[Milsurplus] War Years QST

[Hue Miller]

QST for Sep 1944 article on Signal Corps has some interesting discussion of 
development of
SCR-194, 195, 300.  Seems to say that bag for SCR-194, 195 came after the 
development of the
194 - when Sig Corps was surprised to learn that the radio could be used 
while being carried.
According to this, the 194 was apparently intended to be used on ground, not 
mobile; when
it was learned that it could be used mobile, infantry got their model too, 
the 195; apparently,
I suppose, this was when the handset, perhaps better for infantry use than 
the elastic-banded-
on headphone and separate mic, was adopted for it.  Says original weight was 
40 lbs.,
diminished to 28 lb.
I have wondered about the truck antenna for the SCR-194 / 195.  How did they 
account for
variable antenna impedance? The manual has no instructions that I recall, on 
cutting the
antenna for a specific frequency.

On the 300, says four other manufacturer prototypes were AM; that early 1942 
prelim model
was completed; in full production a year later. That the RC-291 ground plane 
antenna for it
developed - apparently - in 1944 after success by a radio user in New 
Guinea.
There are some interesting photos in the WW2 years QST but unfortunately 
they are quite
small and I have my doubts about how well they would scan.

For some reason the above has rekindled for me a question that no one took 
on earlier.
A German manual I was reading, specified the working range of an HF field 
radio as
less at night. If I recall, the radio was a Torn.Fu.b. which works about 3 - 
6 MHz at about
2 watts input, but -- about size of BC-654.
-Hue Miller