[Milsurplus] Ricebox hams on WW2 warships...

[D C *Mac* Macdonald]

The KWM-2A was a variant of the KWM-2 ham transceiver. 
The 'A' indicated that a separate crystal board was added 
to provide operation on frequencies other than those offered 
by the standard 'ham' KWM-2.  This variant was commissioned 
(so to speak) by the US Air Force to provide an easily deployable 
HF comm capability. 
 
When I left the 3d Combat Comm Grp in 1975, our radio shop 
still had probably 40-50 complete AN/FRC-153 sets which were 
always being deployed for one purpose or another.  Our teams 
went to Panama and a whole lot of other places to set up the 
initial HF communications in various "trouble spots." 
 
My subsequent assignment to the 1985th Comm Sq across  
Tinker AFB, OK had me maintaining about a dozen of them 
in the base MARS station. 
 
>From there it was off to Hofn Air Station in SW Iceland for 
about a year at the remote radar site there, where we had 
three complete sets, including 2 30S-1 and 1 30L-1 amps. 
 
>From there it was back to Tinker and the 1985th until I 
retired in 1981, still fixing the FRC-93/FRC-153/KWM-2A rigs. 
 
No, they certainly didn't compare with the monstrously costly 
and complicated fixed HF gear at fixed transmitter and receiver 
sites, but like the proverbial Timex watches, they took a licking 
and kept on ticking. 
 
US embassies all over the world used them.  I'd guess that they 
were being used during the final evacuations from Viet Nam! 
 
Mac, K2GKK 
USAF, retired 
 
 
 
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:25:45 -0500 
From: kk5f at earthlink.net 
To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net 
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Ricebox hams on WW2 warships... 
 
Even use of a military AN/FRC-93 (Collins KWM-2A) would 
be inappropriate, outside of a USAF-related Vietnam-era 
display.  On a ship, even a Vietnam-era ship, though its 
a military set it would be complete nonsense. (BTW, how 
did the KWM-2A get a military nomemclature anyway... 
it's far from being military quality!) 
 
So riceboxes aren't the only things that spoil a historical display. 
 
 
Mike / KK5F