From: "Dan/W4NTI" on Sat 2 Jul 2005 21:52

Poor Lennie the loser, being such a historian on military and all, just
can't get that E5 Chevron arrangement right yet.

What I described for U.S. Army NCO sleeve insignia was perfectly
correct for the U.S. Army of the 1950s. The E-5 sleeve insignia
was equivalent to a Staff Sergeant of WW2 times and "Staff Sergeant"
came back some time after 1956 and remains. Since I wore that
insignia, was entitled to it, and had my pictures taken (by
different Signal Corps photographers and reviewed by Army PR
folks, that is just how it was then. There was NO "buck
sergeant" (three stripes, no rockers) in the Army at that time.

Note: This has NOTHING to do with amateur radio policy except
that one PCTA extra is so damn ****ed up in his mind he has to
make an issue of "military minutae." Too much Billy Beer on a
Saturday night will do that to a moron...


All this radio experience is as a what ? Operator? Gee Lennie, how hard is
it to push the button and yap into a mic? Or maybe it was you were a fixer
eh? I've seen the Army Tech Manuals, What was your echolon me boy?
Field perhaps? Not even allowed to change a component, other than a tube.
Hope your TV-7/U tester was in top notch shape.

I'm not going to repeat what I've already stated in here. If you
wish to see what was done, go to:

http://kauko.hallikainen.org/history/equipment/

and click on any blue link under "Stations" heading. Each is about
10 MB
in size, PDF.

In FIXED STATION operations and maintenance, a "tube tester" is
seldom used. One depends on the meter readings and tuning
response during QSYs (frequent for long-haul HF circuits) in
addition to the TM's statements on what should be within range.
For the GE microwave radio relay terminals (having 360+ tubes
per terminal), test point probing with a Tektronix oscilloscope
(511AD model) would reveal whether or not a particular tube
stage was beginning to misbehave. The General Electric terminals
were commercial units and we all used the commercial manuals (you
can see one I am holding in the referenced link). The Western
Electric LD-T2 HF 4 KW PEP SSB was also a commercial model and
all used the WE commercial manuals for it; five of those at
station ADA by 1956. The Press Wireless PW-15 (15 KW CW on HF)
was also commercial. The 40 KW Linear Amplifiers were labeled
as AN/FRT-22 but were Collins Radio commercial transmitters
capable of 50 KW CW HF output. Like the microwave terminals,
a metal nameplate said they were "military" but, other than that,
they were identical to the commercial model. The rest of the
transmitters were standard "AN" types, a pre-WW2 design, as
were the FSK exciters for all the RTTY RF sources for single-
channel RTTY circuits. The VHF/UHF radio relay sets used at the
old site of ADA at Tsukishima used receiving type tubes (except
for the finals, an 829B, in the AN/TRC-1s) but a "tube tester"
wasn't used for any maintenance...they were simply left ON
all the time as "hot backups" in case the old site's cable
input failed.

As to "echelon" of maintenance, any FIXED COMMUNICATIONS site
is about as close to "depot" level as any can get. When the
mission is to operate 24/7, one fixes malfunctions when they
occur. NOW. That was very seldom. Fixed station equipment
is designed and built for continuous operation...and it worked
that way. At the Camp Owada receiving site it was the same,
R-388 and R-390 receivers (Collins Radio) with assorted
multicouplers and SSB demodulators, all working around the clock.
The torn-tape TTY relay was 220 (approximately) Teletype Corp.
machines, olive-drab or black painted versions of civilian
Teletype machines. All at 60 WPM equivalent rate. Not one
single manual telegraph key used anywhere at station ADA in the
1950s...not even in other-unit message centers. The small
MARS station was NOT a part of my Signal Battalion and their
only choice for transmitting (third priority) on long-haul HF
was through a TTY circuit to transmitters and one from
receivers.

For operations as Provisional Infantry (should the need arise)
we had the AN/PRC-6 handie-talkie (single frequency low-VHF FM
push-to-talk) and the AN/PRC-10 walkie-talkie (variable
frequency low-VHF FM voice, with internal crystal calibrator,
frequency range compatible with PRC-6); push-to-talk H-33
handset. Everything was workable on the march, nobody sat
down in the shade and tapped out morse code to communicate.
The four-knob AN/PRC-25 (also push-to-talk FM voice) of early
Vietnam War era was yet to be designed and built in 1956.

Does the MOS 31V mean anything to you ?

Nothing at all...and that extends to the U.S. Army.

In checking out MOSs at www.goarmy.com and looking under
"jobs," there aren't any Thirty-One-Victors listed. To make
certain,
I went to the Fort Gordon site and searched under the MOS Signal
School classes. There were other Thirty-Ones listed by none for
Victor suffix. Fort Gordon, GA, is the Signal Center, and the
controlling base for all Army communications/computer classes.

If a Thirty-One-Victor was your MOS, consider your job skills as
DEFUNCT. The Vietnam War ended 30 years ago. Best to adjust for
it. The Army has gone on with the soldiering task and uses new
style equipment*...unlike so many of the amateur extras content
with remaining fixed in several-decades old standards and
practices. Defunct. Gone. Went bye-bye. So long...to 31V.

This Sunday morning I hope you are not too hung over after all
that drinking. I hope you didn't puke on your Kode Klucks Klan
sheet even though it still smells bad. Take two aspirin and
go play with your code key.



* Standard small-unit land forces radio is the SINCGARS family
(30-88 MHz, voice or data, in-clear or encrypted, single-
channel frequency or frequency-hopping). Manpack unit is
AN/PRC-119; several variants for power output using same R/T
for vehicular use plus an airborne model. For HF voice or data
there is the AN/PRC-104 manpack (includes automatic whip antenna
tuner) with any frequency selectable through internal frequency
synthesizer. Vehicular variations of same R/T with power amps
up to 400 W PEP. The first of the SINCGARS became operational
in 1989, the PRC-104 family about 1986. The PRC-119 has
undergone the SIP or SINCGARS Improvement Plan at ITT Fort
Wayne, IN, resulting in a halving of weight and size. The PRC-104
is coming to a close of its life soon but there are several
candidate sets under evaluation to take its place. Both have
been "tested in battle" in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and the
various parts of old Yugoslavia..