Radio Reminiscing

Back in my Uncle Sam days, we ran RT-524s in our vehicles. The 
only times we received an operational CEOI was during an FTX, 
and for all I knew BDE HQ just had a single batch for training 
that they reused over and over. At our unit level one of our 
commo SGTs (a 31-Victor) had a training CEOI that he swiped 
from Ft. Gordon or Ft. Sill, and we used photocopies of that 
for training. The CEOI had us all over the 30-75 MHz. spectrum, 
and we weren't on any particular frequency for more than a day.

When we were in convoy or testing/training at the home station 
or our local training area, we generally picked a more or less 
"random" frequency in the Federal allocations between 30-50 
MHz. We stayed off 6 meters, and stayed away from frequencies 
above 54 MHz. because that was allocated for TV broadcasting. 
Usually the frequency was an even number like 30.00, 38.00, 
40.00, 41.00, 49.00 MHz. et al. We had KY-57 COMSEC devices, 
and only used them at FTXes when the 31-Victors would come 
around and give us a key fill.

Some of us who were hams would occasionally QSY to a 6 meter 
simplex frequency and call CQ. We tried to get as close to 
52.525 MHz. as possible. usually 52.50 or 52.55 MHz. The 
RT-524s ran 50 KHz. spacing. We didn't do that very often 
because when you were an RTO, you had a job to do with the 
radio and couldn't just QSY off somewhere in the spectrum. It 
was more common to QSY real quick up to one of the TV audio 
carrier frequencies above 54 MHz. at news broadcast times to 
catch a snippet of the news when you could. The gate guard 
position had a PRC-77 tuned to the range control frequency so 
you could hear when the firing line would go hot, and know when 
to keep people from driving in front of it.

We also had PRC-127s in the field, but they were used for admin 
stuff, and only officers and senior NCOs had them. A subsequent 
combat support unit I transferred to made more extensive use of 
PRC-127s. I learned how to get them into programming mode, 
pulled the frequencies, and programmed them into my PRO-43. I'm 
not giving those out because I still catch traffic on them 30 
years later. I will give you a hint, however: 148-150.775 MHz.

On the civilian side, the non-profit I volunteered with and 
worked for as a camp counselor for a number of years had a 
nationwide itinerant LMR license on 151.625 MHz. My unit leader 
had also reached out to a couple of local businesses, and 
secured permission to operate on their LMR licenses. The unit 
bought a bunch of Relm mobiles from Scanner World, and we were 
good to go. Never had any interference issues with the 
businesses in question because we simply programmed in a 
different PL tone from what they used, and mostly operated on 
the weekends when the businesses were closed. At one point I 
had acquired an Icom H16, programmed in 151.625 MHz., mated 
with one of those "parrot-box" Radio Shack Simplex repeaters, 
and left it in an ammo box hooked up to a 12V gel-cell and a 
1/4 wave ground plane "jungle antenna" hung up in a tree at the 
highest location in camp. We also used 27 MHz. CB, and that 
service saw a lot of use between the camps' main offices and 
units staying at camp.

All of the radio work I did with the non-profit was before MURS 
and FRS, but we ran under Part 90 back in those days. You can 
now run 2-watt VHF portables on 5 different channels under 
MURS, including the blue and green dot channels that everyone 
bootlegged back in the day. No parrot-box repeaters though. FRS 
has loosened up even more to now allow 2 watts on a few of the 
now 22 UHF frequencies, and there are no rules that prohibit 
using a parrot-box. CB now allows FM mode in addition to AM and 
SSB.