On 25 Feb. 2007 02:05:42 -0500, Steve Bonine wrote
hand-cranked generators:

Anyway, the point is that they're *very* tiring to use. You see this
vintage footage where they're in use, and you forget that they guys
making them work are probably 18-20 years old. I was dismayed at how
hard I had to work to get a few watts of power. Plus, the device was
very heavy and unweildy.

Years ago when I was doing ship radio safety inspections, we had to
test the lifeboat hand-cranked radios. We would always ask the master
to assign one of the seamen (affectionately called "deck apes") to lug
and crank it. I tried doing it myself once - and once was enough. I'd
rather operate the radio...
--

73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon

e-mail: k2asp [at] arrl [dot] net

From: Phil Kane on Sun, Feb 25 2007
11:38 am

On 25 Feb. 2007 02:05:42 -0500, Steve Bonine wrote
hand-cranked generators:

Anyway, the point is that they're *very* tiring to use. You see this
vintage footage where they're in use, and you forget that they guys
making them work are probably 18-20 years old. I was dismayed at how
hard I had to work to get a few watts of power. Plus, the device was
very heavy and unweildy.

Years ago when I was doing ship radio safety inspections, we had to
test the lifeboat hand-cranked radios. We would always ask the master
to assign one of the seamen (affectionately called "deck apes") to lug
and crank it. I tried doing it myself once - and once was enough. I'd
rather operate the radio...

Phil and Steve, I will agree to the above on TIRING. As a
2-stripe 21-year-old of modest upper-body strength Signalman
in the early 1950s, I was picked by SFC Don Ross (Maintenance
NCOIC at station ADA) to operate a very standard WW2 relic
portable AN/GRC-9 hand-cranked generator (Ross worked the
radio...RHIP). The "Angry-9" seems to be one of the favorites
of old military radio collectors.

On receive I could crank for about 20 minutes at a time and
become only weary in the arms and shoulders. The so-called
"seat" on the tripod mounting was most uncomfortable although
the crank handle axis was about right for distance when
seated on the dismantleable tripod mount. The GRC-9 had
a double-handled crank so both arms were used.

On transmit it was a whole different story. Five minutes of
cranking with key-down had the arms and shoulders aching
and ready to give up. Note: Ross had to fiddle with the
Angry-9 PA tuning (in the old style) to get a reasonable
match with a throw-up wire antenna...hence the long key-down
time. Short transmit sequences were okay, but any prolonged
key-down was an arm-shoulder killer. Attempts at voice
modulation were a bit worse on me although it was hard to
tell by that time...the whole upper body was getting pooped.

The Angry-9 could probably put out a modest 30 W RF if all
the controls were set just right. The average male cranker
could barely keep up with that on transmit. One needed to
be a body-builder type to play power supply. I tried
a modification by wrapping the crank handles with industrial
rags (for damage protection) and, using a tall metal chair,
could crank it by leg power for an hour-plus and much less
fatigue. "Not standard operating procedure!" said higher-
ups..."that's not the way 'we' do it!" Just the same, using
leg power was much better. That radio set was designed in
a hurry during WW2 and, I would guess, by those who would
never operate it in the field and approved by those who
hadn't done much physical labor in their last dozen-plus
years of career. However, historical data will imply that
arm-power was "okay" and those who came later will assume
that it was "approved" because "it was done that way."
The human body has much more strength and endurance in the
legs than in the arms.