[TenTec] How much for an Orion III?

Tue Apr 15 00:10:58 EDT 2014

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 at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Vohland
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 11:33 PM
To: tentec at 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 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
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>> TenTec at contesting.com
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> >>> 
> >> 
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