[MRCA] Was BC-611 now short antennas and Sky Diving

[Tim]

Hi Mark - That's consistent with what I have heard (including from a
Merrill's Marauder comm vet) and experienced myself in playing with
BC-611's on 3885 at rallies and campsites... They work OK under "peacetime"
conditions for the short range use they were intended for but the real
world is a different matter altogether...  SGT Saunders used his
routinely!  LOL
But I found the MAB to be a better performer in similar recreational
experiments.  What I have learned about the MAB here:  N6CC MAB radio
<https://www.n6cc.com/navy-model-mab-radio-set/>

Hams tend to ask "how far can this set reach".  The troops tend to ask "can
this set reach far enough?"....
Tim
N6CC

On Sat, Oct 5, 2024 at 12:41 PM MARK DORNEY via MRCA <mrca at mailman.qth.net>
wrote:

> The Airborne had both a padded jump case and a rigger made harness ( made
> out of parachute harness material ) to attach the BC-611 to the
> paratroopers web gear for the jump (along with a padded weapons case, leg
> bag, musette bag and various other padded bags for rations, ammo, etc -
> total of over 200lbs.  that each paratrooper jumped with ).  The gloves
> were for the jump itself, and weren’t anything special. For those in
> England, many were actually British leather Cavalry gloves. As far as any
> huge coil or any counterpoise, there is no issued one that I’m aware of.
> Now that doesn’t mean that some smart, enterprising young trooper didn’t
> come up with some home brew solution: it just means there was nothing
> officially blessed by the US Army Signal Corps. I was able to talk to a few
> WW2 vets from 82nd , 101 and 11th Airborne, and their opinion of the BC-611
> was pretty universal - “IT SUCKED!!! “.  They all told me a trooper could
> yell farther than the BC-611 could transmit. The BC-1000 was a different
> story. They loved that radio.
>
> 73
> Mark D.
> WW2RDO
>
> “In matters of style, float with the current. In matters of Principle,
> stand like a rock. “.   -   Thomas Jefferson
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Oct 5, 2024, at 3:02 PM, Ray Fantini via MRCA <mrca at mailman.qth.net>
> wrote:
>
> 
> Question for smart people, you would think I know this but as my wife will
> often remind me that I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. I think a half
> wavelength at 3885 is a hundred twenty feet or so, assume the 611 has a
> huge coil to make up for this short antenna? Mr. Smith once told me that
> although you can electrically shorten the active side of a antenna with a
> coil that dose nothing for your other side of the antenna, the counterpoise
> and for that to be most effective it’s got to be some sort of fraction of a
> wavelength. Dam, the counterpoise of the BC-611 is like one foot of case!
> Maybe there is some component of grounding thru your skin and boots or
> whatever but what if you’re wearing gloves? This is where the smart part
> comes in, I am assuming the efficiency of that short antenna and
> counterpoise results in an overall antenna efficiency of about lest then
> five percent! Certain some smart person out there can run the program and
> come back with an exact number.
> Think about this in the context of parachuting, even if the antenna was
> fully extended the ground or counterpoise side of the antenna is like one
> foot if you were wearing gloves, I don’t think polarization or any of that
> stuff matters with that small antenna and radio.
> My real question is how in the hell did you free fall , deploy the chute
> and all that other sky diving stuff and hold on to the radio in the first
> place? That’s an impressive feet.
> Trivia! Two radios I have always like from WW2 are the DAV and its evil
> twin sister the MAB, don’t know if its true but I was told the MAB was
> designed and deployed as an air assault radio. It used a throat microphone
> and a weird skull cap that fit under a helmet with the radio strapping to
> your chest.
>
> Ray F/KA3EKH
>
>
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