Ah... Yes... I suppose this has strayed a scoche a little off topic, but
I enjoy the history, and it sure beats the usual
"My-rig-can-beat-u-your-rig" "Ten vs Brand X" spitting match ! ;-)
I am confident they destroyed some of that equipment to keep the "enemy"
from getting our "good" stuff during the Cold War, and while it was
wasteful, it did constitute a government funded subsidy to the industry,
in general, and was part of a program to continually update and improve
systems over time, so I suppose some good came of it. It was already
paid for, so hams had to buy new stuff, further supporting the industry
with new sales.
I believe my History Professor told us, back then there was a Federal
legal limit on total military spending to something like 7 percent (I
think) of GNP, so it was not "totally" out of control.
Thus, R&D at Collins and TenTec and other outfits was funded by
government purchasing, from which some benefit has trickled down to us
taxpayer consumer types.
(At least that is my story... and I am ... sttttttt-ickkkk-ing to it.) ;-)
Happy days!
----------------------------- K8JHR ----------------------
On 4/14/2014 9:37 PM, Scott Harwood wrote:
Hey guys, what does this have to do with a future OIII and it's cost. As a
former USAF officer in charge of intelligence security for my unit in good old
south east Asia , who cares? We're dealing with TenTec issues here. Just my
two cents worth.
73
Scott K4VWK
-----Original Message-----
From: Cecil <chacuff@cableone.net>
Sent: Apr 14, 2014 9:03 PM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] How much for an Orion III?
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
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