[TenTec] UHF A2A

[w8au@sssnet.com]

At 01:06 PM 4/27/05, Bob Cunnings wrote:
>I do remember using what I *think* is real A2A back in the
>Navy. Although an obscure mode, the requirement came up on a NATO cruise
>when the Admiral (Norwegian) decided that a particular kind of battle 
>group cw net be activated on UHF, and put it into the comm plan. our WSC-3 
>UHF rigs didn't support A2A. So I spent the night before building a T type 
>audio oscillator with junkbox parts that put out a decent audio tone. It 
>had a cable with which to plug it into a mic jack for the AM voice 
>transmitter and a jack for the straight key mounted on the radio watch 
>desk. Worked great, COMMO was delighted.
>being a ham, it was decided that I would be the op for the net, although I 
>was an ET, not an RM. All great fun for a while, I got to work the net 
>when it came up every evening. The other ops on the net seemed to enjoy it 
>too. I've never worked UHF cw since!

Great story, RC!  "Ham" ET's had a natural advantage when it came to 
jury-rigging solutions!  Glad you passed it along.

Perry   w8au     (ex-ETCS,USN/USNR)