[R-390] Bar coded R-390A parts (was Gulf War Debate)

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Wed, Feb 8, 2017 at 5:30 PM, Tom M. via R-390 <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
wrote:

>
> Far be it  from me to throw gasoline on the dumpster fire that was the
> Gulf War debate and use of R-390A in said conflict, however today I
> recollected that some 19 years ago I received I a plain brown box from a
> certain "gentleman" from the country of Texas with a return address of Acme
> Radio and Dynamite Company.


I have or had some similar items and wrapping with the same bar codes from
the same time frame, Tom. Same source, I suspect.

My understanding of the Gulf War connection (which seems to change every
time someone mentions it) is not that the gear was actually *deployed* in
country, rather that it was pulled from mothballs to be prepped when
trouble arose with the newer, solid state gear. These problems ranged from
cooling issues due to clogged filters and such (middle eastern 'sand' being
closer to talc than to our beach sand) and static discharge issues related
to same.

Somewhere along the way I read documentation, an account - something
relating to FRC-93s being serviced by Dennis Brothers, former Collins tech,
preparing them for use over there.

Then the war ended. Wasn't long after when a $#1tload of FRC-93 components
- KWM-2As, 30L-1s, 312B-4s etc - showed up for sale from a surplus seller
in CA called Davilyn Corp. I still have one of their catalogs somewhere.
When did the Great St Juliens Creek Massacree take place? Early-mid 90s?

I tend not to put a lot of faith in one person accounts of 'I didn't see it
or hear of it, so it didn't happen', Though technically it didn't, or not
completely, clearly there is more to the story than 'nothing'.

Then again, someone else told me that the seller of the cabinets, covers,
and so on had bought the dies and packaging equipment so it was possible to
make it 'look' real. He must've lost a lot of money if there's any truth to
that conspiracy theory.

Besides - who doesn't like a good dumpster fire? Especially in the VA
winter. (o:

de Todd/'Boomer'  KA1KAQ/4