Yep....google the St. Julian's Creek massacre for pictures of piles of R-390
series receivers sitting out in the weather. Fortunately the destruction of
those were stopped and all were sold surplus...but that was the end. As I
understand it everything since then has been shredded....lots of R-1051 series
receivers...not my favorite...but still ashamed.
Cecil
K5DL
Sent from my iPad
> On Apr 14, 2014, at 4:32 PM, Jim Vohland <n9vo@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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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