MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, Sept.30/98 Index: POSTWAR BRITISH NUMBERING SYSTEM; From Ray Robinson MEMBERS WRITE; TCS ?? Western Electric Carbon Mic Elements, SPECIAL EVENT REPORT; Hope Arkansas NEW MEMBER; Dave Thomas HUMOR; *********************************************** POSTWAR BRITISH NUMBERING SYSTEM; Hi Dennis, When the English WS numbering system (Wireless Set) was reaching capacity, they changed to a new system, commonly known as the Larkspur system in the late 50s early 60s. This coincided with the introduction of new models, which were generally in cast boxes, used FM and the VHF bands. Some were new designs, some were copies. The A40 from the CPRC-26, A41 from the PRC-10, A42 from the PRC-9. The numbering system meant: A 0-10 Manpack B 10-100w Man Portable C 100-1Kw Vehicle D 1kw-10Kw Transportable/Mobile E >10kw Fixed 10-39 3-30mhz 40-69 30mhz-3ghz 70-99 above 3ghz Ref: Larkspur, Louis Meulstee, Radio Bygones June/July 1995, P20-26 Regards Ray VK2ILV ed) Louis Meulstee is the Dutch author for an excellant series of books(two known at this time) entitled "Wireless for the Warrior", A technical history of Radio Communications Equipment in the British Army. Vol. I Wireless Sets No.1-88. Published by the same company as Radio Bygones: GC Arnold Partners 9 Wetherby Close, Broadstone Dorset BH18 8JB England. British Library number ISBN 1898805 08 3. It is not known whether this book is yet available in the U.S. or Australia but it is a very worthwhile addition to your library. *********************************************** MEMBERS WRITE; TCS ?? I pose a question to the TCS experts: The TCS transmitter has two 1625's in parallel for CW operation but only uses one for Phone operation.Why is this?Am I missing something basic here? Also, does anyone have a photo or installation drawing of a TCS in a PT boat? BTW you can see a TCS in operation in the movie "In Harm's Way" when John Wayne tries to get Kirk Douglas to turn back from his suicide mission to find the Jap Fleet. Thanks, Jay Coward jayc@hpcmrd42.sj.hp.com ed) the complete story of the TCS was told in "Poor Boy's Collins, the TCS". This and several other stories are still avail in our Backmail #33. The reasoning for the odd 1625 complement in it's output, and modulator stages resides in the fact that the designers of the TCS masterfully engineered these radios with redundancies that allowed servicing of the radio under the most adverse of combat conditions with no spare parts. In the event that the transmitter failed in the CW mode(both 1625's in use in the RF PA), an unused tube from the modulator could be robbed to effect repairs. Similarly, if it failed in the AM mode(only one of the 1625's in use), the extra RF PA tube could be robbed to replace either a modulator or the other PA tube. All other circuits in both the transmitter and receiver could be treated in the same way. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Western Electric Carbon Mic Elements, Dennis wrote: . . . . . the hands down winner for best carbon mic for use on the TCS and any other military radio is the TS-13 or equivalent handset of WW-II vintage. They have the largest carbon mic element of any I've ever seen, and they are the correct impedance. Not to mention the fact that they also have the best PTT switch in existence. Most of the Signal Corps WW-II era handsets (including the TS-13 that was designed for the BC-620 and BC-659) that I have seen use the standard WE F1 carbon element that was also used in all of the WE telephones of that era. These are quite easy to find. Note that some manufacturers of WW-II era handsets used their own element and the F1 will not work in those but their elements are electrically equivalent to the F1. Now, the question is, why aren't these elements identical electrically to the later telephone elements which were used in the same system. The later, slightly smaller, telephone elements can actually be put inside of a DEFUNCT T-17 microphone housing. You need to remove the plastic protrusion on the back of the black front section. This held the original element. Then, the phone element will drop right in. The whole black plastic front section was replaced when the carbon element went bad in a T-17. Don't ruin a good T-17!!!!! Lenox Carruth *********************************************** SPECIAL EVENT REPORT; Hope Arkansas No other military radio collectors showed up, but I had a lot of fun anyway. One who saw my Stray in QST was Paul Myers, WA4HGI. He wrote me to ask if the B-29 "Fifi" was really going to be there, and I told him it was, at least as sure as we can be about airplanes that old. "Fifi" did make it, albeit a day late. Well Paul came, and for the first time in 53 years he climbed up into the B-29 and sat in the radio operator's seat and ran his hands over the BC-348, and I can tell you he was tickled pink! He also got to go through the B-17 "Sentimental Journey". His unit trained in B-17s until there were enough B-29s available for them. Something this makes me realize is that the Confederate Air Force can use donations of cosmetically-OK but non-working radio equipment for their fleet. These men and women do a terrific job of keeping the old warbirds restored and flying and on display. For this show they brought a B-17, B-29, B-24 "Diamond Lil", a C-46 "Tinker Belle", a Heinkel HE111 German bomber, and a Corsair Navy fighter. It was a sight to behold! ed) My apologies, I was really looking forward to attending, but relatives came in from out of town so I could't. Gray's lake was also last weekend, and it was rumored to have been better than Peoria, but nobody bothered to send in a report. *********************************************** NEW MEMBER; Dave Thomas Hello Dennis, Thanks for the invitation to join the Military Radio Collectors Group. I have read all of the rules and guidelines for joining the group and I agree with and can comply with them. Some Information About Myself Name: David E. Thomas (go by the name Dave Thomas) Location: Apex, N. C. (Just outside of Raleigh, N. C.) Age: 55 years old this week. Occupation: Network Training Instructor for a large cellular phone company. Amateur Radio: First licensed in 1959 as a novice with the call sign of KN4SAN. Have been an active ham for almost 39 years. A lot of the early years were spent tinkering with military surplus gear and memorizing the latest catalogs from Fair Radio and some of the other companies that existed during the 50's and 60's. Still have the call sign of K4SAN and now an Extra Class. Collecting Interests: Collect and restore various PRC, GRC and ARC types of radio equipment. Also interested in NAVY receivers and transmitters such as SRR/FRR receivers and equipment such as the R-1051 and the URC-35. I try to restore and make all equipment that I collect operational. Most of it gets used on the amateur radio bands if it will cover the correct frequency ranges. Also interested in and collect some of the special purpose receivers such as CEI, DEI, Watkins-Johnson, etc. Military Experience: Was a member of the Air National Guard for 9.5 years. Part of the duty was as a HF ground radio maintenance man working with equipment such as the TSC-15, KWM-2, TRC-75 and GRC-29. Last 3 years was spent as a radio relay maintenance man working with the TRC-24 and TRC-97 microwave and troposcatter radios. Am looking forward to becoming part of the group. If I can answer any other questions about myself, please let me know. Thanks, Dave Thomas K4SAN *********************************************** HUMOR; Fifteen Unforeseen consequences of the Millenium Bug 15. IRS demands a hundred years of interest from stunned taxpayers. 14. "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" song gets stuck in infinite loop. 13. At the stroke of midnight, Windows 99 turns back into DOS 1.0, the Pentium V turns back into an 8088, and the Handsome User is left holding a beautiful glass mouse. 12. Internet Movie Database now lists "1901: A Space Odyssey" 11. Residents of Indiana have to figure out if they're off by 999 years, 364 days and 23 hours, or 1000 years and one hour. 10. Bob Dole's age erroneously listed with only 2 digits. 9. Mel Brooks's "2000 year old man" skit stops being funny.... Oops, too late. 8. Sales of Coca Cola jumps drastically after original cocaine-laden formula becomes legal again. 7. Software engineers point out that since computers think it's almost 1900, we technically have to "party like it's 1899," which, frankly, doesn't seem like much fun. 6. Microsoft declares the year 1900 to be the new standard of the "Gatesian" calendar. 5. Jesus shows up late for His second coming, blames it on COBOL programmers. 4. Computers temporarily fooled into thinking Strom Thurmond is only 103. 3. First Top 5 List of the year? "Reasons No One Would Ever Assassinate President McKinley" 2. Using a computerized adoption service, Michael Jackson mistakenly takes home some octogenarians. and the Number 1 Unforeseen Consequence of the "Millennium Bug"... 1. Unexpected demand for COBOL programmers results in severe understaffing of fast-food restaurants. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monty Python alumnus John Cleese was recently asked why England is superior to America. He gave the following three reasons: 1. Because English people can speak English. 2. Because when England hosts a world championship in sports, they actually invite other countries to compete. 3. Because when you are introduced to the British head of state, you only have to go down on one knee. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEAVEN-Turmoil rocked Heaven this morning as allegations arose that God had had an affair with a former worshipper. The scandal was begun when a 21 year-old woman, known only as Mary, claimed that she had given birth to God's "only son" last week in a barn in the hamlet of Bethlehem. Sources close to Mary claim that she "had loved God for a long time," that she was "thrilled to have had his child." In a press conference this morning, God issued a vehement denial, saying that "No sexual relationship existed," and that "the facts of this story will come out in time, verily." Independent counsel Kenneth Beelzebub immediately filed a brief with the Justice department to expand his investigation to cover questions of whether any commandments may have been broken, and whether God had illegally funneled laundered money to his illegitimate child through three foreign operatives know only as the Wise Men. Beelzebub has issued subpoenas to several angels who are rumored to have acted as go-betweens in the affair. Critics have pointed out that these allegations have little to do with the charges that Beelzebub was originally appointed to investigate, that God had created large-scale flooding in order to cover up evidence of a failed land deal. In recent months, Beelzebub's investigation has already been expanded to cover questions surrounding the large number of locusts that plagued God's political opponents in the last election, as well as to claims that the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorra was to divert attention away from a scandal involving whether the giveaway of a parcel of public land in Promised County to a Jewish special interest group was quid pro quo for political contributions. If these allegations prove to be true, then this could be a huge blow to God's career, much of which has been spent crusading for stricter moral standards and harsher punishments for wrongdoers. Indeed, God recently outlined a "tough-on-crime" plan consisting of a series of 10 "Commandments," which has been introduced in Congress in a bill by Rep. Moses. Critics of the bill have pointed out that it lacks any provisions for the rehabilitation of criminals, and lawyers for the ACLU are planning to fight the "Name in Vain" Commandment as being an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley walked into the White House for the first day of her internship and was greeted by the President. After a tour, he asked, "Would you like to see the Presidential Clock?" Ashley got suspicious and said, "I've heard certain things about you, Mr. President, and don't think that would be a smart idea." "Nonsense," said the President. "It's just a clock." Ashley reluctantly agreed. The President led her to an empty Oval Office, closed the door, dropped his pants and pulled it out. In a reproving tone, Ashley said, "That's not the Presidential Clock; it's the Presidential Cock." The President responded, "Ashley, honey, put a face and two hands on it, and it's a clock." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A priest decides to take a walk to the pier near his church in Italy. He looks around and finally stops to watch a fisherman load his boat. The fisherman notices and asks the priest if he'd like to join him for a couple of hours. The priest agrees. The fisherman asks if the priest has ever fished before, to which the priest answers no. He baits the hook and says, "Give it a shot, Father." After a few minutes, the priest hooks a big fish and struggles to get it in the boat. The fisherman says, "Whoa, look at that big sonofabitch!" Priest: "Uh, sir, can you please mind your language?" Fisherman: (THINKING QUICKLY): "Im sorry, Father, but that's what the fish is called- a sonofabitch." Priest: "Oh, Im sorry, I did not know." After the trip, the priest brings the fish to the church and stops the Bishop. Priest: "Look at this big sonofabitch!" Bishop: "Please, mind your language, this is a house of God." Priest: "No, you don't understand-thats what the fish is called, and I caught it. I caught this sonofabitch!" Bishop: "Hmmm...you know, I could clean this sonofabitch and we could have it for dinner." So the Bishop takes the fish, cleans it and takes it to the Mother Superior. Bishop: "Could you cook this sonofabitch for dinner tonight?" Mother Superior: "My lord, what langauge!" Bishop: "No, Sister, thats what this fish is called, a sonofabitch! Father caught it, I cleaned it, and we want you to cook it." Mother Superior: "Yes, I'll cook that sonofabitch tonight." That night the Pope stops by for dinner. He thinks the fish is great, and he asks where they got it. Priest: "I caught the sonofabitch." Bishop: "And I cleaned the sonofabitch." Mother Superior: "And I cooked the sonofabitch." The Pope stares at them for a minute with a steely gaze, takes off his hat, leans back in his chair, puts his feet up on the table and says, "You know, you fuckers are alright." *********************************************** (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) ***********************************************