[MRCA] Korean War Radio Sets

[Mike Morrow]

Robert wrote:

> USMC used the MAW in Korea...Most likely an AN/ARC-1 on the other end.

But also, the USN was an early proponent for the UHF-AM band for military
aircraft comms, starting at the end of WWII.  I suspect that by the Korean
War the UHF versions of the above-named sets were in common use by the USN.
That was probably less so for the USAF and USA, which seemed to hold longer
to VHF-AM even after installing UHF-AM gear.  In Vietnam, for example, most
Army helicopters had not only UHF-AM and VHF-FM sets, but also a VHF-AM set.

The UHF version of the MAW was the MAY.  The UHF version of the AN/ARC-1
was the AN/ARC-12.  Any existing AN/ARC-1 installation could be modified
to an AN/ARC-12 installation by doing only two things:
(1)  Replace the VHF RT-18*/ARC-1 with the UHF RT-58/ARC-12.  The existing
     mount, control box, and interconnect wiring were all unchanged.
(2)  Install a UHF antenna in place of the VHF antenna.

With respect to the tactical ground VHF-FM gear, all the stuff we often
refer to as Korean War gear likely never came into common use in theater
before the war was over.  Dennis has already mentioned the RT-174/PRC-8,
RT-175/PRC-9, and RT-176/PRC-10.  The same applies more so to the
RT-196/PRC-6, which was even later.  The AN/GRC-3 series (RT-66, -67, -68,
-70*; R-108, -109, -110; AM-65; and PP-109, -112, -281, -282) were first
purchased under 1949 contracts, but there seems to have been a whole lot
of SCR-508, -608, and other WWII FM gear in theater.  I suspect, without
having anything to prove it, that the AN/GRC-3 series was less common than
the WWII gear during most of the war.  Today's sadly disdained AN/GRC-3
series gear was world-class state-of-the-art in the early 1950s. Nowhere
in the world was there anything equivalent.  The AN/PRC-6 was itself a
marvel of miniaturization for its era.  I saw some still in use by the
USMC as late as 1972.

73,
Mike / KK5F
(I'm a great fan of Korean War and 1950s Cold War commo gear.)