Military Communications Gear Listing from 1953:

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Greetings All,
                   I stumbled across something on the internet I thought may be of interest to members of our group. It's a listing of US Military comm gear from 1953, that gives a picture and two page description of each piece of gear. It covers everything that was available up until that time from a "Angry-9" to a "BC-610", "BC-375", and just about everything in between. Although it's not a manual for each piece of comm gear represented, it's kind of like what a two page advertisement would look like of the US Military were trying to sell the stuff. It's just a super site, with "dope" on just about any piece of mil comm gear up to 1953, that one could imagine.
 
It's definitely worth a look. Please find the link below and plan on spending some time crusing the site.. Each piece of gear loads up in a 2 page document in the "PDF" format. The author of the site spent a lot of time uploading the information and deserves a lot of credit for it.
 
Enjoy!
         Joe Cro N3IBX
 
http://jptronics.org/radios/Military/JANAP161/index.html

[KA8WTK]

Neat site Joe. Thanks!

[W3GMS]

Joe,
Great site.  Check out the BC-339 and the TBK-1.  Both were movee downstairs and are located here at GMS Radio....We knew they were heavy, but not until I looked at the site did I really realize how heavy they are!  Gravity helped us!  Bert, JYU can elaborate as well!
Joe GMS   

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Joe,
Great site.  Check out the BC-339 and the TBK-1.  Both were movee downstairs and are located here at GMS Radio....We knew they were heavy, but not until I looked at the site did I really realize how heavy they are!  Gravity helped us!  Bert, JYU can elaborate as well!
Joe GMS   

Joe,
     Your TBK weighs 2176 lbs. That's 176 pounds the other side of one ton! How did you manage to get it down into your basement shack? Regardless, what a transmitter to behold!

I can't wait to hear Bert, JYU's story on how you'ins moved it. When there's a will (make that large transmitter) there's a way!

Was that the one I saw in your garage? It reminded me of a BC-325. Verykewl indeed!

I can't wait to hear both of them on the air. Do you have a modulator for the TBK or plans to build one?

Best Regards,
                 Joe Cro N3IBX

[W3GMS]

Joe,
The BC339 is still in the garage.  That rig belonged to Glenn, K3TKF who was a regular on 75 meters back in the 60's.  I had no idea of whose transmitter that was until I went over to his ham shack after he became a silent key.  I got the lead on the transmitter from Gizel who owned Amateur and Advance Communication.  She said a friend passed away and she mentioned he had a lot of old stuff and a big transmitter that I may be interested in.  When I arrived and found out who's QTH it was it was really something that here I worked this guy all the time in the late 60's.  I found my call all over his call books over the years!  Talk about a small world.  The TBK1 is strickly for CW and I will have to use my old modulator which is a pair of 833's.  In fact Glenn's old BC339 is CW only but I have his modulator he used with it.  It was push pull 805's.   
When you come down you will see all the stuff...btw I worked last Thursday on the cement foundation for the utility bldg foundation so we are getting closer to that project coming to completion.  Then comes the utility building clean out and I will give you plently of advance notice so you can come down.
Regards,
joe GMS   

[WQ9E]

Joe,

Thanks for posting this resource!  There is a lot of interesting stuff on there I have never seen before.  Now I find myself wanting an RBS (or -1 or -2) since those are my initials.  Thanks for adding another to my searching for list....

Rodger WQ9E

[k4kyv]

When I was in Ethiopia I found about 5 BC-339's in a radio junkyard.  I was able to pull out the 833A's, tuning  capacitors, meters and other small lightweight parts, pressing metric tools into service to disassemble the hardware.  I had to leave much of the good stuff behind because shipping cost would have been prohibitive.

I wish I had ripped out the lead-sheathed HV cable.  It is about #14 solid tinned copper with about 1/2" solid rubber insulation, covered with cloth fabric, and the whole thing is enclosed in lead conduit.  Also, the buzzardly pilot light jewels are very nice.  They go with 15w incandescent lamps.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the power supply is 3-phase.  The power xfmr is about a 300-lb monstrosity, and the filter choke and filter caps are on the anaemic side as would be expected with 3-phase.  But I was able to scarf up on the rectifier tubes.  IIRC, each transmitter had about a half  dozen 872A's/4B32's.  I ended up with a bushel basket full.  I still use them in my transmitters.

I shipped everything back to the US except for nine 833A's, which I very protectively hand-carried in a cardboard box on the plane all the way from Addis Ababa, through Athens, London and NYC to Nashville. That raised some eyebrows back in 1970.  Imagine the hassle they would have caused to-day.  Interestingly, I had no trouble getting them through customs, and the inspectors just asked me to open one of the box flaps so they could see what was really inside.  In those days, they still had lockers in airports, which made it easier to manage during layovers.

Something that would really trigger an over reaction to-day was that some of the 833A's have the little 3-triangle radiation hazard logo etched on the glass envelope.

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Don, K4KYV: Good posting about the BC-339 and the 833A's you brought back from Ethiopia in 1970. Yes, it was an ordeal getting them through the check points back then, but I can well imagine what it would be like doing the same thing today? One may not have been so fortunate to doso.

Unfortunately, what scares me the most is the ignorance some people would have toward "hollow state" technology, and not understand what was a vacuum tube from a broadcast transmitter. They might think it's a part to a "dirty" nuke or something. Ignorance is NOT bliss, my friend!

Joe, W3GMS: If and when you fire up your BC-339, you may encounter "issues" as Don mentioned with the three phase plate iron and substandard filter reactor chokes. No promises, but I may have single phase 110V AC iron you may be able to sub for it. I've been stashing various pieces of "mega-tonnage" plate iron, reactor chokes, etc that are so damn heavy, I can no longer lift them to move them around. They were put in storage when I was younger and a bit stronger. That wouldn't stop a couple of OB's like us to put them on a handcart and wheel them out to your truck!

FB on the projects you've been working on outside. I'm still "chompin at the bit" waiting for you know what!

Best Regards and remember: "The bigger it is, and more it weighs, the better it will will work"!

Joe Cro N3IBX