[Milsurplus] HRO
Bruce Gentry
ka2ivy at verizon.net
Wed May 9 17:26:07 EDT 2018
I have given this some thought before and have a few theories. HROs
are good performers, reliable, easy and usually quick to repair, and
tended to have simple controls and homely appearance. Military
intercept operators were frequently women, and their duty was to copy
signals accurately for the duration of the war. Assigning them receivers
that were good performers for the task but totally practical would
not distract them or raise any false hopes for involvment in radio after
the war. On a far more practical basis, most of the intercept work was
for CW, in many ways a mature art by that time. Using a minimal but
excellent, realitively inexpensive, widely available, commmercial
receiver that could be used right off the assembly line made a great
deal of sense. With the dubious "neutrality" of the "Lend Lease"
program, a simple, innocuous, receiver anyone could buy frustrated
objections the Axis powers had to what was really going on. These
receivers were used in a generally comfortable temperature and humidity
environment, not being bounced over roads or on ships, and except for
having the buildings they were in bombed, did not experience combat.
The simplicity and servicability of the HRO would also be a plus to the
social agenda of the time if persons with no prior experience had to be
trained to maintain them- especially if - gasp, heaven forbid- they were
women. Forcing them back to the kitchen after the war would be much
easier to accomplish if their knowledge was as limited as possible.
Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY
On 5/9/18 4:08 PM, Hubert Miller wrote:
> This is my opinion, and unsubstantiated, but I think if were to work at it, which I don't want to do, I could go a distance toward
> substantiating it. My opinion is that the HRO was by this time a secondary receiver, one with lower cost than the larger
> competitors, SP series, RBB-RBC, and certainly much easier to repair, and also reliable, but more unwieldy to use than its
> bandswitched contemporaries.
> My impression was the HRO was shunted off for secondary users. Yes, that
> includes Bletchley Park, where tens of listeners sat with their HROs watching one assigned frequency.
> -Hue
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