From: Mark J. Blair (mblair1@cox.net)
Date: Sun Apr 07 2002 - 22:44:35 PDT
I wasn't going to reply to this thread on-list, but there was one
incorrect point that I wanted to clear up. There's some related MV
content near the end...
"Liberty Krueger" <libertyk@bellatlantic.net> wrote:
> You can setup the radio and amp but without the correct antenna or
> dummy load to simulate the antenna you'll blow the amp.
That's true of a lot of transmitters, but non-radio folks might not
know it. It's good that you pointed that out. It would be wise to
obtain the instruction manuals (or get help from somebody familiar
with the set in question) before trying to apply power.
> Even if you setup everything right and get it to work, it's illegal
> to transmit on military frequencies without a special license. (If
> you don't work for the government, don't count on getting one.) You
> could use them as movie props or door stops but not much else.
Not true. The frequency range of the radio set in question (which is
part of radio set AN/GRC-106, and other radio/RTTY sets) covers a lot
more than military frequencies. You can get an amateur radio license
(which is neither terribly difficult nor expensive), and legally use
the set on various ham radio bands, depending on the class of license
you get. The AN/GRC-106 has some drawbacks for ham radio use, such as
not supporting lower-sideband mode without modification and having a
tuning system which is better suited to camping out on a particular
assigned frequency than scanning through the bands looking for
interesting folks to talk to. Still, it's a servicable radio which can
be legally used on the amateur radio bands (with an appropriate
license), and which will intercommunicate with both military and
civilian radio gear. I wouldn't mind getting one for myself someday.
I actually started collecting (and using!) military surplus radios
years before I bought my first MV... in fact, I got into the MV hobby
because I had a bunch of vehicular radios with no vehicles to put them
in! :-)
> Just don't touch the antenna out, antenna cables, or the antenna
> while your keying the mic. Trust me, don't do it. It's a lot of
> voltage.
True, and good advice. Touching the antenna or feedline of a
high-powered transmitter when it's keyed could have undesirable
consequences ranging from a painful burn to an expensive funeral (more
likely the former than the latter... radio-frequency power likes to
burn the skin, leaving the rest of the body intact to feel the pain!).
A high-powered radio transmitter necessarily generates voltages in the
thousands of volts, so it's also dangerous to work on a transmitter's
innards if you don't know what you're doing. I don't want to scare
y'all away, but the AN/GRC-106 is a powerful radio set that (like any
other powerful transmitter) can bite you if you don't treat it with
respect, so learn how to handle it safely before you start playing
with it.
By the way, I have scanned instructions for installing the AN/GRC-106
in an M38A1 on my web page, in case anybody is curious:
http://www.qsl.net/ke6myk/greenradio/tm11-2300-350-15-1/toc.html
Hmm, I have neither an AN/GRC-106 nor an M38A1 at this time... I might
need to fix those problems someday. :-)
-- **** NOTE NEW EMAIL ADDRESS **** Mark J. Blair, KE6MYK <mblair1@cox.net> PGP 2.6.2 public key available from http://www.keyserver.net/ Web page: http://www.qsl.net/ke6myk/
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