MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, JUNE 24/98 Index: CHINESE 702 SERIES RADIOS; By William L. Howard SENATOR BERRY GOLDWATER; Not Just a Statesman. THE USMCHC NEEDS PA EQUIPMENT; HUMOR; *********************************************** CHINESE 702 SERIES RADIOS; I first saw this radio in a display case at the Signal Corps Museum at Fort Monmouth back in the 1970’s. Supposedly captured in Vietnam, it was a set that I had not seen as of Sept 1968 when I left so I concluded that it must have entered service with the NVA after 1968. The set looked to be about the size of a carton of cigarettes, was displayed out of the case and did not have any accessories. I recently picked up two of these sets. One is labeled 702D and the other had no data plate but appeared to be an earlier version of the same set. I concluded that it must have been a 702, 702A,B,or C version. I will begin with a description of the set which I believe is the older set. The set comes in an aluminum case and is 10 “ long over-all, by 3 1/2 wide by 2 1/3 deep.The case has a steel D ring attached so it can be attached to a set of pack straps. The bottom of the set has two screws which must be removed, allowing the removal of the cover, which is then turned and allowed to follow the entire set as it is slid out of the case through the top. The radio is built on a heavy guage aluminum chassis that was stamped out of a sheet of aluminum. The chassis is fastened to the top panel.by 8 rivets. The top panel contains the antenna connector, a ceramic like socket to which an antenna is screwed in. There is a main tuning control which is a friction drive to the variable capacitor. The variable capacitor also has a dial with graduations which appear under a small window. There is also a push/pull switch which serves as an on/off switch. Below the top cover is the tuned circuit, consisting of a main variable capacitor with two stator plates and three rotor plates and two more much smaller air variable capacitors. One can be adjusted only after the set is removed from the case. The other small variable capacitor can be accessed from the out side of the case by a small screw driver. It is connected to the antenna. The coil is wound on a flat piece of clear plastic with a cross brace in the form of a X and the second part of the coil is wound on a circular piece of clear plastic mounted on top of the X form. The coil is 6 turns of 16 guage silver colored wire with the antenna coil being 4 turns of 22 guage wire. Above the coil is a press down switch which is accessable from the outside of the case. I assume it was for transmitting a code signal. Base on the fact that most Chinese Military sets operate between 2 to 12 MC, I conclude this set is in the same range. Below the elements of the tuned circuit, was the radio proper. The older of the two sets has RCA 3S4 tubes. There were two of these tubes mounted in sockets with metal spring loaded shields.From right to left, there were the one tube and a large paper capacitor, then a multi pole relay, then a potted transformer, the second tube and another paper capacitor and a final un-potted transformer. Below these or what might be called the underside of the chassis were resistors, capacitors and what I assumed to be an RF choke. The capacitors looked like the standard 1940 mica capacitors and or molded/paper capacitors. I counted four resistors, three of which were 1 watt size and one was a half watt size.There were five mica capacitors and one .05 MFD molded capacitor, which was made by the Sing Kee Condensor Works. These were either soldered directly to the tube sockets or to two terminal strips. The other two capacitors which were on top of the chassis were too difficult to examine for size and manufacturing specifications. Two rubber covered cables were wired to the circuit and fed out through the base to a power plug or the mike/headphone combinaton. The power cable terminated in a plug that was then plugged into a battery. The battery plug had been broken open, and three wires were then soldered to it, apparently in an effort to get power from a US battery of the required voltage. The other cable was connected to something that was missing. What appeared to be a mike with a push to talk switch was partially soldered on (one of three wires were soldered and the others were not connected to anything) The three wires to the mike were not rubber covered and appeared to be an attempt to make a field repair. The mike that was with the set, resembled an old style. The cover was held on by three screws. Removal of the cover revealed a badly deteriorated rubber gasket. Removing what was left of it, the mike appears to be a standard carbon telephone mike. Below this were to lever switches which were controlled by the PTT switch. The switch brought the mike into a circuit and the other switch probably operated the relay, RY 1. The three wires that came in did not appear to be field modifications or were a high quality soldering job. They were also braided so it is possible they came from the factory that way. It was my opinion that this was supposed to be both a receiver and transmitter. Pressing a PTT switch would activate the relay and “re wire” the circuit. Most probably in the receive mode the one tube was a detector and the other an amplifier. In the transmit mode, one was the oscillator and the other the modulator. Not having the accessories, a power source and with broken components, it was impossible to do more with the set. I assume that it was adequate for short range communications. It also had some problems and/or design flaws which were corrected in later versions. Numerous changes occured between the set described above and the 702 D version. The first and most obvious change was the elimination of the hard wired battery and headset/mike cables. These were replaced by sockets and the battery cable must have had two plugs, one on each end. The mike/headset also had a plug. This change made it easier to remove the set from the case to work on. The open transformer was replaced by a potted transformer. I assume that they exhausted their supply of old style transformers while making the first radios and by the time of the D series, all transformers were potted. The area of the tuned circuit has been changed. The variable capacitor in the antenna circuit has been eliminated, as has the variable capacitor across the coil. The latter having been replaced by a smaller adjustable capacitor rather than the air variable of the older set. The main tuning capacitor remains the same. The tone transmitter switch has also been removed, thus making the outer case easier to manufacture. A small light bulb has been added to illuminate the tuning dial. Otherwise the tuning curcuit remains the same. A large coil has also been relocated from under the chassis to a position nearer the top of the set. The underside of the chassis has also been “streamlined” and all parts are easier to get to. There are 8 mica capacitors, still of the 1940 style but with numbers rather than a dot color code. and 10 resistors. RY 1, the relay has been changed. The older set had two contacts and the newer one has four contacts. In the newer set, the realay appears to be adjustable and there is a screw adjustment on the top. This appears to be a factory adjustment as the screw is painted fast. This set also had tubes of Chinese manufacture. Without having a technical manual, schematics or necessary accessories, it is not possible to do more than describe the sets and draw some general conclusions. These sets appear to have been inspired by the WW II BC 611 for size and intended purpose and the circuits inspired by the Japanese Type 94-6, only because of the use of two tubes and two transformers. This however is not a Japanese invention and the circuits or concepts were well known by the late 1930’s. The changes in the power cord and headset/mike appears to have been prompted by experience in the field. It may also reflect the fact that the cords and cables suffered damage in rough handling and that it was easer to supply new cables than to turn the set in to have the hard wired cables replaced. This set would appear to have been developed in the late 1950s and in use during the 1960s. By the 1970s transistors were coming into use and this set was phased out in favor of some ther radio. For it’s time frame and intended use, the set appears to be adequate and up to the task. Operational testing may prove otherwise. William L. Howard LTC Armor USAR(Retd) THE WILLIAM L. HOWARD ORDNANCE TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE MUSEUM e-mail wlhoward@gte.net Telephone AC 813 585-7756 *********************************************** SENATOR BERRY GOLDWATER; Not Just a Statesman. May 29, 1998: Senator Berry M. Goldwater died this morning. The cause of death has been determined a heart attach. The elder statesman is better known to many of us older hams as K7UGA. In the sixties Mr. Goldwater flew his own plane to and from Washington D.C. and he ran air nautical mobil mostly on 20 meters. In his years as a Senator he was the best friend that hams had in congress. He was an advocate of eliminating the code requirement for HF amateur privileges. I have personally talked to him many times in the sixties as he commuted in his Lear Jet. Amateur radio has suffered a great loss with his death. He was a hams' ham. I suggest that anyone that flies a U.S. flag bring it to half mast for the next 30 days in his honor. He will be sorely missed as he gave much to his country as well to amateur radio. Bill Chambers, n0mbw ed) While I personally didn't always agree with his politics, few people realize the impact this man had on this country and every endeavor that he chose to involved himself with. In 1962 he toured South Vietnam, and being the Ham that he was, noted the fact that there were no MARS stations in the country due to South Vietnamese Government Bull Shit. At his prodding, negotiations were set in motion that eventually resulted in the authorization of U.S. Ham Radio MARS stations to operate in country. Collins KWM-2 sets were then mounted in front line ambulances that would tour the country setting up phone patches for the troops back to the states and their loved ones. BG himself would set in on a couple of these sessions. As one of these mobile MARS stations visited a today unknown Special Forces Base camp, the personnel were impressed with the operation of it's KWM-2, and the ease in which it was able to communicate. This resulted in the adoption of the set as the FRC-93. The FRC-93 would later see service with virtually every branch of the military, and in every theater of operation for at least another 25 years. Not too bad for a HAM, and a HAM RADIO! Dennis Starks; MILITARY RADIO COLLECTOR/HISTORIAN military-radio-guy@juno.com *********************************************** THE USMCHC NEEDS PA EQUIPMENT; Dennis: Could you put this in the Post, please? The USMCHC is looking for an appropriate functional PA (loudspeaker) system for use during the Solomons program in August. We would prefer a WWII system, however a post war system of reasonable period appearance will suffice for our purposes. As you may already know, the Solomons Island program is an educational interactive program having to do with the Amphibious Warfare Training Center which was at Solomons, MD during WWII. It is co-sponsored by the USMCHC, the Calvert Marine Museum, and Project Liberty Ship; with participation by (at this point) all the Services, the Marine Corps League, the various MarDiv Associations, as well as other associated organizations. Any help would be appreciated. Brian Scace sarge@nist.gov *********************************************** HUMOR; A cowboy runs into a bar and says to the bartender, "Give me twenty shots of your best scotch, quick!" The bartender pours out the shots, and the cowboy drinks them as fast as he can. The bartender says, "Wow. I never saw anybody drink that fast." The cowboy replies, "Well, you'd drink that fast too if you had what I have." The bartender says, "Oh my God! What is it? What do you have?" "I have only fifty cents!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deep thoughts............. Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things. One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor. Atheism is a nonprophet organization. If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes? The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live. I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose. If all those psychics know the winning lottery numbers, why are they all still working? If a mute swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap? And whose cruel idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it? If a man is standing in the middle of the forest speaking and there is no woman around to hear him - is he still wrong? If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation? Is there another word for synonym? Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice?" Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?" What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant? If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages? Would a fly without wings be called a walk? Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them? If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked? Why don't sheep shrink when it rains? Can vegetarians eat animal crackers? If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent? Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines? How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign? Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injections? Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets? Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny? What was the best thing before sliced bread? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We were so poor we used to use a substitute for margarine ... In school I took algebra, history, and overcoats ... We didn't have a TV set, we used to sit around and watch the mirror. -- Jackie Vernon --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One day a woman arrives home from work and her husband notices she's wearing a diamond necklace. He asks his wife, "Where did you get that necklace?" She replies, "I won it in a raffle at work. Go get my bath ready while I start supper." The next day, the woman arrives home from work wearing a diamond bracelet. Her husband asks, "Where did you get the bracelet?" She replies, "I won it in a raffle at work. Go get my bath ready while I start supper." The next day, her husband notices she arrives home from work wearing a mink coat. He says, "I suppose you won that in a raffle at work?" She replies, "Yeah I did! How did you guess? Go get my bath ready while I start supper." Later after supper, she goes to take her bath and she notices there is only one inch of water in the tub. She yells to her husband, "HEY! There's only an inch of water in the tub!" He replies, "I didn't want you to get your raffle ticket wet!" ---------------------------------------------------------------- One Friday morning, a teacher came up with a novel way to motivate her class. She told them that she would read a quote and the first student to correctly identify who said it would receive the rest of the day off. She started with "This was England's finest hour." Little Suzy instantly jumped up and said, " Winston Churchill." "Congratulations said the teacher you may go home." The teacher then said, "Ask not what your country can do for you." Before she could finish this quote, another young lady belts out, "John F.Kennedy". "Very good" says the teacher, "you may go." Irritated that he has missed two golden opportunities, Little Johnny said, "I wish those girls would just shut up." Upon overhearing this comment, the outraged teacher demanded to know who said it. Johnny instantly rose to his feet and said, "Bill Clinton. I'll see you Monday." *********************************************** (The preceding was a product of the"Military Collector Group Post", an international email magazine dedicated to the preservation of history and the equipment that made it. Unlimited circulation of this material is authorized so long as the proper credits to the original authors, and publisher or this group are included. For more information conserning this group contact Dennis Starks at, military-radio-guy@juno.com) ***********************************************