13 remained in service about as long.  

> 
> I suspect some collector interest in Vietnam War-era or Cold War-era gear 
> also hinges on the collector having used this gear during his own period of 
> military service.  That's the main reason I've acquired some later vintage gear, 
> such as the AN/WRR-3B VLF/LF/MF receiver that was a standard set in the 
> radio room of US Navy submarines in my era of service on them.  I'm less tempted 
> by the AN/URC-9 that was on board, but maybe someday I'll try to get some of 
> the R-1051, T-827, and AM-3007 stuff that we had (but almost never used).  I 
> also recently acquired a 35-year old AN/APX-72 IFF set, just because that was 
> the IFF set on my sub.  How silly is that?  A lot, I guess.
> 

Yeah, or it might have the opposite effect.  If I never see another AN/WRT-1 
or AN/WRT-2 it will be too soon!

Robert Downs - Houston
<http://www.wa5cab.com> (Web Store)
MVPA 9480
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