[Milsurplus] Avco GRC-9

Sat Sep 1 13:39:35 EDT 2018

Here”s another surviving early GRC-9:

Case, TX, and RX all made by Rauland.
Case is SN 829, order 53906, Phila 45
RX is SN 505, order 53906, Phila 45
TX is SN 746, order 9157, Phila 46

The set has an inspection stamp dated Sep 1961 and may have been in inventory until about 1980 -1990.

Screw posts for doublet and group are painted red unlike OD posts on later sets.

Case, TX, and RX all stamped for MWO 11-5820-291-35/1. Anyone know what that was?

It came from an old-time wholesale surplus dealer in Kentucky
He got it and many more GRC-9 sets from BGAD, probably around 1990 give or take.
All of his sets and accessories are long gone, however.

Fair Radio might have gotten its GRC-9s from this wholesale dealer.  

When getting out that one to look at, I saw another one relevant to this thread:
Hoffman, order 3141, Phila 51.
It has survived 67 years with matching serial numbers on case, TX, and RX — all SN 1815.

Earliest TM 11-263 may have been June 1946 unless there was a preliminary one before that.
Issued by order of Secretary of War by Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chief of Staff.
Small note on title page says “AG 300.7 (27 Apr 45)”
That manual is small, just 6” by 9.”  Later manuals are about 8” by 10”

There also was a March 1951 edition of TM 11-263 before the common June 1956 version.

Bill W8FIX

On Fri, Aug 31, 2018 at 2:29 PM, Robert Downs via Milsurplus <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net> wrote:Tim, 

The (apparently) first Signal Corps Order Number is 53906-Phila-45, found on a transmitter that belongs to a friend of mine here in Houston.  The case and 
receiver serial numbers are both French.  Finding matched serial numbers generally means no Depot (they always mixed them up) and probably little lower 
echelon work.  I have or have had several units with FY 46 orders and then 49, 51, 52 and 55.  Replacement cases were ordered sometime during or after 1966 
when the Signal Corps quit ordering things.  But the last order number that I know of for the complete set was 10560-Phila-55. And as I wrote elsewhere today, if 
you are looking at change notices for components or component values, note that they always give both Order Number and Serial Number.  The implication being 
that Serial Numbers are not unique..  The Signal Depots appear to have always ignored this when doing overhauls because they not only didn’t attempt to keep 
major components together (receiver, transmitter and case for BC-1306 and RT-77), they made new nameplates and issued their own serial numbers that are 
meaningless from then on. 

Robert Downs From: Tim 
[mailto:timsamm at gmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2018 14:56
To: Robert Downs
Cc: Military Surplus Mail List (milsurplus at mailman.qth.net)
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Avco GRC-9 I bought one of those $50 RT-77/GRC-9's from FAIR about 30 years ago.  It had some obvious service wear....It had 
Hoffman data plates but the TX, RX and Case all had different serial numbers; it worked fine right out of the box.  It's the "mobile" set. I have another AVCO set 
that I got NIB at a swap meet about 20 years ago, all matching serial numbers, works great.  That one is my "campsite" set.. Robert:  I think you said you had 
seen evidence of a 1949 contract number/date so I have assumed delivered radios appeared some time after that.  But do you have any info indicating the last 
production dates??  The Sacramento Army Depot was overhauling them (or preparing them for re-issue as VRC-34's) as recently as April 1974, Thanks all, 
TimN6CC On Thu, Aug 30, 2018 at 11:55 PM, Robert Downs via Milsurplus <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net> wrote:I don’t know.  We would have to have one of 
them to examine to maybe determine that.  If the receiver and transmitter nameplates say Avco, then it would take a careful examination of the innards to 
determine.  Remember all of the BC-659’s with post-war LSD nameplates, when we know that no new radios were actually built from scratch after the War. 
Robert Downs From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Hubert Miller
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2018 00:00
To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Milsurplus] Avco GRC-9 The Avco GRC-9s that Fair was selling ( for $50 each, remember that ?), are those rebuilds of earlier sets, or new production ?-
Hue 
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