Re: [MV] Military Radios?

From: Mark J. Blair (mblair1@home.net)
Date: Mon Dec 03 2001 - 21:48:16 PST


Joe Foley <redmenaced@yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- Ryan M Gill <rmgill@mindspring.com> wrote:
> > What do folks generally do with their military
> > radios that they have
> > working?
[...]
> That first question that leads to an Amateur Radio
> license!!
[...]
> As a matter of fact Mark Blair, Richard Notton, and
> Nolan Lee are good candidates for answering questions
> about military radios.

Eek, my ears are ringing again. :-)

As a matter of fact, I started collecting the green radios before I
realized I was interested in the green trucks. After a while, I had a
pile of vehicular radios, and I realized that I needed some vehicles
to put them in. So, I started collecting green trucks. As it turns
out, most of my radio gear was from the 1950's, and most of my trucks
were post-1970, so I found myself buying new radios for my new trucks.
I guess I'll eventually need to buy some old trucks for my old radios,
which got me interested in green trucks in the first place, yet still
don't have any appropriate trucks to live in. Sigh. :-)

So far, I've only done a radio installation in one of my trucks: an
AN/VRC-46 set (part of the VRC-12 family), in my M998 HMMWV. I have
a few pictures on my web page if you're curious.

I am not aware of any legal way to use these green radios in the US
without a license of some sort, although that doesn't stop a lot of
folks from bootlegging (a practice which I neither recommend or
endorse). It's not too difficult to obtain an amateur radio ("ham
radio") license, though, permitting use of many of the common tactical
FM sets from 1950ish to current issue on the 6 meter ham band, with a
bit of care to avoid interference with regular amateur radio gear. If
you have general questions about using your green radios or obtaining
an amateur radio license, please contact me (and/or other folks)
off-list. On the other hand, questions about installation of military
radio gear in military vehicles would be appropriate list material,
IMHO.

--
Mark J. Blair, KE6MYK <mblair1@home.net>
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