[Milsurplus] CMS

[Hue Miller]

My supposition that it was intended for clandestine use but never actually 
deployed, and ending up
an orphan, kind of like the RBZ, is supported, I think, by the fact that its 
classification was
"restricted" and not, "confidential".
Melton's conclusion that it was used for shore party use reflects only his 
unfamiliarity with the actual
equipment used for this purpose. That estimate is so absurd it should not 
still appear anywhere.
The carbon mic in the tube cathode can only be imagined to work at all, if 
1.5 volt tubes are plugged
into the transmitter instead of the 6?6 pentodes. BTW, an article in QST in 
1940 showed an 'emergency
transmitter'  schematic for a variable-choice vacuum tube transmitter. I 
mean where like the CMS,
a variety of 6 and 1.5 volt tubes could be plugged in; tube socket wiring 
configured all as triodes,
regardless.
I think it may be a common feature of 'separate' units that there is no 
provision for antenna switching,
as puzzling as that may seem to us. I have a German SE100 agent radio that 
has this same feature.
I think, but am not positive, the SSTR-1 has the same. Both antennas need 
not be full-size; the
receiver antenna can be just a few feet of wire. I suppose leaving out an 
antenna relay or switch
did simplify design.
The other night a dim light popped 'on' in my brain and I realized why 
clandestine radios intended
to be capable of being powered solely by handcranked generator used 6 volt 
tubes and not
'battery tubes'. The 1.5 volt tubes if powered by a hand-powered generator, 
would have their
filament heat fluctuate too much, and the frequency stability would be 
terrible; hand-cranking a
6 volt receiver was bad enough, but could be managed if the generator 
cranker was careful to
try to maintain a constant speed.
-Hue