[Milsurplus] Re: German manuals WW2

[Hue Miller]

I just looked over manuals on about 10 German radio
equipments from WW2. I must say, in comparison with
the typical USA manual or even just service instructions,
they are disappointing. While the descriptions of the circuit
working are thorough, there are NO voltage and NO 
resistance tables. This it seems to me would make it real
inefficient for your repair people to restore these to service.
Who knows, maybe the idea was that the "Funkmeister"
(advanced repair craftsman)  learned the sets by experience
and passed on his secrets to his disciples. I hope their 
vehicle manuals were better! Of about 15 German manuals
i have seen, only ONE approached US standards of quality.
That was the manual for the FuG-10 aircraft radio. The radio
was a pretty modern piece quite comparable, in my estimation,
to the ARC-5, and the FuG-10 manual is approximately 
comparable in size and thoroughness to the Command Equipment's.

Here is an interesting tidbit from the manual  D 1033/5 for the
"T Fu G k"
( = "Pack Radio Set k" ),  1 Nov 1943:

Antenna.............Day Range Approx..(km)........Night Range Approx.
________________CW______AM_____________CW____AM

Short mast w/
small cap. hat............25............15...........................12...........6

Tall mast...................30.............20...........................15..........8

WIre on ground
40m long................... 1-2 points signal strength weaker than with
..................................short mast antenna

End quote. 

Now, if this had been a question on the license test, i would have 
answered, for example, for the taller mast, night range= 100 km+.
Obviously, they were working a different propagation mode. That might
be a good test question. ( I like "tricky" questions. )
I wonder if anyone in the USA besides me is interested in such
minutiae.  -Hue M.