[TenTec] Corrections-- How much for an Orion III?

José Félix Ballester jfballester at gmail.com
Mon Apr 14 22:21:56 EDT 2014 

Piece of historical blunders by our ever more powerful Watchdog.   Relevant to us lovers of our hobby and its history, very much so even in this TenTec blog at least to how it pertains to this humble citizen.   If it refers to USA manufactured equipment this is were it's welcome to me and maybe to others.  Yes, many of us also care how our government needlessly wastes much of taxpayers money.   We’re probably towards the end of discussing this topic anyway.   
73 de Pepe WP3HW



On Apr 14, 2014, at 9:37 PM, Scott Harwood <scotthsr at earthlink.net> 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 at cableone.net>
> Sent: Apr 14, 2014 9:03 PM
> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec at 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 at 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 at verizon.net
>>> To: tentec at 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 at 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 at 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 at DJ0IP.de
>>>>> To: tentec at 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 at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Dave 
>>>>> Edwards
>>>>> Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 6:16 PM
>>>>> To: tentec at 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 at 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 at contesting.com
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>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
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