[Milsurplus] most Dangerous Transmitters

[Ray Fantini]

Think the wheel thing on the T-368 may be related to almost every T that I have seen in Ham operation has had wheels installed and sometimes poorly installed like in the case of cheap furniture carpet casters. Somehow similar size transmitters like the BC-610 don’t get the same treatment.
In the world of super-size Ham transmitters you have ex-military transmitters like the T-368, BC-610 and maybe the URC-32 that are most common and I have never seen a BC-610 or URC-32 on wheels. There are some others like the old Navy TDE, TBL and TCK but think the T-368 and BC-610 are the most common in Ham use.
Have to wonder just what would happen if you swung out the guts of a TDE with the cabinet not firmly attached to something?
Just can’t think of things like a TCS or ART-13 as one of the big heavyweights although they are not lite. The TBW and GO are somewhere in-between.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying not to use wheels, casters or any of that sort of stuff. I have a half dozen equipment racks in the shop that are all on wheels and you need the option of being able to roll stuff around but when it’s done poorly or weight distribution is not thought about it can be an issue. What I was talking about are the most dangerous radios that people have out there and maybe why, not saying anything bad about the radio itself but just about some of the things people have been known to do with them.

Ray F/KA3EKH


From: Tom <noflood1 at sonic.net>
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2019 2:36 PM
To: Ray Fantini <RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu>
Cc: MMRCG at groups.io; milsurplus at mailman <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] most Dangerous Transmitters


   I owned one of these beasts for a few years. I have almost 40 years experience in electronics, 30 in communications alone but no experience working around high voltage like the 2400 vdc in the T-368. My T-368 was purchased from an old timer who had gone through it as part of my agreeing to purchase this beast.

    I had lots of problems with this beast including more than a few FLASH BANGS. I had to pull the 300 pound power supply shelf to replace the plate relay. My T-368 had the military base with the outriggers and metal caster wheels, I left it that way assuming the base was there for a reason. It was easy to move around my garage on the metal casters.

    I built a platform from 3/4" plywood that was mounted on 6 casters, this was made to be just high and wide enough to straddle and clear the outriggers on the military base and sit just below the bottom of the power supply shelf. That made removing the power supply shelf easy and it was not difficult to stand the shelf up on the end that has the iron. I was able to work on it easily and also not hurt my back which was a consideration. I have badly strained my back a few times and am very cautious in that regards.

     This beast scared the SH*T<mailto:SH at T> out of me a few times with the FLASH BANGS, the last FLASH BANG was while dipping the plate while loading into a dummy load. There was a flash over in the plate meter while I had my head near by looking for the plate current dip.

      That was the LAST STRAW, it was time to let this go. I sold it with full disclosure to a ham friend, he had more experience working on high voltage and was able to get it on the air and was happy with it.

       Except for swapping tubes and the draws I don't see how this beast could have been repaired easily in the field. There seems to have been no thought given to field repair in the design. I would assume there were repair jigs used at a repair depot for that purpose.



                                                        Tom, W6TOM



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