OBVIOUSLY you were never in the military, Jim. It's not run on logic.
That story is harmless compared to some of the other stuff I saw.
In general there are a lot of bright people at higher levels in the military
but there are also a lot of morons making decisions like that, and somehow
they get promoted.
People who see stupid things and try to change them, are declared to have an
"attitude problem".
73 - Rick, DJ0IP
(Nr. Frankfurt am Main)
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Vohland
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 11:33 PM
To: tentec@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TenTec] How much for an Orion III?
I'm not sure that I understand the story of destroying the equipment based
on having received "classified signals". There is no way a kwm-2/2a or
s-line could have encrypted or decrypted signals. They were
receivers/transmitters, not cryptographic. In the navy, any classified radio
equipment had manuals which stressed exactly which circuit boards were
classified and requirement destruction in a specific manner. Unclassified
portions of the equipment required no special effort. a vacuum tube doesn't
retain signals. Stories of R390's languishing abound also. Probably due more
to a glut of old equipment. SP600's, R390s, R1051 and even some ten-tec
receivers were used for intercept operations. Many made it to
civilian/unclassified use. No security issues.
> From: wn3vaw@verizon.net
> To: tentec@contesting.com
> Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 17:19:28 -0400
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] How much for an Orion III?
>
> Well, the story of the stupid destruction of those KWM-2/2A's and
> S-Lines is an old story. Sad to say, while there are variations on
> the theme, it's a common story from almost any US military
> installation, regardless of the branch, that was decommissioning the units
at the time.
>
> In essence, someone high enough up simply didn't want to "take any
chances"
> about ANY electronics that MIGHT have been used to encrypt/decrypt
> secure communications. So, he or she ordered that they take the
> benefit of the doubt... and destroy EVERYTHING. Which included all of
> that Collins gear, and more.
>
> That's one of the reasons, I have been told, that the flood of
> MilSurplus equipment that used to flood the Amateur market has dried up.
>
> Now, the good news is, a good bit (though not nearly enough!) of that
> gear was... intercepted before destruction, and ended up in MARS
> stations, or MilRec stations, or even, eventually, in private hands (I
> don't want to know
> how!!)
>
> Still, it's a real shame.
>
> Could you imagine, though, what the Amateur used equipment market
> would have been like if a flood of MilSurplus KWM-2's had suddenly become
available?
>
> Oh well. So it goes.
>
> 73, ron w3wn
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of k6jek
> Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 4:11 PM
> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] How much for an Orion III?
>
> I would have had nightmares for years if I'd witnessed that. I may
> have them anyway just hearing about it.
>
>
> On Apr 14, 2014, at 12:51 PM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
>
> > Sure there was... Government stupidity and its insistence on wasting
> > tax payers' money!
> >
> > 73 - Rick, DJ0IP
> > (Nr. Frankfurt am Main)
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of
> > James Duffer
> > Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 8:17 PM
> > To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
> > Subject: Re: [TenTec] How much for an Orion III?
> >
> > Such a sad tale. Sorry to hear of such destruction of good and
> > harmless equipment. Harmless as there was no "just" reason for the
destruction.
> > Jim, wd4air
> >
> >> From: Rick@DJ0IP.de
> >> To: tentec@contesting.com
> >> Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 20:09:03 +0200
> >> Subject: Re: [TenTec] How much for an Orion III?
> >>
> >> I can answer some of that, first hand.
> >>
> >> In about 1973, the US Army in Europe (USAREUR) decided to close
> >> down hf and go fully to VHF and UHF.
> >> Hundreds of S-Lines and KWM-2A's were collected and brought to the
> >> army disposal center in south western Germany.
> >>
> >> I was custodian of a MARS station in Berlin and on TDY in the area
> >> of the disposal center, so I dropped in to see if I could scrounge
> >> anything to distribute through the MARS channels to our members.
> >> There I witnessed the beautiful Collins radios stacked by the
> >> hundreds,
> in
> > an area of about 50 ft.
> >> by 75 ft - being destroyed!
> >>
> >> There were a few guys working hard destroying them. Every tube was
> >> being broken with a hammer and the chassis of each was cut in half
> >> with a
> > torch.
> >>
> >> Seems they had been used by the Army Security Agency and they were
> >> afraid there might be some residual top secret data still inside
> >> some of
> > the tube.
> >>
> >>
> >> I did everything I could to try and stop the action but to no avail.
> >> Everyone on site was just following orders and they were not
> >> willing to pause while I tried to find a solution. All of the
> >> radios were all completely destroyed.
> >>
> >> I was in tears. I could have made every MARS member in Germany's
> >> dream come true if some moron hadn't have taken the decision to
> >> destroy
> > them.
> >>
> >> So that's what happened to our military S-Lines here in Europe.
> >>
> >> 73 - Rick, DJ0IP
> >> (Nr. Frankfurt am Main)
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of
> >> Dave Edwards
> >> Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 6:16 PM
> >> To: tentec@contesting.com
> >> Subject: Re: [TenTec] How much for an Orion III?
> >>
> >> Also interesting (to think about)...
> >> I wonder what percentage of them still exist today?
> >>
> >> How many does the government still own?
> >>
> >> How many remain on dusty shelves somewhere....unopened???
> >>
> >> ....Dave
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On 4/14/14, 9:56 AM, Rsoifer@aol.com wrote:
> >>> I asked Rod, K0DAS (retired from Rockwell Collins), how many
> >>> KWM-2s were bought by hams rather than Uncle Sam. He said that
> >>> nobody really knows, but his best guess is that the U.S. armed
> >>> forces bought between 1/4 and 1/3 of them. Some went to other
> >>> government agencies as well as foreign governments. That still
> >>> leaves quite a few that were
> >> bought by hams like me.
> >>>
> >>> 73 Ray W2RS
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> TenTec mailing list
> >>> TenTec@contesting.com
> >>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
> >>>
> >>
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