AS-390/SRC antenna

[Opcom]

This AS-390/SRC antenna was given to me. All I did was ask about it and it was "go ahead and take it, I don't know where it even came from". It's a 220-400MC shipboard-type antenna.

Has anyone had experience with this model?

It looks like it came from being outdoors for 40 years. The inside of the lower section seems pretty clean, but I can only see through the 3/8" drain plug hole. The inside of the top is a bit oxidized, but surface only. The base plate and radials are steel. The top section, the cylindrical part, is aluminum and has its own aluminum base that bolts to the steel ground plane part.

A friend has a sandblaster and I thought to take it apart and clean it up and give it a much needed coat of some good paint like an epoxy. The center insulator seems in good condition. Maybe it's nylon or something. Partway up the tower would be a great place for it.

So I had in mind either using it as a receiving antenna for the military air band or perhaps converting it for 70cm. Maybe no conversion is necessary, seeing as the unit's advertised VSWR is => 1.7 to 2 over its 220-400 range it might work OK. I don't have handy an antenna analyzer to cover above 170Mhz, only the MFJ-259.

Here are some pictures and as best a drawing as I could make of the insides, seeing I have to locate a 1" socket to see if that big bolt comes out. I hope it comes apart like that. I see no other way it would come apart.

(p.s. for some reason on my computer I can only add one attachment per post)

[Opcom]

cylinder. The two screws hold a clamp on the inside for a transmission line section.

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inside the top -the 1" bolt

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drawing of insides

[KA3EKH]

I have a NOS one that was never put in service, although its just the antenna and not the ground plane. I have a AN/URC-110 VHF/UHF transceiver in the mutt and I have a VHF antenna for it was thinking of installing that for listening to military band aircraft traffic. The radio has separate inputs for the VHF and UHF antenna. The issue is that I know that much if not all military traffic has shifted from AM to Digital so don’t know if it’s worth the trouble to figure out how to install the antenna.
The mutt has antennas for HF, low band VHF and high band VHF but nothing for UHF at this time and finding room to install the antenna would be the issue.

[W7TFO]

Commercial airline radio traffic is still on open 3-meter AM, just above broadcast FM.

Plenty to hear if you're near an airport.

Mostly boring, but a tidbit now and then.

73DG

[KA3EKH]

Have some pictures and information up on a web page about the mutt and the show last year over at the airport in Hagerstown Maryland, do a couple shows a year that are at airports and use the URC-110 for listening to local aircraft traffic at the shows. We do get some military traffic that comes out for the show and was going to set up a channel for monitoring that along with the civil traffic. Use that radio more for listening to aircraft then Ham stuff although I have used it on several occasions to run VHF AM on 144.250 up at Redball in Gilbert at the MRCA show.
Lots of the military collectors like to play around with assorted old survival radios like the URC-4 on 144.25 AM Other old military radios that do VHF AM include all the old aircraft stuff like the ARC-3 and ARC-74 and then there are sets like the MXF-707 FAC radio that covers the Ham band with VHF AM. The URC-110, 104 and 101 along with the URC-200 do both AM and FM

http://staff.salisbury.edu/~rafantini/Hagerstown.htm

[Opcom]

Very nice looking vehicle and radios! Impressive indeed!

I have always loved the GRC-106. I used to buy basket cases and fix them up. That's a great radio set even if it does sound like  vacuum cleaner inside a tornado (soneone els'es statement but I agree). I was working on a mod to vary the external blower speed with heat exchanger temp, but sold the 106s I had.

Diesel dirt bike!
https://staff.salisbury.edu/~rafantini/2021pics/Hagerstown21/IMG_0683.JPG
Was it for sale, and how much?
My dirt bike days are over but I like it anyway.

Some years ago I bought an FA-8191 VHF and FA-8190 UHF AM Tranceivers. Civilian, if the FAA can be called so.. But they are 20W carrier, very nice little powerhouses. Have great receivers too. I don't have the microphones to complete the collection, would like but don't really need them for obvious reasons.  some pics of the FAA radios:
https://bunkerofdoom.com/kd5oei/uv/index.html

[Opcom]

I have a NOS one that was never put in service, although its just the antenna and not the ground plane. I have a AN/URC-110 VHF/UHF transceiver in the mutt and I have a VHF antenna for it was thinking of installing that for listening to military band aircraft traffic. The radio has separate inputs for the VHF and UHF antenna. The issue is that I know that much if not all military traffic has shifted from AM to Digital so don’t know if it’s worth the trouble to figure out how to install the antenna.
The mutt has antennas for HF, low band VHF and high band VHF but nothing for UHF at this time and finding room to install the antenna would be the issue.

If you want a complete dimensional drawing to help you judge now to fashon the base/ground plane, let me know, I found a data sheet on the web, don't recall where, but one page has the specs.