Radio was designed for 225-400, you'd have to modify it AND add some crystals to get it to 220. I was a UHF Comm tech (ET) when I served on USS Ranger, we were probably the last ship in the US fleet to use the URC-9 / SRC-20 radio system and I got to know them VERY well. If you FOLLOWED THE MANUAL (it was scary, a well-written manual for the military!), and used the procedure it gave for aligning the radio, it worked WELL. 16 watt output rating, we'd regularly see 20-22 watts OR MORE across the band after a "by the book" alignment with fairly fresh tubes. Might have helped that a carrier was big enough to reduce the vibration issues.
@@K6YIC My main issue is that the base radio didn't have the crystals in the synth to reach that low - or they were normally "locked out" by the mechanism. The bandwidth of the radio is not even close to being an issue.
Tuned many in my Navy Days during Vietnam, 7th fleet used mainly for aircraft communication. The tuning fins were affected by temperature and vibration, always kept me busy. Became proficient in keeping the gear up. Yes and the SRC-20
We also had 1 whiskey 3 and I did nothing but pms on it. The Amp you are talking about is the URT 23 I believe and the antenna coupler war the sra 49 or src 49 maybe. The phone dial is for remote operation and vox capability I believe. I found a bad diode in the diode Bridge of the power supply that ohmed good but would not rectify loaded. We were in port and while I was on leave a chief from mo29 from treasure island failed to find it and I got it with the same com officer over my shoulder, again impressive. If those crybabies didn't like bending the caps or taching th motor(better be 400hz for supply), try tuning that coupler... we would tune to the ends of the frequency range and monitor comms for short secure communication.
Aligning the URC-9 was an exercise in futility! Once you went through the procedure and backtracked to see how the frequencies you had just tuned acted, power would almost always drop. It was the nature of the mechanical capacitor tabs that rotated after selecting a new channel. Just two of these units could be a full time job.
Your shack is looking great! I like your little dog, too. I don't know if I have anythign operational that might talk to that rig. Long ago, I had an AN/TRC-68 (if I recall correctly), which was basically the same radio and power supply set in a non-rackmount box and painted green. I don't remember if I had the power supply for it or if it was missing, but I traded it away a long time ago.
That was explained in the video. The title was only listed as that to direct traffic. I probably should have listed it as “part of” instead of how I originally listed it.
URC-9 was a maintenance nightmare, you aligned them by bending turning tabs, and they were unreliable. We used them on HMAS Swan at least around 83ish.
As far as I can tell most Navy's pulled them when the WSC-3 came around and waist enough supply. I believe the USN pulled them around the same time 1983-84.
I can assure you we used those hunks of shit through 1984. During an exercise all 4 went down because the radiomen did pms after I tuned them; I got em up as fast as I could carry em to the shop with the com officer over my shoulder; impressive, like my Johnson. I was really good on those babies, didn't know very many that could hang on em. When I came aboard, the e6 ordered a case of PA tubes cause they couldn't tune em. If the Ukrainians are using em, sign me up!
BRAVO ZULU - hadn't seen one of those operating in almost 50 years..
Radio was designed for 225-400, you'd have to modify it AND add some crystals to get it to 220.
I was a UHF Comm tech (ET) when I served on USS Ranger, we were probably the last ship in the US fleet to use the URC-9 / SRC-20 radio system and I got to know them VERY well.
If you FOLLOWED THE MANUAL (it was scary, a well-written manual for the military!), and used the procedure it gave for aligning the radio, it worked WELL.
16 watt output rating, we'd regularly see 20-22 watts OR MORE across the band after a "by the book" alignment with fairly fresh tubes.
Might have helped that a carrier was big enough to reduce the vibration issues.
It transmits just fine down below 225 unfortunately there is just not much going on AM 1.25m.
@@K6YIC My main issue is that the base radio didn't have the crystals in the synth to reach that low - or they were normally "locked out" by the mechanism.
The bandwidth of the radio is not even close to being an issue.
Tuned many in my Navy Days during Vietnam, 7th fleet used mainly for aircraft communication. The tuning fins were affected by temperature and vibration, always kept me busy. Became proficient in keeping the gear up. Yes and the SRC-20
We also had 1 whiskey 3 and I did nothing but pms on it. The Amp you are talking about is the URT 23 I believe and the antenna coupler war the sra 49 or src 49 maybe. The phone dial is for remote operation and vox capability I believe. I found a bad diode in the diode Bridge of the power supply that ohmed good but would not rectify loaded. We were in port and while I was on leave a chief from mo29 from treasure island failed to find it and I got it with the same com officer over my shoulder, again impressive. If those crybabies didn't like bending the caps or taching th motor(better be 400hz for supply), try tuning that coupler... we would tune to the ends of the frequency range and monitor comms for short secure communication.
Aligning the URC-9 was an exercise in futility! Once you went through the procedure and backtracked to see how the frequencies you had just tuned acted, power would almost always drop.
It was the nature of the mechanical capacitor tabs that rotated after selecting a new channel. Just two of these units could be a full time job.
That’s a good way to put it.
I would not like to consider how many hours I spent doing that on these things.
Your shack is looking great! I like your little dog, too. I don't know if I have anythign operational that might talk to that rig. Long ago, I had an AN/TRC-68 (if I recall correctly), which was basically the same radio and power supply set in a non-rackmount box and painted green. I don't remember if I had the power supply for it or if it was missing, but I traded it away a long time ago.
AN/SRC-21 is not the same as the AN/URC-9. The '21 included the Radio Set Control C-3866; the URC-9 had only the cabinet, RT-581 and PP-2702.
That was explained in the video. The title was only listed as that to direct traffic. I probably should have listed it as “part of” instead of how I originally listed it.
@@K6YIC My bad, sir ... I missed it first play. Yeah - I worked on those things quite a bit back in the day. Hey, it was worth playing again! :)
I gaffed when I said it was developed in the 54-55 time frame. It should have been 64-65 time frame.
URC-9 was a maintenance nightmare, you aligned them by bending turning tabs, and they were unreliable. We used them on HMAS Swan at least around 83ish.
As far as I can tell most Navy's pulled them when the WSC-3 came around and waist enough supply. I believe the USN pulled them around the same time 1983-84.
I can assure you we used those hunks of shit through 1984. During an exercise all 4 went down because the radiomen did pms after I tuned them; I got em up as fast as I could carry em to the shop with the com officer over my shoulder; impressive, like my Johnson. I was really good on those babies, didn't know very many that could hang on em. When I came aboard, the e6 ordered a case of PA tubes cause they couldn't tune em. If the Ukrainians are using em, sign me up!
I worked it.... RM3 USS Mt. Whtney (LCC-20) 74-77