[Milsurplus] Navajo code Talkers

[Hubert Miller]

That particular photo is part of a U.S. Navy set, something like 10 photos to a set. I don't know if or how or when they were marketed.
( BTW, Rolley Michaelis many years back told me, when he was visiting Saipan from his ship, that the Marines had a photo lab set up on 
the island, and were running a sideline business of selling photo packs,  something like 12 photos for $10.  $10 was big money then, but
as Rolley said, "There was nothing to spend your money on".  I do not know if this was one of those packs or not, probably not; but similar
idea. ) ( Rolley was the one who told me about the 'Snap-On' toolsets being dumped over cliffs at Saipan, or the two bargeloads of vehicles
dumped at sea. ) 
The photos are kind of contrasty and not super wonderful, albeit interesting documents. My sets are somewhere in a random-access box
labeled "Graphics", a trove that even its owner ( me ) finds intriguing, with all kinds of wonderful photos, booklets, and so on.  I don't want
to get sidetracked at the moment to look for the photos, but will add to my to-do list. I am sure some other reader here has the photos or
has seen them. There is a second TBX photo is this set, showing inside a com center at Okinawa, and a Marine is listening on a TBX next to a
teletype machine. Apparently the TBXs at this plant were used as monitor receivers only, for whatever channels needed monitoring. The 
TTY machine of course would have been on a long range circuit from a communications receiver. I think there was maybe a third TBX photo
of some guys on the deck of a ship pretending to use a TBX. 
Many years back there was a magazine "Morsum Magnificat", which was about telegraph keys and stories related to telegraphy. Many obscure
and wonderful, I mean wonderful, stories there. I  did not have the complete set, and since, I have given most away, except for stories that I 
especially loved, like the story about the deceased railway telegrapher's faithful dog, or some stories relating to equipment I owned or was 
interested in. I cannot praise that magazine enough. Anyway one copy once had a photo of the rubber-covered TBX key version, asking for info,
so I submitted a short article talking about the key and the TBX radio. I also recounted this anecdote about the TBX. Sometime in the 1980s I was
tuning around the bands and started listening to Radio Noumea  ( Fiji ). I was listening on a Radio Shack DX-302 receiver; I heard a long intriguing
tune and  thought, this should really sound better than it does on this radio. I had a TBX sitting nearby with its issue AC supply, so I switched that
on, and semi-miraculously was able to tune in the same in a jiffy. The battery tubes in the TBX of course came to life in seconds. The song sounded
just great on the TBX, with its wider selectivity and fewer audio stages, and glass ones at that. I didn't get the title of the song, so I wrote ( paper
mail, in those ancient times ) the station. They couldn't handle English or misinterpreted my request and so a couple weeks later I got a QSL 
thanking me for the report, with no info. ( Years later I identified the song as "My Foolish Friend" by Australian group "Talk Talk".  Never give up. )
I digress...the Roi-Namur photo has the TBX in operation. There are a few other TBX photos out there, not a whole lot. I think I mentioned the 
war magazine photo of one set up on shore at Sicily, where it was used to call in fire from ships. 
-H 


Subject: Re: Fwd: [Milsurplus] Fwd: Fwd: Navajo code Talkers

Hue,
I would absolutely love to see that picture.  Is the radio in use or just sitting there waiting to be moved to a CP? Do you have a copy of it or know where I could see it?
Thanks, Jason   

On Wed, 06 Dec 2017 10:33:41 +0000, Nick England wrote:  
  
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Hubert Miller 
Date: Tue, Dec 5, 2017 at 9:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Fwd: Fwd: Navajo code Talkers
To: mailto:milsurplus at mailman.qth.net <mailto:milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>


Dave, there's a photo of a TBX on the beach at Roi-Namur. NO trees in sight.
I was wondering if all the sections are really required. Like maybe 2, 3 sections with no guy wires.
I don't know if the transmitter would work into a shortened antenna.
I do have a couple complete antenna sets.
I am certain no one subject to the physical laws of planet Earth could have the setup operational in 30 seconds.
-Hue

>Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Fwd: Fwd: Navajo code Talkers

I had a complete TBX antenna at one time. Even had the guy ropes and everything, except for the canvas. Many years ago. The thin tubing from which it was made was fragile as a college kid's fee-wings. I can't imagine that anyone could have set the thing up under fire, much less moved it, without breaking some of those tubes (or getting whacked).
Given that the shore parties using the radio would not have been more than a mile or three from the beach, and being copied by communication stations on ships / saltwater with full-size antennas and powerful transmitters, I'd be willing to bet coffee and donuts that they just threw a wire over the nearest tree and stuck a screwdriver in the dirt for a ground. I bet you that little field-expedient worked just fine.