[Milsurplus] "Vegetation Antenna"

[John Vendely]

We didn't have much success in dissecting one, as the electronics were 
molded into a very hard brown plastic material which was almost 
impossible to remove without destroying the device.   We did manage to 
get enough of the material off to see the mercury cells and a few small 
inductors, but going much further would have simply destroyed it.  The 
more sophisticated ADSID transmitted a pre-programmed ID number, but the 
TURDSIDs we tested simply produced a very brief, erratic squawk or 
chirp, which I assumed contained no data, as the device was quite 
simple.  At the time, we had no idea what frequency they operated on, 
but after some searching, we found an erratic signal in the 160 MHz range.

I perused the internet a bit and found a number of pictures of these 
devices, but the ones we had looked somewhat different, a bit smaller 
and more "globular" in shape, with a small removable pin which armed the 
unit.

73,

John K9WT

On 12/27/2022 1:01 PM, KD7JYK DM09 wrote:
>> mercury button cells on some were still good, and when shaken 
>> vigorously, they would send out bursts of RF...
>
> I'd like to hear the signal these types of devices send out, as well 
> as the AN/GSQ-160, but there may not be a chance of finding any of 
> these up and running nowadays.
>
> Kurt
>
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