[R-390] X RF Deck Tube Optimization (Mil radio training)

[William A Kulze]

Hi, Roger.

  I was at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS Jan - June 1977 and I'll be darned if I can remember anyone there. It snowed there the day we took the bus from San Antonio. I remember one girl in ground radio who got stationed at Myrtle Beach and another girl in the basic electronics portion who asked "why?" regarding everything. After an explanation of the fact that a capacitor stores a charge or how a transistor works... "Why?" Really exasperated the instructor! "It just does!" "Yeah, but, why?"

  I remember studying Rx's with the R390 and tracing the different signal paths and power circuits with colored pencils. The tests for each block consisted of a written test and a hands on troubleshooting test. We were taught the "half split" method to isolate which section was failed, although, with a lot of the radios being tube most guys caught on that a bad tube had a spot of white paint on the bottom, or there might be a wire removed from the socket, taped and stuck off behind the harness somewhere. I thought it was more fun to do the detective work, though. I remember one radio in a 6 foot rack, I think for flight line VHF that used freq synthesis and PLL.
 
  I remember coming back to the barracks from class one day and there was an orange extension cord hanging from a third floor window in the courtyard. Guess some guy couldn't handle something or other. Cord broke, though.

  After school my duty station was at Hickam Airways, with operator consoles, line amplifiers, jack fields and a switchboard. Never saw another radio, they were elsewhere on the island.

  After finishing school I went home on leave and I sat in the airport bar having a beer with my dad. He seemed impressed when I talked about the R390. He'd been a ham since before WWII, I've got his old call. I never got interested in radio as a hobby until after he was gone. I wish he was around to talk to about this stuff. Heck, I wish I had half of his old gear! I might have found one, that was in the garage of a friend who's living in his father's house. That guy was a CBer and my dad might have given him this old HQ-170 when he retired and moved to FL. And a D-104, too.

  Sorry to wax reminiscent on ya, but let me throw one more thing out there. I've got a jpeg of a QSL my dad sent out in 1946. Under W2NVD it says "EX OX1AA". Right after he got out of the Air Corp he had a job with American Airlines up in Thule, Greenland. If these calls were sequential that would be a significant call. Anybody out there have any insight into this?

Thanks for letting me go on and on...

Bill Kulze W2NVD



-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Flowertime01 at wmconnect.com

Bill, 

I was teaching at the Ft Devens school house in 73 when I met my wife Wanda.

I reuped some where in Korea in late 71 and was at Ft Devens in Jan 72. I 
spent the week before Christmas of 71 with my brother in Japan.

So almost two years Jan 71 through Nov 73 I left for Okinawa after 
Thanksgiving 73 and got to Okinawa before Christmas.

So did you have an Instructor named Russell (Russ) Huss He would have been 
at the new school in 77. We did Nam together.

Roger</HTML>