GRC-109A

This basic HF radio set was designed for special-forces and espionage field work in the late sixties, its ancestors, the RS-1 date from about 1950. The three units here comprise a receiver, transmitter, and an AC / Battery power supply unit. The equipment are housed in very tough cast aluminum cases with gaskets, making them robust against immersion, impact, and burial. More info is available here: here .

I sometimes operate this set at summer-camp, and it is a lot of fun.

Here the equipment is set up for use.

The receiver is a basic superhet that uses miniature battery-filament tubes similar to the Zenith Trans-Oceanic. It tunes 3 to 24 mhz and can receive am or cw/ssb. The tuning gets a bit fast for CW on the higher bands, but the bandwith is pretty broad, and the BFO tuning can be used as a sort of vernier tuning.

The transmitter is a simple crystal-controlled two-tube CW-only rig with a 2E26 final amp. It covers most of 3 to 22 mhz.?. Tuning is accomplished with pilot lights rather than a meter. A rudimentary built-in CW key is visible in the lower right.

Here is one of the power supplies available for this equipment. This one can operate from 75 - 240 VAC or from a 6 volt battery, by way of a vibrator. This unit can also be used to charge a 6 volt battery from the mains. This equipment can also be powered by a hand-crank generator set.

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