AFAIK they were never used in combat in a place that had 117 volt AC
power.

I know that Europe had 220 or 240 volt power, what did the pacific areas
have?

Geoff.

AFAIK they only used the generator as it was designed as a field station.
There probably was no other power where they were usually operated. Just
never meant to rely on shore power. I had heard that it was thought the
electrocution hazard was too great to use 220. I used to have a 1kw AM/RTTY
transmitter made for a later unit that ran on 117 also. Lotsa AMPS. The
10kw generator had a 4 cyl Jeep engine.

"K3HVG" wrote in message
.. .

The SCR-299/399 were designed to run off 110VAC 60Hz. The PE-95 gas
generator is a 10KW 110v-only unit. I, personally, have never seen a
BC-610 running off 220v. In past discussions with my my Elmer, he
explained that they had SCR-399's on Guam and Saipan and they all ran off
either the PE-95 or "base power" which was 110v 60Hz. Although not a ham,
he was the OIC of the Signal Detachment. Whether the '610 or the
'299/'399 will actually run off 50HZ power, I do not know. The TM's would
seem to indicate not. BTW, the Signal doctrine back then was not to plan
to use, nor depend on, indigenous power sources.

de K3HVG


Hi,

I, and a couple of other British BC-610 owners run our TXs from 50Hz mains,
in my case the domestic 230 V is stepped down to 110V using what is called a
"site transformer" - designed for outdoor power tools. The only drawback I
have noticed is the occasional loud rattling from the antenna relay when it
is powered-up, presumably its AC solenoid coil prefers 60Hz. Running the
whole TX off 220V would mean a swap of all power transformers and
mains-powered relays in the equipment, so IMHO it's much better to use a
step-down transformer of some sort to do the job and give additional shock
protection.

73 de G3VKM

"Jon Teske" wrote in message
...

I'm going a vague memory here, but one of the fellows did look like
Bill Halligan who 10 years later was often pictured in Hallicrafter's
ads. I remember he had a two letter suffix in his call and for some
reason I thought it was W9AN.

See www.geocities.com/w8jyz/W9AC.pdf

K3HVG wrote:
The SCR-299/399 were designed to run off 110VAC 60Hz. The PE-95 gas
generator is a 10KW 110v-only unit. I, personally, have never seen a
BC-610 running off 220v. In past discussions with my my Elmer, he
explained that they had SCR-399's on Guam and Saipan and they all ran
off either the PE-95 or "base power" which was 110v 60Hz. Although not
a ham, he was the OIC of the Signal Detachment. Whether the '610 or the
'299/'399 will actually run off 50HZ power, I do not know. The TM's
would seem to indicate not. BTW, the Signal doctrine back then was not
to plan to use, nor depend on, indigenous power sources.

If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still
see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with
us wherever we have gone.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Scott Dorsey wrote in :
K3HVG wrote:
The SCR-299/399 were designed to run off 110VAC 60Hz. The PE-95 gas
generator is a 10KW 110v-only unit. I, personally, have never seen a
BC-610 running off 220v. In past discussions with my my Elmer, he
explained that they had SCR-399's on Guam and Saipan and they all ran
off either the PE-95 or "base power" which was 110v 60Hz. Although not
a ham, he was the OIC of the Signal Detachment. Whether the '610 or the
'299/'399 will actually run off 50HZ power, I do not know. The TM's
would seem to indicate not. BTW, the Signal doctrine back then was not
to plan to use, nor depend on, indigenous power sources.

If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still
see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with
us wherever we have gone.

What He Said, regarding bases in ROK, RVN, Thailand, Japan, and other
places I was stationed. We USAF types always take at least one Power
Production type and something to generate 117 (or so) VAC or "220"
(usually 230-240 VAC) at 60 Hz, unless we're out in the boonies and
running off batteries. For the heavy-duty stuff, we always had 480 VAC
3-phase (wye or delta, depending) at 60-Hz.

--
It typically takes 25-30 gallons of petrol/diesel to fully-consume an
average-sized body under ideal conditions. That I am conversant with
this level of detail should serve as an indication of why the wise man
does not ask me questions about MS-Windows. --Tanuki the Raccoon-dog

Roger Basford Roger at new-gate dot co dot uk wrote:

I, and a couple of other British BC-610 owners run our TXs from 50Hz mains,
in my case the domestic 230 V is stepped down to 110V using what is called a
"site transformer" - designed for outdoor power tools. The only drawback I
have noticed is the occasional loud rattling from the antenna relay when it
is powered-up, presumably its AC solenoid coil prefers 60Hz. Running the
whole TX off 220V would mean a swap of all power transformers and
mains-powered relays in the equipment, so IMHO it's much better to use a
step-down transformer of some sort to do the job and give additional shock
protection.

Note that most of those construction site transformers are actually
autotransformers and don't give any real isolation. But it's true that
a shock at 110V is less nasty than a shock at 220V.

I'd tend to suggest real isolation transformers with electrostatic
shielding, if only because it prevents RF from getting onto your power
line grounding system and causing interference issues and a changed
antenna pattern.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Scott Dorsey wrote:
If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still
see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with
us wherever we have gone.

But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any (110 volt
power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the unit was to be
a portable radio station, not something you had to build a base around.

The cost of a "universal" power supply would not have been that
much higher.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote:
If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still
see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with
us wherever we have gone.

But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any (110 volt
power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the unit was to be
a portable radio station, not something you had to build a base around.

I thought France was still on 110 in those days. I've restored some
French sets both pre and post war, some I think were 110 only.

-Bill

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote:
If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still
see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with
us wherever we have gone.

But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any (110 volt
power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the unit was to be
a portable radio station, not something you had to build a base around.

Sure you would have! Wherever you have an SCR-299, a tent, and an
infantryman, there you have a military base.

The cost of a "universal" power supply would not have been that
much higher.

True, but not all that useful if you're carrying around a generator
anyway.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Bill M wrote:
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote:
If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still
see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with
us wherever we have gone.

But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any (110 volt
power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the unit was to be
a portable radio station, not something you had to build a base around.

I thought France was still on 110 in those days. I've restored some
French sets both pre and post war, some I think were 110 only.

France was spotty, with some places being 110 and other places being 220
and a few places having weird line frequencies too. This led to a legacy
of lots of weird incompatible light bulb bases too, which the EU is only
finally getting cleaned up.

Remember, this was an era when there were no large scale power grids,
and individual cities had their own generating plant and their own
standards. Well, Germany started to have a grid, but we took it out....
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."