[Milsurplus] Need AN/GRC-13 Info

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

Mike,

Most of the anomalies are in the direction of your AN/VRC-12 example.  The 
nomenclature would seem to be much earlier than when the equipment actually 
first appeared.  Another good (or bad if you are familiar with the hardware) 
example is the SCR-506.  Nomenclature assigned around the same time as 
SCR-508/9/10 (and SCR-608/9/10. From just before WW-II until the end of the 
Signal Corps nomenclature system, the SCR numbers were mostly blocked, like the 
TM 11 numbers.  There may have been, in the end, more exceptions than 
examples.  But in 1940 SCR-5xx was intended for Armor and SCR-6xx for Artillery 
(and secondarily for Infantry.)  Anyway, the development of AN/VRC-12 began 
even before its predecessor series was fully deployed.  Just as a guess, I'll 
say 1949 +/- 1.

System nomenclature was usually assigned shortly after the military 
requirements were established.  Component nomenclature usually wasn't done until 
hardware was available.  So the real anomaly in the AN/VRC-12 system 
components is RT-246.  In the end, very few were built.  Although I was on Active 
Duty at the time RT-524/VRC was introduced and roughly 9 months later had 
around 16 of them in one of my radio spaces, I have never seen an RT-246/VRC.

In a message dated 4/27/2010 7:14:23 PM Central Daylight Time, 
kk5f at earthlink.net writes: 
> With a JAN nomenclature of RT-136/GRC-13, putting most emphasis on the
> "RT-136", I'd be surprised if it was produced much earlier than around
> 1950.  (This is not a foolproof dating technique, as the RT-246/VRC and
> the associated AN/VRC-12 illustrate...both the "246" and the "12" should
> have been assigned at least a decade before these units appeared.)
> 

Robert Downs - Houston
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