[Milsurplus] Ricebox hams on WW2 warships...

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On 10/29/07, Mike Morrow <kk5f at earthlink.net> wrote:
> That was very anachronistic, and ruined an otherwise entertaining movie.

For you, no doubt. What about the other 99.9999% of the people who saw
it and either didn't notice or didn't care? Think of the last 'good'
movie you saw with a kitchen scene. Did you know if the appliances or
anything else in the shot were current, too new, or too old for the
shot? Did it make a difference as to your movie experience? Is Martha
Stewart sending posts to a similar list for classic appliances,
blaming Hollywood for ruining films by using inapproriate kitchenware?

A bit different than the Doolittle event Dave has referenced, remarks
I agree with.

> (BTW, how did the KWM-2A get a military nomemclature anyway...it's far from being military quality!)

Nothing new here. The military did the same thing in WWII. Rigs like
the Hallicrafters S-27/36 RBK series for the Navy, also used by the
Army under different nomenclature and by the Brits for locating German
Knickebein and other radio beams. SX-28s as the AN/GRR-2, Super Pros
as BC-779s, etc.

The Collins gear was certainly built to a much higher standard
component-wise than other 'ham' gear of the day. In fact, the quality
of construction, durability, ease of operation along with its
frequency agility is no doubt why the military (not just the USAF)
bought them in the thousands. S-Lines too, though these were used
mainly for MARS stations and such. In fact, they second-sourced S-Line
gear from Eldico which ended up being considerably inferior to the
Collins S-Lines, yet they still used them.

Considering the limited abilities of most military gear (built like a
brick outhouse but not terribly flexible) along with cost, and
Collins' reputation for top notch gear (military, aviation, and
otherwise) dating back before WWII, the only real surprise is that
they didn't use more. There has been an ongoing discussion for some
years that Collins actually developed this gear for the
government/military (portable dipole, power supply, custom suitcases)
with the amateur market as more of a secondary thought. I'm not sure
that I agree, but the CIA did use the KWM-1 in U-2 flights, and the
State Dept and others used the FRC-93 and other Collins components for
many years.

The fact that it's not OD green doesn't mean it isn't 'military
quality', as history has shown. The Desert Storm Harris Radio episode
comes to mind. FRC-93s to the rescue, had the action continued.
R-390As too, IIRC.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ