[Milsurplus] Radio pic

[Ray Fantini]

As usual, all your comments are spot on, but what I don't understand is where is the original email that was from Charlie in NC in the first place??? I never saw it. Speculate that he is misunderstanding just what a SCR522 is and the difference between VHF AM and FM, that along with not knowing the history of the development of FM.
Along the line of that Weavix has a web page that gives a timeline and development of manpacks, handhelds and tactical FM, the only thing is they tend to say that Canada deserves all the credit?

There web site is:

https://weavix.com/blogs/walkie-talkie-history/#walkie-talkie-historical-timeline-1930s-present

They are a Wi-Fi/LTE subscription-based (Opex) vendor but thought this was a good web site anyway.

Ray F/KA3EKH








________________________________
From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net <milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net> on behalf of Hubert Miller via Milsurplus <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2026 9:27 PM
To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Radio pic




I want to correct some points of this following email.
Germany never had any working FM radios in actual combat sphere.
Germany had radio systems in vehicles that yes, were divided by purpose. You can see for example, 20WSa and 20WSc. I have sold some of these off, and no longer remember the exact types, but i am prepared to demonstrate this.

Germany went to war with many types of radios designed in the late 1930s. That makes sense. Their industry was being drained and didn’t have endless sources well

distanced from war zones. Compare the SCR-693 with anything, anything produced by the Axis, or any Axis airborne receiver to the BC-348, or any Axis product to the

SCR-300 ( BC-1000 ).  Too late and too little.

-Hue Miller



>I gathered some interesting photos while working on the B17F [project.  The one attached shows a worker in the war years at the Cheyenne Modification Center installing an SCR522 in a B17 for use in the ETO.  In the pic, note the antenna reel in front of her, the PE73 behind her for the BC375, the ball turret to the right and back.  Just above and to the right of the turrent center support, you can see the bottom half of 2 of the 2 SCR274N receivers in the radio compartment.  The SCR522 is being installed on a wooden support, and she is wedged between that and a gasoline generator auxiliary power plant standard on the plane.  The second pic shows the interconnectivity of the radio and intercom circuits, the pic can be magnified and all identification is clear.  FM radio was big with the Brits and the Germans, while the US was a bit fumble fingered in the comm area.  The Germans went to war with planes, tanks, and ground troops being able to communicate directly on the same band of FM freqs.  The US had FM radio in tanks with AM in the hands of ground troops.  To liaison with the Brits, the AM comm, landline or telegraphy had to make it back to a spot that had FM to talk to the Brit planes for fire support directions.  American tankers comshawed SCR522's from depots to be able to call in directly to the Brits in fighters overhead.  Initially they were threatened with courts martial, but when Gen Eisnehow found out, he said congrats and it became a priority to solve the comm problem.  One of the easiest was that hand set you see on the back of Shermans.  That got around the AM/FM issue, but it put a soldier in even more harms way to have to grab that handset to give fire directions to the buttoned up tank crew.



>Charlie in NC
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