[Milsurplus] Anybody ever seen any of these odball para-military sets?

[Mike Morrow]

>> Spilsbury SBX-11A Canadian lunchbox portable.
  
>SBX11/11A used by just about everybody from north pole to south pole. 
>Very popular with trappers, geologists, explorers, govment people out in 
>the boonies, etc. Japanese explorer Naomi Uemura used one when he walked 
>solo to the north pole.
>It was evaluated by the Canadian military as I have one marked Defense 
>Research Establishment Ottawa.

I got a Spilsbury & Tindall, Ltd. SBX-11 from Ralph Hogan just a few months
ago. It has only two of the four channels configured, 4441.0 and 4472.5 kHz.
It has a label on the side which reads:  "T.F.S.S.  EMR  S.S.T.T."  indicating
the English and French initials of Technical Field Support Services of Natural
Resources Canada.  I don't know what "EMR" means.

It's remarkable that it saw the usage described.  It is, IMHO, rather flimsy,
unprotected, low-powered, and minimally featured.  On the plus side, I suspect
it is very inexpensive, and it uses nine common D-cells for power.

I'd prefer a Transworld PRC1099.  Though without doubt much more expensive, it
is full featured from 1.6 to 30 MHz, and it has performed well in arctic and
antarctic use with only an AT-271 whip antenna.  It is much better suited to
the various harsh environments found from pole to pole.

I've also seen a Kenwood TS-50S in arctic service, in that documentary of those
people who tried to recover a B-29 above the circle years ago.

Mike / KK5F
PS:  I have a "Bluenose" card in my wallet showing the date (14 AUG 1971) and
longitude (02-58.6E) of my first crossing into the Arctic.  I didn't need survival
gear...I had the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid (CVS-11) wrapped around me.