[Milsurplus] BCB portable beacon? Used by MAC SOG HALO jumpers in Vietnam

[Boeing377]

Army MAC SOG jumpers did some amazing HALO jump missions during the Vietnam war. They made night freefall jumps into the N Vietnam jungle for recon and even wiretaps. Their courageous exploits are described here: 


http://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/ussf-history-of-halo-ops-vietnam-70-%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%94-71.45651/#post-6966557


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Assistance_Command,_Vietnam_%E2%80%93_Studies_and_Observations_Group



The MAC SOG guys jumped military T-10 round canopies with TU steering mods. I made civilian jumps on exactly this kind of canopy. They are not very maneuverable (low forward speed) and you'd expect a fairly wide scattering of landing locations on a night HALO insertion with no clear landing zone lit up. I have always wondered how the jumpers located each other after landing without using flares or other means that would reveal their location to the enemy. 


I corresponded with one MAC SOG jumper who said they used Japanese (he recalled Sony) transistor radios and some kind of a beacon. He didn't have any technical details. 


Then I found this account:  "Finally, the CIA loaned a homing beacon to be carried by Newman. Each team member would carry a transistor radio which, when tuned to the right frequency, allowed them to converge on Newman on the ground." 


So what was the beacon? Might it have been this (RT/A-3)?  http://militaryradio.com/spyradio/beacons.html 
Did the CIA use RT/3-A sets? Are there any other likely beacon candidates? 


And how did the jumpers resolve the 180 bearing ambiguity inherent in transistor radio ferrite bar antennas when used for DF purposes? Trying to discern  a drop or gain in sig strength as you move isn't easy at night in thick jungle terrain. 


It did work. Post landing rendezvous were successful. Any info appreciated.


73,
AF6IM
www.parachutemobile.com
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