[R-390] Where did Julian Creek receivers come from?

[rbethman]

It is a "bit" puzzling.  The term DRMO wasn't really in use when all 
these old gals got sent to St. Julien's Creek Annex, Norfolk Naval 
Shipyard (NNSY), Portsmouth, Virginia.

Each and every military installation had a PDO, Property Disposal 
Office.  They used to be the collection point for all the Military Units 
that the particular installation served.

St. J's has been a munitions/ordnance installation going back to around 
1849.  It changed in 1969 from its ordnance and weapons supply mission, 
to become an Annex to Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown, Virginia.  In 
1977 it was transferred to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

Apparently it has been a facility that generated potentially hazardous 
substances include metal plating, de-greasing, painting, operation of 
hydraulic equipment, vehicles and locomotives, ordnance loading, 
ordnance testing, ordnance disassembly, ordnance destruction, pest 
control, maintenance of lead-acid batteries, and printing. Trash and 
garbage generated from the facility was disposed in on-site dumps. 
Wastes were typically disposed in low areas, which are wetlands. 
Beginning in the late 1930s, waste ordnance materials were disposed on 
site. On-site disposal and storage of waste created numerous sources of 
potential contamination, including landfills and an ordnance disposal 
(burning) area. Sources of potential contamination located on the 
facility include four landfills, an ordnance disposal area, an ordnance 
burn pit, a hazardous waste disposal area, a waste storage area, and a 
pesticide disposal area. These sources were noted because of their 
potential to release to the surface water surrounding the facility, i.e. 
Blows Creek, St. Julien's Creek, and the Southern Branch of the 
Elizabeth River.

Somewhere in all of this it ended up with the huge stacks of R-390s and 
R-390As that we have seen the pictures of.  It "Most likely" did so due 
to the radioactive waste issue, regarding the original meters and the 
original 0A2s that developed radioactivity from use due to conditions of 
the gas used in their envelopes.

Low level radioactive waste was buried in drums at Barnwell, S.C.

It IS interesting that these radios from ALL branches of the military 
went to a single disposal point.  I never experienced anything like that 
in my entire military career.

Bob - N0DGN



> On 4/8/10, Les Locklear<leslocklear at cableone.net>  wrote:
>    
>> > From what I understand, it was just a gathering point from various DRMO
>> sites all over. I honestly believe that they didn't know what to do with
>> them and the pile grew
>> over a period of time until the big day when they were all sold at auction.
>>
>> Les
>>    ----- Original Message -----
>>    From: Flowertime01 at wmconnect.com
>>
>>    Cecil,
>>
>>    I love my spell checker I do I do.
>>
>>    The sand in the gear train is from Julian Creek and will not help us
>>    determine where these receivers were from.
>>
>>    I think we need to put the question to Where did Julian Creek receivers
>>    come from?
>>    I think a lot of the story is in the archives and been posted before. I do
>>    not know the real facts. I do have some Idea but no facts.
>>
>>    Roger.</HTML>