[Milsurplus] BC-611 Fundamentally Flawed

[Hue Miller]

With the 300 set, at least you have a large and a small antenna. If one is 
damaged,
you are not out of business.

You do not have much interoperability with armor. How many armored assault
vehicles carried HF equipment? More likely, if you wanted to communicate 
with
a tank - European theater - you have a brave soul use the tankphone a the 
rear
of the tank, or find an artillery observer with a similarly channeled 
SCR-510 or
610, or have a 510 or 610 similarly channelized and set up on a packframe.
( Did happen, have a photo. )

However, as progressive and Buck Rogers as this seemed in 1943,  the basic
flaw is the idea that you could have a combat radio like a (heavy) 
telephone.
As I said, that plus no call signal.  Most assault radios used in the war 
had
a headphone and either throat mic or handset. The latter at least allows 
more
freedom of movement while communicating at the same time. I have read
an instance of the BC-1000 being dragged behind the operator while he
crawled, holding the handset.  Yes, hindsight is perfect, but this issue 
should
have come up in the trials. Bottom line is, how successful was it?

I erred in thinking the 300 set could communicate with other FM radios,
which did not cover a high enuff frequency range. Thus the VRC-3
tank radio. Maybe the 300 set should have been built to tune a lower
frequency range?

The BC-611 COULD have been built to tune 30 Mc/s without too
much trouble, using overtone crystals.  Of course, to pack an FM
radio, at that time, into such a package was impossible, or at least,
VERY difficult and expensive. -Hue Miller