Chinese Type 102E HF Radio Set

 Radio Room  10 Responses »
May 032006
 
Chinese Type 102E HF Radio Set

I bought this Chinese HF transmitter/receiver set from seller redstarradio on eBay back around March, 2005. It came as a complete new set including the manuals, spares, tools, test equipment, etc. that would normally be issued with the set, all in original packaging. It was a lot of fun to unpack a brand new complete radio set in pristine condition! The historian in me felt bad about destroying the original packaging, but I just had to play with the radio! I compromised by carefully photographing everything as I unpacked it, paying special attention to packaging methods and markings.

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Radar Set AN/PPS-6

 Quartermaster, Radio Room  7 Responses »
May 022006
 
Radar Set AN/PPS-6

Radar Set AN/PPS-6 is a lightweight non-coherent pulse Doppler combat surveillance radar operating in the X band between 9.0-9.5 GHz. When set up on its tripod, it allows the operator to detect moving objects at ranges of up to 1,500 meters (people) or 3000 meters (vehicles). The operator can measure the target range with a resolution of 50 meters. Transmitted RF power is generated by a magnetron tube, and the receiver local oscillator uses a klystron tube. It transmits pulses at a rate of about 2,000 pulses per second with a peak power of at least 100W and a width of 0.22-0.30 microseconds. An azimuth motor allows automatic scanning, and the motor may be disengaged for manual aiming. There is no display screen; the operator listens for the returned Doppler-shifted tone in the headphones, and reads out range on a mechanical counter after dialing in the range gate with a hand crank. The antenna is a 12 inch diameter truncated parabolic dish. The set operates either from an internal 12V silver-zinc rechargeable battery or an external 12VDC source.

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S-448 Communications Shelter

 Motor Pool, Radio Room  1 Response »
Nov 232005
 
S-448 Communications Shelter

I bought this S-448 communications shelter on 11/22/2005 from another military radio and vehicle collector. I plan to use it as my primary radio room at home. It originally housed a Collins AN/TSC-60(V)1 “Communication Central” set. The interior was completely stripped of equipment when the previous owner bought it, and he installed some equipment racks, desks, drawers, etc. He also re-wired it to run from single-phase power instead of three-phase power. The shelter would have originally had a panel on the right side of the door with a whole bunch of connectors and binding posts, but that has been replaced by a blank metal panel. If I need to add any external electrical connections, that would be the obvious place to do it. Some of the ventilation panels leak, but they look like they’ll be fairly easy to repair. Overall, the shelter is in good shape, and it’ll make a really nice radio shack.

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2005 MRCG Field Exercise

 Radio Room  Comments Off on 2005 MRCG Field Exercise
Nov 072005
 
2005 MRCG Field Exercise

Here are some pictures that I took at my team’s site during the 2005 Military Radio Collector’s Group Field Exercise, on November 5, 2005 near Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California. Bill Feldman N6PY and I set up in a parking lot at Friendship Park, with a nice view overlooking the ocean. We fielded a BC-1306 HF backpack transceiver, a BC-659 10m FM transceiver, and my Chinese Type 102E HF transceiver.

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SCR-515 (Army) or ABA (Navy) IFF Transceiver

 Radio Room  21 Responses »
Mar 242005
 
SCR-515 (Army) or ABA (Navy) IFF Transceiver

PE-101-C Dynamotor

I bought this PE-101-C dynamotor through eBay in March of 2005, with plans to add it to my junk pile for potential use as a power supply for some future homebrew project. It appears to be unused WW-II surplus. It turned out to be interesting enough that I’d rather use it as part of a proper restoration of the radio system that it belonged to.

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M52A2 5-Ton 6×6 Tractor

 Motor Pool  Comments Off on M52A2 5-Ton 6×6 Tractor
Jun 072003
 
M52A2 5-Ton 6x6 Tractor

This truck is a 19?? (dataplate missing) Kaiser-Jeep 5-ton 6×6 tractor. I won it in a goverment surplus auction, and picked it up on June 7, 2003 from March Air Reserve Base. I ended up selling it a few months later. It was a neat truck, but it was really uncomfortable to drive on a rough dirt road without a trailer, due to the very stiff rear leaf springs. I’m sure I would have fixed that by adding a trailer if I had kept the truck.

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M561 1.25-Ton 6×6 Gama Goat

 Motor Pool  17 Responses »
Jun 172001
 
M561 1.25-Ton 6x6 Gama Goat

This is my fifth ex-military truck. It’s a 1970 Consolidated Diesel Electric Company M561 1.25-Ton 6×6 Gama Goat. I found it on Ebay. It has 6-wheel drive, an articulated chassis (i.e., the part that looks like a trailer rolls and pitches, but does not yaw from side to side like a regular trailer), 4-wheel steering (the rear axle steers in the opposite direction of the front axle, at half the rate), and it is amphibious. It has a Detroit Diesel 3-cylinder 2-stroke diesel engine, and a 4-speed manual transmission with synchromesh on second, third and fourth gears. The part that looks like a trailer is an integral part of the truck, with a driveshaft, steering linkage, etc. passing through the pivot point.

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M44-Series 2.5-Ton 6×6 Truck Brake Vent Modification

 Motor Pool  Comments Off on M44-Series 2.5-Ton 6×6 Truck Brake Vent Modification
Mar 182001
 
M44-Series 2.5-Ton 6x6 Truck Brake Vent Modification

This page contains excerpts from PS Magazine (a monthly magazine published by the US Government for Army personnel involved in maintenance) which describe how to perform a necessary brake vent modification on M44-series 2.5-ton 6×6 trucks such as the M35 cargo trucks or my M109A3 shop van. I used to have a couple of pages with many PS Magazine excerpts with 2.5-ton and HMMWV tips, but they are no longer necessary now that you can download individual articles from 1988 on at the PS Magazine web site. I kept these particular excerpts here because the vent line modification was published in 1983, and is not yet available on the PS Magazine web site. It’s a very good idea to check the PS Magazine index for other articles which may apply to your truck. For example, there’s an article in issue 542 (January, 1998) which describes a necessary brake light switch modification which replaces the old hydraulic pressure actuated switch, which could blow out and leave you rolling without brakes!

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2000 MRCG Meeting Highlights

 Crypto Room, Motor Pool, Radio Room, Spy HQ  2 Responses »
May 082000
 
2000 MRCG Meeting Highlights

Once again, the annual meeting of the Military Radio Collector’s Group was held at the Camp San Luis Obispo NCO’s club. The meeting was held on Friday, May 5 and Saturday, May 6, 2000. Friday was mostly dedicated to informal activities and display setup, along with some radio operating events and several really fun hidden transmitter hunts using 6m FM military radio gear. Cam Ogan, WA6VVC provided a fancy little hidden transmitter for us to find, and I bet it was funny to watch all of us guys running around with big, green radios and “rug-beater” direction-finding loop antennas! The swap meet, formal presentations, and David Ragsdale’s great barbecue were on Saturday. Unfortunately, I had to cut my visit short due to some engine trouble with my HMMWV, so I missed most of the fun on Saturday this year.

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M44-Series Truck Parts Cross-Reference

 Motor Pool  12 Responses »
Dec 031999
 
M44-Series Truck Parts Cross-Reference

This page lists cross-reference data for some of the common expendable supplies and replacement parts used by the M44-series 2.5-ton 6×6 trucks with LD-465-* and LDT-465-* multifuel engines, such as the M35A2 cargo truck and the M109A3 shop van. This data may not be applicable to trucks with other engines (such as the OA-331 gasoline or LDS-427-* multifuel engines). I will update it occasionally as I find more information. Please comment if you find any errors, or if you can provide any more information.

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M44-Series 2.5-Ton 6×6 Trucks

 Motor Pool  Comments Off on M44-Series 2.5-Ton 6×6 Trucks
Nov 241999
 
M44-Series 2.5-Ton 6x6 Trucks

This page contains pictures of various M44-series 2.5-ton 6×6 trucks. This is one of the families of trucks commonly called “deuce-and-a-half” trucks, due to the 2.5-ton off-road cargo capacity of the basic cargo configuration. They are also commonly called “multifuel” trucks, because all but the earliest versions were made with multifuel diesel engines. The M44 series includes the following trucks (most of these trucks were made in several versions; for example, the M35 was also made in later versions called M35A1 and M35A2):

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TM 11-2300-353-15-2: Instructions for Installing Radio Set AN/VRC-12 Installation Unit in Truck, 2 1/2-Ton, 6×6, M34, M35, M135 and M211

 Motor Pool  Comments Off on TM 11-2300-353-15-2: Instructions for Installing Radio Set AN/VRC-12 Installation Unit in Truck, 2 1/2-Ton, 6×6, M34, M35, M135 and M211
Sep 071999
 
TM 11-2300-353-15-2: Instructions for Installing Radio Set AN/VRC-12 Installation Unit in Truck, 2 1/2-Ton, 6x6, M34, M35, M135 and M211

This page contains links to scanned images of a 1966 installation manual which describes the “correct” way to install radio set AN/VRC-12 in 2.5-ton 6×6 trucks. Each page was scanned at 150 DPI and saved as a GIF image. This is the complete manual; the original was unbound, and consisted of two double-sided sheets followed by five foldouts, 3-hole punched and stapled together without any cover. The scans were performed by Buzz KD7BZ, and then I touched them up and spliced together the foldouts. Buzz’s scans looked better before I converted them to 2-color images to make the files smaller… :-)

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