[Milsurplus] TCS as commercial marine radios

[Boeing377]

Ray Fantini posted: .."In an earlier post I referred to the TCS as maybe having a place in marine use but do realize that the radio would be well beyond the capability of your average charter or fishing boat captain."


Fishing boat crewmen and skippers were amazingly resourceful even though many hadn't even finished high school. It took a lot of skill and finesse to get a good TD reading on an APN 4 or APN 9 LORAN A set, yet it was done routinely. I don't think operating a TCS pair would necessarily have been beyond their capabilities. That said, most commercial fishermen wanted really simple radios, just PTT, volume control and channel selector. Anything else wasted time and introduced a chance of making an error. 


Salt air just ruined electronics that were not properly protected. Heathkit came out with a FCC Type Accepted  AM marine band radio at a low price but they were reduced to corroded junk in just a few years. MFP treated surplus gear fared well. We sprayed LPS 5 on unprotected radio gear like CBs and Drake TR-7 bootleg HF SSB xcvrs. Although messy, LPS-3 worked well to prevent chassis corrosion. Dow Corning Dielectric Silicone Grease was liberally applied to connectors with great long term corrosion prevention results.


AF6IM




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