On 12-30-04, BTARS-NA5DV was reorganized, a constitution was adopted, and the following
officers were elected President/NA5DV Trustee: Frank Cooper, W5VID Vice President: Lance Borden, WB5REX Secretary: Bill Stientenroth, K5ZTY Treasurer: Tom O'Brien, AB5XZ The BATTLESHIP TEXAS AMATEUR RADIO STATION (BTARS) has the
amateur radio vanity call NA5DV. The original radio call of the Battleship was
NADV. The Battleship Texas Amateur Radio Station (BTARS)first operated with
W5VID's call on July 21, 2001, participating in the Museum Ships Weekend Event.
We operated from the Ship's Galley on the main deck. Click here to see BTARS's
participation in the July, 2001, event BTARS participated in a special one day event on the Battleship
Texas called “Yuletide Texas” on Saturday, December 1st, 2001. We used the
FCC assigned radio call KD5PEA and operated in the old "Bursar's Office."
Our vanity call NA5DV was pending. This was a kid-oriented Christmas event.
A number of children were able to talk with radio amateurs in other cities in
the United States and Canada. We had two transceivers in operation making
contacts on 20 meters and on the local two meter repeaters. Several HVRA
members exhibited vintage radios for visitors.
The Battleship Texas Amateur Radio Station (BTARS-NA5DV) participated in the Museum Ships Weekend Event on June 9th and 10th. We participated despite the biggest Ham fest in Texas, Ham Com in Plano, Texas, taking place on the same week-end. Three of us made a total of 171 radio contacts on 20-meter single sideband on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The three radio amateurs were Frank Cooper, NA5DV Trustee; Reid Shipp, WA5ARI; and Don Wise, N5FBJ.
We contacted twelve Museum ships. They are as follows: 1. Battleship USS New Jersey, NJ2BB, Camden New Jersey 2. Battleship USS Alabama, W4BR, Mobile, Alabama
3. Aircraft Carrier USS Yorktown Memorial, WA4USN, Charleston South Carolina
4. Cruiser USS Little Rock, W2PE, Buffalo, New York
5. Cruiser USS Indianapolis Memorial, W9IND, Indianapolis, Indiana
6. Submarine USS Albacore, NM1JY, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
7. Submarine USS Requin, NY3EC, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
8. Submarine USS Cobia, N9BQV, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
9. Coast Guard Cutter USCG Bramble, W8WB, Port Huron, Michigan
10. Sternwheel Tug STR Portland,W7P, Portland, Oregon
11. Lightship USCG LS Huron, K8HLM, Port Huron, Michigan
12. Railroad Car Ferry SS. City of Milwaukee, K8GWW, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The three participating radio amateur
operators are pictured below:
Don Wise, N5FBJ(left) .............................. Reid Shipp, WA5ARI (right)
Frank Cooper, W5VID, NA5DV Trustee
The Museum Ships Weekend Event is sponsored by the Battleship New Jersey Amateur Radio Station NJ2BB. See their web page at http://users.tellurian.com/freddie/nj2bb/ship-event.html
We were pleased to have many visitors during the week-end event. Thanks to the ship's crew for assistance when needed.
We invite Houston area
amateur radio operators to assist in the operation of BTARS. Send an email to
Frank Cooper at fxc@prodigy.net if you would like to participate in our next operation on the battleship in commeration
of Pearl Harbor in December. It will take place in the
General Stores Keeper's office on a Saturday in December, 2007, 10:00 am through 5:00 p.m. - Date to be announced.
A BTARS-NA5DV GOAL: TO SET UP AND OPERATE A WWII ERA HF STATION on the U.S.S. TEXAS
Our goal is to set-up and operate a
World War II era Navy transmitter and receiver of the same type used on the Texas as part of the BTARS-NA5DV station.
In keeping with this goal,
Frank (NA5DV Trustee) acquired three WWII Navy receivers (RBB, RBC, TCS-13 receivers), and a Navy Transmitter TCS-13.
Frank would like to put two or more of these units
in operation on the Texas as part of the BTARS-NA5DV station. These radios are currently part of the W5VID radio shack. Two of the receivers are pictured on the left. 1. (Top receiver) Type CRV-46148 (4-27 Mc.),
A Unit of model RBC-1, has a contract
date of Sept. 2, 1941. This unit is in good cosmetic condition but needs repair - and a cable to the power supply.
2. (Lower receiver) Type CRV-46147 (.5 to 4.0 Mc.), a unit
of model RBB radio with a contract date of April 13, 1940. This unit is in excellent condition and receives
well. The CRV-46147 is powered by a working CRV-20130-B Rectifier Power Supply (picture above right). This unit can
supply the power for two receivers in an emergency.
A second power supply, CRV-20130, will be used to power the CR-46148. Frank has a copy of manuals for all the above units. Jack Strayer, WB7EOB, in "A Letter From Jack", in the May, 1993 Electric Radio magagazine (Issue 49), details the
development of the RBA, RBB and RBC receivers for the Navy. He stated, "In the late '30s' RCA was contracted by the
Navy Bureau of
Ships to build a 'No Compromise' set of radio receivers for naval ship and shore use. The main high level radios then
in use were the RAK (15 to 600 Kc) and RAL (300 Kc to 23.0 Mc) units (picture on left of RAK and RAL radios
courtesy of Western Historic Radio Museum). These are both TRF radios,
which do not have
direct frequency 'reading' dials, but worse yet they are very 'leaky.' The super regenerative detectors reradiated
back into the antennas, and it was well known that German direction finders on U boats were very good at 'transmitter
hunting.' By mutual consent, RCA 'borrowed' the top radio design engineers from seventeen companies. They all
worked together, completely turned loose to design the ultimate, and cost was no factor. A design engineer's dream
come true." Jack said it took less than a year to complete the primary design and the RBA, RBB and RBC receivers
came into being. The RBA is a well-shielded supergain TRF radio which tuned 14.5 to 600 Kc. The cost was $3,000. each.
The RBB is a single
conversion superhet with a range of 500 Kc to 4.0 Mc and the cost to the Navy was $2,400. (1940). The RBC is a
single conversion superhet with a range of 4.0 to 27 Mc. with a cost of $2,400.
Using the above information as a basis, it is likely that any RAK and RAL receivers were replaced on the Texas
sometime in 1940 or 41 by the RBA, RBB and RBC receivers. In an e-mail, dated 11/09/04, Chuck Moore sent
a list of radio equipment on the Texas in 1945. Included were six RBB, six RBC and three RBA receivers. One RAK and
one RAL receiver was
indicated but no TCS units were included. I am still inclined to believe at least a pair of TCS units (transmitter and receiver)
were used for
ship to ship and ship to shore communications.
Robert Login, AA8A, in ER #14, noted that the receivers would have
to stand up to the shock-wave of 16-inch guns in the presence of heat and humidity and be able to hear the weak radio signals
around the clock. Lloyd Roach in the March, 2001, issue of Electric Radio (ER#142) states that the RBA, RBB, and RBC
provided receiver capability on the USS Page County of WWII vintage (LST-1076) until the Fall of 1963 when these
units were replaced with two new R-390-A receivers and three AN/URC-32
transceivers. The only phone capability (AM) up until late 1963, he reported, was a TCS transmitter. It should be noted that up to 20 pairs of 600 ohm headphones could be connnected to the RBB receiver.
Perhaps the multiple headphones were used for code practice or for sailors to listen to state side
broadcasts. Surely a purpose for the inclusion of the broadcast band in the RBB was to help keep morale high. Any addition information about the development of these receivers or their use on the Texas will be
greatly appreciated.
I hope the story of this project is recorded somewhere.
TCS-13 Radio Transmitter (far left) and Receiver (left). These units are lacking a power supply. The transmitter and receiver
operate on three bands from 1500 kc to 12,000 kc with a transmit power of 40 watts CW and 20 watts AM. Information
has been taken from
the Internet Military Collector Group Post Backmail #45 to put together the following paragraph: The TCS group of transmitters and receivers
began in 1939 with the first contracts let to Collins by the US Navy. No sets were built after WWII, but they
served the military for about 20 years. Their design simplicity, extreme ruggedness, excellent frequency stability
and compact size combined to spell their success for the years they served. While war-time advertisements by Collins
usually depicted a PT boat in the background, the TCS was used in virtually every military capacity including armored
vehicles, jeeps, aircraft, landing
craft, fixed and
semi-fixed shore and field stations and ships both large and small. It has been reported that
a TCS transmitter and
receiver were used on the bridge of the Texas for communications between ships and with shore.
Jimmy Stewart (lower left) waits in anticipation of the day the RBB and RBC receivers and U.S.S. Texas
radio rooms are
restored. A few the many U.S.S. Texas behemoth transmitters (lower right) await revival in radio room #2. The Houston Vintage
Radio Association has pledged to restore one or more radios and assist in the restoration of the radio rooms.
Our temporary radio call at the time was KD5PEA. Thanks to Ray for the above video.
It should begin playing within several seconds after mouse clicking. (Below) Ray Jensen has posted the full video "BTARS Event 2001" (almost an hour) on myspacetv.com
Mouse click on it below.
BTARS 2001 Thanks also to Ray, AC5KD, for the below video on myspacetv.com. It is about Hallicrafters Radio
in the Military. Specifically it is about the development of the Army Signal Corps SCR-299 transmitter
during WWII. Although it is not Navy it gives some idea of radio development during war time. END
Our next radio operation will be our
participation in the U.S.S. Texas observance of "Pearl Harbor Day" in December, 2007. The date to be announced.
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