Vintage and Military Radio IAIN MOFFAT G 0

Vintage and Military Radio IAIN MOFFAT G 0 OZS Draft A Prepared for the Leiston Radio Club – 13 th March 2018

What is Vintage Radio ? • Cars are considered vintage from before 1930 and Classic if more than 30 years old. • Radios seem to be treated as vintage if they have valves or germanium transistors in. • Most people would agree that pre-1970 sets are definitely vintage. • Increasingly the first generation of “Japanese Black Boxes” are considered vintage or at least classics. • Because the military required huge numbers of sets and kept them for a long time with spares and manuals they have survived better than most.

Generations of Radios • Spark Era – 1880 s to 1915 – all wood and brass • Early Valves – 1915 to 1930 s – wooden breadboards • 1930 s – Octal valves, metal chassis • WW 2 – miniature and subminiature valves • 1950 s – subminiature valves, early semiconductors • 1960 s-70 s – printed circuits, transistors, early ICs • 1980 s to date – modern electronics !

UK Radio Industry Family Tree

Post WW 2 Military Radio Time Line DECADE 1940 s 1950 s 1960 s 1970 s 1980 s 2000 s 2010 s CLANS MAN +BID BOWMAN FALCON III JTRS (SDR) UK WS 8/28/68 WS 19 WS C 12 WS 88 + ex WW 2 LARKSPUR CLANS MAN USA BC 611 etc PRC 6 VRC 8/9/10 PRC 25 VRC 12 PRC 77 KY 57 VRC 12 FALCON I SINCGARS KY 57 FALCON II SINCGARS ICOM France BC 611 etc PRC 6 VRC 8/9/10 TR-PP-13 TR-VM-10 Thomson Jaguar Analogue FM/AM Analogue Synth. Analogue AM/CW Digital Synth FM/SSB. Fixed Freq + Crypto Analogue FM/SSB Hopping + Crypto True SDR

Military Vs Amateur Requirements AMATEUR MILITARY Free Tuning on HF Skeds and Nets only DF is Fun DF is a hazard No secret codes Security matters Fixed bands No band limits Optimised Antennas Wideband Antennas Permanent (Trans)portable Rotatable Mostly Omnidirectional Pre-Tuned Broadband Weak DX wanted Solid Copy Wanted 12 V supply 24 V supply Skilled operators As little training as possible !

Military Radio Design Objectives Fixed frequency channelised operation Suitable for unskilled VHF operators Simple tuning on HF Compatible with RTTY/Data terminals Usable with secure speech terminals Electrically & Mechanically indestructible Easy to use without artificial lights Fully interchangeable audio accessories Standard military power supplies

Clansman operating differences Preset tuning with decade switches 100 Hz steps on HF No free tuning – better to call CQ, use 2 nd RX or make skeds 25 KHz steps on VHF (so only 100 KHz channels usable on 6 m) Dials indicate centre frequency – so +2 KHz of carrier on HF SSB Dials have end stops (so can set frequency and mode in the dark) USB only on HF and FM only on VHF 150 Hz CTCSS on VHF Heard as severe hum on older Ham receivers without CTCSS Most Clansman receivers need 150 Hz or S 9 carrier to open Can be adjusted to interwork with Amateur sets at cost of rebroadcast Slow AGC recovery Sets can have 2 nd CIO added easily and cheaply for LSB HF sets can seem deaf in presence of intermittent QRM ATU provided with HF and VHF fixed/mobile Auto ATU on VHF and Manual ATU on HF

The Clansman Radios RT 320 – HF manpack 30 W AM/USB/CW RT 321 – HF Mobile/Fixed 40 W AM/USB/CW RT 322 – RT 321 with 250 W Valve Linear and Tuner RT 349 – 36 -46 MHz FM handheld 250 mw RT 350 – 30 -56 MHz lightweight backpack 2 W RT 351 – 30 -76 MHz backpack 4 W RT 351 M – 30 -76 MHz backpack with wide audio RT 352 – RT 351 with 25 W FM only amplifier RT 353 - 30 -80 MHz Mobile/Fixed 50 W FM & Data

RT 349 VHF FM Portable No amateur bands 36 -46 MHz by 25 KHz steps Very low power 250 mw 12 V Ni. Cad or 10 x. AA cells A good paperweight. . .

RT 350 VHF FM Portable Lighter than 351/2 More power than 349 30 -56 MHz by 25 KHz steps Only covers 6 m band 2 Watts Output Micro-BNC connector Unique 14 V Battery Can also use C-Cells but cases are unreliable

RT 351, RT 351 M and 352 VHF FM Manpacks 4 M and 6 M coverage 25 KHz steps only FM only Remote operation 3 KM range using D 10 pair Use 2 as x-band repeater 351 M has 8 KHz audio 352 sets 20 -30 W output Ni. Cd batteries only Extension cables can be adapted. . .

RT 353 VHF Fixed/Mobile Hybrid Valve/IC design Motorised Tuning 4 m and 6 m bands FM wide & Narrow 25 KHz steps FM & 16 KHz data 0. 5 to 50 W output 24 V 12 A supply Fan Cooled – LOUD !

RT 320 HF Manpack CW/AM/SSB Man-Portable HF Radio 2 -30 MHz 30 W or 5 W AM, CW & USB Builtin ATU Optimised for end fed antennas BNC output not tuned Works well with 321 25 W ATU for coax fed antennas Very sensitive RX Single Conversion 1. 75 MHz IF

RT 321 HF Mobile SSB/AM/CW HF Fixed/Mobile 5 or 40 W from 1. 5 -30 MHz CW, AM, USB Uses external manual ATU “TURF 25 W” Prefers ¼ wave and electrically short antenna Dual Conversion 1. 75 MHz final IF and Variable 1 st IF at 37 and 43 MHz Digital synthesiser with Varicap Tuning Internal mechanical preselector 5 s tuning delay on 1 KHz and larger steps Easily disabled for steps up to 100 KHz Optional external BPF “SURF 25 W” Silent – no fans ! 35 KG with SURF and TURF 24 V @ 10 A on TX, 3 A RX Optional 250 W PA makes station UK/VRC-322

RT 322 Adds RF Amp 250 W and TURF 250 W to RT 321 driver Manually tuned TURF-250 W is a very good ATU Coax or end fed antennas Air cooled VERY loud Single Valve tetrode PA 300 W output on 80 M Requires 24 V @ 50 A !!

Antennas Use BNC and C connectors C-Type is N-sized BNC Hard to get but adapters exist Whip Antennas Use 2 x 1 M with TUUAM auto-atu for VHF Use 3 x 1 m or 4 x 1 m at the halt for HF HF Dipoles Centres are not BALUNs Coiled wires act as end loading VHF ground spike VHF Pineapple End fed ½ wave - add elements to tune Wideband 30 -80 MHz sleeve dipole “Washing Line” Properly “Ground Mounted Monopole” Is really a Ground Mounted Discone Inverted V Is really an end fed ½ Rhombic

Batteries The 351, 319 and 320 can use: • 24 V 1 AH Ni-Cad • 24 V 4 AH Ni-Cad – standard manpack battery • 24 V 16 AH Li. SO 2 – Long patrol non-rechargeable - used with hand generator The 321 and 353 used • 110 AH signals batteries in vehicles • or the 50 A PSU in fixed locations.

Chargers DCCU 14 V and 24 V versions Charge 24 V batteries ACCU Can power slow charger plates for 349 & 350 batteries Charge 16 x 24 V 4 AH IBMS Microprocessor Controlled Charge Anything ! Hand Generator Used with 1 AH battery

Audio Standard 7 pin plug 600 ohm balanced in Ground PTT to TX 60 ohm output Separate L & R earpiece connections Morse key operates PTT Headsets, Handsets and Speaker/Mic available Handset includes PTT Headset uses separate inline PTTbox Single ear PTT/Mic/Speaker with built in PTT 2 wire remote interface used for Remote Handset/PTT Remote Combining unit and standard headset RTTY Modem

Foreign Counterparts • RT-349 • RT-320 • German SE 6861 RT 350 • US PRC-47 and PRC-105 • Czech RF 10 • Yugoslav RUP-20 (Collins PRC-515) • German FSE 38/58 • Soviet R-143 • • • USA PRC-68 RT 351/2 • USA PRC-25 and PTC-77 • French ER-95 (Italian RV-3) • German SEM-35 • RT 321/322 • • USA GRC-106 RT-353 • Soviet R 123 • German SEM-25 • US VRC-12 • US PRC-25/77 with VIU

Web Sites Vintage & Military ARS: www. vmars. org. uk WS No. 19 Group: www. royalsignals. org. uk Radionerds: www. radionerds. com (US Technical Manuals) Army Radio Sales Co. www. armyradio. com (UK Dealer) Withams: www. mod-sales. com (UK main disposal route) Radiosurplus: www. radiosurplus. it (US, German, French & USSR) Crypto Museum: www. cryptomuseum. com (also a lot of radio info) Greenradio: www. greenradio. de (DH 4 PY’s website) PA 3 ECT: www. pa 3 ect. eu My Web Site: https: //moffatig. plus. com/g 0 ozs/