Some of What We Left Behind

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Someone posted this to the T-368 list, figured it might be of interested to folks here:

http://www.vk2bv.org/gallery/vietnam-radios

The big Gates, Halli 2000, and Hammarlund aren't normally associated with this conflict.

[k4kyv]

The Gates probably served for Armed Forces Radio Service broadcasts, for propaganda warfare tactics, or for both.

Remember the film, "Good Morning Vietnam"?

The Hallicrafters and Hammarlunds could have been used for amateur radio or MARS.  A lot of health/welfare traffic was exchanged with the help of hams from over there during the conflict.

Those receivers could have been used to pick up AFRS broadcasts on HF, which were then relayed to listeners via MW (the Gates perhaps?).  This was back in the stone-age before widespread satellite coverage, and live news and sports broadcasts on AFRS would be piped to the local audience this way.  They would announce on the local station that an upcoming ball game would be broadcast play-by-play, shortwave reception permitting. But with all the R-390As available, I can't imagine why they would have used a crappy Hammarlund or Hallicrafters civilian receiver for this job.

[ke7trp]

Thats really neat. Thanks for posting.  I was on my T3 last night on 160. 

C

[W2PFY]

a friend of mine was over there and they used a BC-610 as a BC transmitter. For some reason, they could only broadcast above 1000 kc. He said every few days they would have to adjust the osc to keep it on frequency. I think there was a thread on this board a few years back about this very same subject.

[W3GMS]

I spent 6 years working with most of that gear.  When I got out, I was offered a T-3 for $100.00 and turned it down.  I was at the time sick to death of it.  Later I changed my tune and ended up buying one for $750.00.  All the Army Mars stations that I saw used S line gear. We use to clean them with very hot water from the coffee machine without the coffee of coarse.   

Joe, W3GMS 

[N0WEK]

The Gates looks like my BC1J with the addition of an extra panel in the lower left of the RF section.

[ke7trp]

The T3 is a beast.  Very reliable but really lacks modulator power as many of you know. It wont do 100% unless outboard audio is used right into the second stage. Then, I can get it to 100%.  I was on mine last night and the old girl would reach about 75% with the Carbon mic or low level D104. 

C

[flintstone mop]

When I was there in the lovely city of Qui Nhon, 300 mi N of Saigon, we had a beautiful 10KW directional AM on 770khz. They were directional to protect the clear channel status of WABC. Brand new Gates unit. Many nights they would 'go live' and take requests, playing oldies. AFVN wasn't too happy when a local station  would break away from the really yellowyyy AFVN audio. As, Don mentioned, it was relayed throughout Viet Nam via the tropo-scatter and microwave network.
We also had a black and white 40kw ERP TV station on Vung Chua mountain, my home for 10 lovely months. They played old re-run TV shows that were on 16MM film. They used a standard film chain to get the film to the TV transmitter. The news was live, getting feeds from the official AFVN TV. The TV content was not relayed around the country.

And Clark, the T3 will make broadcast audio and get passed the lowly lack of modulation by doing WA1HLR, Timtron's mods. Even with the 4-250 mod pubes.
Fred

[ke7trp]

Yes. I have the stock 4-125s.  I got really good sound out of it by running the audio rack in and doing some mods.  I dont want to hack it up however, It happens to be a very clean, original unit with a repaint. 

C

[W3RSW]

hard to believe it's been so many years ago.  I wonder if the insides have stayed in same condition as outsides in all that humidity.

[k4kyv]

a friend of mine was over there and they used a BC-610 as a BC transmitter. For some reason, they could only broadcast above 1000 kc. He said every few days they would have to adjust the osc to keep it on frequency.

Probably because the lowest frequency coil set for the BC-610 goes down to 1000 kc.  That same coil will cover 160 without the plug-in fixed vacuum padder. I modified one of those coils to build the 160m grid coil for the HF-300 rig.

[W8VG]

Way Cool!

Lots of goodies there.  Also recognized some old friends.....GRC-106 in addition to the PRC--25/77 series.  My father-in-law, retired from Sig Corps in 1967, once told me that they used BC-610's well into 50s and 60s for fixed duty.  So would imagine all that stuff had a use one way or the other.   

Just sorry those all got left behind.

As for T-3's, just love em.  Mine is C model (55 AVCO Crosley) on wheels against the back of the furnace in VA.  Ain't much of a looker--but electrically is built like a battleship.  Agree with all.  Doesn't take too much to make em sound nice.  Recommend Tim Tron mod and external audio.  Modified speech amp helps--makes great sound.   

Am apartment bound and miss not having the old beast out here.  But really enjoying being SWL again--very nice west coast activity on 3870 and hear occasional sigs on 3885.  Missing the old crew on 7290/5.  Hopefully T3 will survive the trip from VA this summer when basement junkyard heads west with rest of family and I find a real qth!  Nothing like movin! Three moves is equal to a fire! 

Geo, W8VG/6
RPV, CA formerly Stafford VA

[Steve - K4HX]

They didn't show the most important things we left behind.

[W8VG]

That's for sure.

[flintstone mop]

Is anyone really knowledgeable about what technology was left behind??
When I left there were Page Communications sites sprouting up all over Viet Nam. These were replacing the tactical microwave and VHF and Tropo-Scatter.
These were the high dollar comm sites with the huge billboard antennas.

The tactical stuff was beat to death from the 60's and 70's. The long-haul HF links were going off line throughout Europe and getting updated to newer technology.
When I was deployed to Nam from Monmouth, they were using microwave and tropo-scatter, not the HF SSB links we were teaching at Ft Monmouth. It was RE-learning the entire shootin match. We never taught how to read audio levels from a patch bay, bridging, terminating, ring-down freqs. for voice telephone circuits. Whenever new circuits were installed, there was a team, from somewhere, that would wire them onto the punch blocks and add atten. if needed and then we would come on shift, usually midnights, to troubleshoot/activate the circuits.
It was an interesting time in my life
Fred

[k4kyv]

I hid out for the duration of the war, in Ethiopia.  There was a STRATCOM site nearby that relayed a lot of traffic from 'Nam to CONUS via HF. I once visited the site and salivated at some the antennas and equipment. The monitoring station had acres of rhombics supported by 120' 4-sided steel lattice towers. Down Town there were radio junk yards, like car junk yards in the US, with stuff piled up to be salvaged for scrap metal, and sold by the locals by the kg @ a few pennies.  It was bone dry 10 months out of the year, with at most a total of a couple months of rainy season, so radio "junk" would sit out in the open for several years before sustaining extensive damage from the elements.  Unfortunately, I had to leave some nice modulation transformers because they would have been too costly to ship back to the states, but I did ship back about a dozen foot-locker size boxes full of lighter weight stuff.  One thing I regret leaving behind were four 900/900 pf Cardwell split stator variables, made of solid brass, that I thought would have been too heavy and expensive to ship, and I have regularly kicked myself ever since. I could certainly use some of those caps now for my antenna tuner project. I did hand-carry a large box full of 833As and 250THs back home with me on the plane, and that proved to be quite an adventure in 1970.  I could only imagine what it would have been like these days.

[W8VG]

Was before my time but suspect that most of what still there in 75 got left in place.     

In early 80's I had good fortune to meet Army CW4 who was part of a hand-picked team that went into MACV in 1975.  I suspect they were literally the last out.  The guy was a legend in his field.  He was stationed in Germany at the time--was senior crypto officer for US Army Europe.  Had pics on walls in his office showing MACV as the choppers were heading up.  There was so much thermite burning in that building that the metal roof was sagging from heat.