Commercial / military / clandestine equipment thread [Archive]

N8YX

09-03-2008, 09:40 AM

Who on here collects or uses surplus military, commercial or "clandestine" radio equipment?

I was poking around the 'Net a bit this morning when I came across the Cubic Ambassador ad below - on Universal Radio's website. That particular rig (along with its attendant gel-cell equipped suitcases) currently resides in my shack..as do a couple of its 'kin'. I had to do quite a bit of repair work to bring the radio back to operational status but it now works FB.

The set was released in the early 80s and offers continuous coverage from 1.6-30MHz; USB/LSB/CW/AME modes. 100w out. I designed and implemented a mod whereas the rig now operates in 'true' AM; no BFO injection on receive and both sidebands present on transmit.

Cubic built them like tanks. They even had TCXO units for high stability. Two of mine are also fitted with DSP units which are controlled via one of the front-panel paddle switches.

A rackmount version - the Astro DR - was offered. I would LOVE to lay my mitts on one...

http://www.universal-radio.com/USED/sold094.html

http://www.universal-radio.com/USED/UD76lrg.jpg

KC8TCQ

09-03-2008, 11:19 AM

I don't but a local ham collects and operates military radios, Bryan KB8ELG, he might be able to help.

N8YX

09-03-2008, 11:25 AM

An ITT Mackay Marine 3031A receiver. .01-30MHz; AM/USB/RTTY/CW/CW w/ variable BFO; 'standard' filters are 8/4/2.2/1/0.4 KHz; also had as an option a 0.5KHz RTTY filter. This was standard in the "AR" versions. The 3030A and 3030AR differed from the 31 in that the 30 series used thumbwheel switches for determining operating frequency - rather than a PLL/optoencoder tuning arrangement.

Mackay also offered a 3041 - which came standard with an "LSB" crystal filter (and mode-switch designation) instead of the usual "RTTY" selection. Not too many were made as almost all HF SSB communications utilized USB.

I have one of each of the 3031A and 3030AR. Still looking for the elusive 3041A in decent shape.

http://www.qsl.net/n4xy/Images/Electronics/Ham_Radio/Receivers/rcvr_itt-mackay-marine_3031a.jpg

W5BRM

09-04-2008, 08:44 AM

Look up Elaine WA6UBE. she is a collector of milgear. She is on youtube account and has video of some of her stuff.

KA5PIU

09-06-2008, 04:18 PM

Hello.

I think that "Green" radios are cool!
Things like police radio I try to avoid.
That is also sort of how I think.

KK4AMI

03-05-2011, 10:07 AM

N8YX,
I've seen your call letters in many places in reference to Cubic radio equipment. I am new to Ham radio. Having retired recently, I decided to test for Technician and General under the No Code rules. Back in 2003 I picked up an old Cubic Transceiver while I was overseas for the military. This is going to be my first radio in my new hobby. Now getting it working will be part of the thrill and my practical training. My best guess about the transceiver is that its an old Cubic RT-1131 or Cubic Ambassador in a green motif. It has a Bendix 14S-6 pin power plug that I vaguely have an idea how to hook my Astron VS-20M power supply to. I was wondering if you could give me a clue. Do you have for purchase any manuals and schematics for the Cubic Ambassador. I think this is the closest relative to the RT-1131. It will undoubtedly need repairs. Thank 4005you for your time, I included a photo of the front face.

KK4AMI

03-06-2011, 04:56 PM

4008400940104011

N8YX

03-07-2011, 07:48 AM

Mike,

Just when you thought you had seen ALL the Cubics, the company sneaks yet another one past you! :lol:

Looking at the inside of that rig, it appears to be somewhat of a cross between an Astro B and an Astro D. The TX, RX, BPF, IF, Loop and a couple other boards look very similar to those used in the other Astros.

I have schematics and alignment info for the majority of the sub-assemblies used in your rig. The synthesizer is another matter entirely. What I think they did is to employ a pre-loadable BCD counter to set the loop divide-by modulus; this differs a bit from the "D" in that it uses a rotary encoder/counter which can up- or down-count from a fixed starting point and thereby set the modulus.

Most of the chips used in the rig should be present in my junk box. The CMOS stuff in the counter is the rig's Achilles Heel but if can be replaced if needed.

Cubic used a standard color-code when running its interface wiring. Attached to the Bendix connector you mentioned there should be red (positive) and blue (negative) Teflon-insulated wires. That should get you started with a DC hook-up.

The "REM"(ote) connector on the back panel is intriguing. I believe I have a longwire auto-tuner which may be part of that setup, as deployed in the field. I also have another of the PA fan assemblies, though I was considering fitting it to my Astro-150R (which was a Dayton find last year).

I don't know if you have ever seen the following:

http://www.american-milspec.com/m-11-cubic.aspx

But they appear to have your power supply:

http://www.american-milspec.com/images/Product/medium/p1810d.jpg

Might be worth calling those folks and inquiring about it...

KK4AMI

03-07-2011, 08:25 AM

Thanks for the info. We guessed RT-1131 from an old 1985 Janes Electronics and Communications book. I've seen that power supply, but its 28 Volt and has a 5 pin plug. I swear my radio is a 13.8 Volt system. I looked up all the RF power transistors (MRF433, SD1285 and MRF412) they appear to all be 13.8 Volt. Your wiring reference is right on the money. I think I do have a failed MR750 diode (date coded 1985) across the radios power socket, I am going to replace that.

NQ6U

03-07-2011, 12:08 PM

N8YX

03-07-2011, 12:31 PM

Cubic is still in business, a local San Diego company. They bought out the old Swan line of ham radio equipment but, of course, they're not in that market anymore. They do a lot of work on automatic fare collection machines used in public transit; I used to do the computer grunt-work on the artwork they used for screen printing the front panels of some of their equipment.

BTW, I have a Cubic-branded Swan antenna tuner in my shack that's got to be at least 35 years old. Nothing special, but it still works fine after all these years.
They still do a lot with milcomms equipment.

Which tuner do you have? The "amateur" (silver/rootbeer front panel) or the "commercial" (dull aluminum w/ black lettering)? It took me 5 years to find one of the latter and I have yet to repaint the covers to match their "original" commercial finish - a bluish gray.

NQ6U

03-07-2011, 12:37 PM

They still do a lot with milcomms equipment.

That must be what they do at the Oceanside plant. I worked with the facility on Kearney Mesa.

Which tuner do you have? The "amateur" (silver/rootbeer front panel) or the "commercial" (dull aluminum w/ black lettering)? It took me 5 years to find one of the latter and I have yet to repaint the covers to match their "original" commercial finish - a bluish gray.

It's the ST-3B:

http://hamradioware.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/-163002904909905630.jpg

Mine doesn't look as nice as this one, though--the lettering around the inductance knob is pretty worn.

N8YX

03-07-2011, 12:47 PM

I have a couple of those and a -3C. Several -5Cs. An ST-2B (2kW ham tuner) and its quasi-"commercial" brother the ST-2R.

What's addicting is collecting (and using) the gear which goes along with the tuners. There are two Astro 150C transceivers and a PSU-5C in the lineup, and a bunch more of their amateur-band equivalents. My -Cs cover some of the ham bands as well as a lot of commercial spectrum.

An even rarer bird is the 150A w/ brushed aluminum front panel. It's essentially a commercial rig which covers the ham bands and is labeled as such. I have never seen another.

NQ6U

03-07-2011, 12:55 PM

N8YX

03-07-2011, 01:15 PM

Do you know when those things were manufactured? I figured late 60s, which would make it the oldest piece of equipment in my shack (after myself, of course).

ON EDIT: Second oldest; I have a WW II vintage J-38 key.
As near as I can figure out, the original Swan ST-3 (black face) was manufactured from early 1977 through late 1978; the ST-3B was made from '78 through '83. I have no idea how long the ST-3C or the attendant radios/PSUs were manufactured but I remember seeing the "commercial" 150A which I mentioned listed for sale in a 1983 edition of QST.

That particular amateur rig - as advertised - came as part of a suitcase arrangement. Unusual in that Cubic's portable, all-in-one offerings were for the most part commercial/aero-mobile band rigs, and the rigs utilized a multi-pin Amphenol plug/jack on the rear panel for peripheral ingress/egress - this opposed to the "amateur" rig's RCA / 1/4" phono jack interfacing scheme. All of mine are capable of supporting a voice scrambling device, though I have no idea what type may have been used.

N8YX

03-07-2011, 05:17 PM

Since we're actively discussing this equipment, I'm going to throw a couple "Wanted" listings out in the hopes that search-engine spiders will find this thread and the right people will in turn read it.

Wanted - the following equipment. Must be in very good to excellent shape mechanically and physically complete. I can fix electrical gremlins, so non-working units will be considered:

1) ITT Mackay Marine 3040A, 3041A. These units are similar to the 3030AR (thumbwheel tuned) and 3031A (VFO/optical encoder tuned) receivers, except they had an "LSB" position on their Mode switch along with accompanying filter. (The 303x series - in particular, the 303xAR - came with a RTTY filter as delivered from Mackay.)

2) Cubic Astro DR - this is a rack-mount version of the Astro D which I posted earlier in the thread.

3) "Commercial" Cubic accessories - what have you? An S1000 amplifier would make a nice addition to my shack, as would their remote, high-powered autotuner.

I'll post my Mackay 'wants' to the appropriate Yahoo group as well.

sirdrakejr

09-03-2011, 04:20 PM

There is a Cubic "Astro Dr" transceiver for sale on eBay today.
Frank
KL7IPV

N8YX

09-03-2011, 04:52 PM

There is a Cubic "Astro Dr" transceiver for sale on eBay today.
Frank
KL7IPV
Frank,

Welcome to the site - and thanks for the heads-up!

n2ize

09-03-2011, 05:09 PM

Cubic is still in business, They do a lot of work on automatic fare collection machines used in public transit;

In other words they are involved in tracking and spying on the masses. We all know those "far collection machines" are scanning us and sending our info to secret agencies.

W3WN

09-03-2011, 08:23 PM

There is a Cubic "Astro Dr" transceiver for sale on eBay today.
Frank
KL7IPVHey,

Welcome aboard! Tell the barkeep first one's on me, just have him add it to my tab.

NQ6U

09-03-2011, 08:25 PM

Welcome to the Island, Frank. Tell the barkeep to put all the rest of tonight's drinks on my tab.

WØTKX

09-03-2011, 09:12 PM

Frank has arrived, and resurrected a cool old thread. Bravo, and welcome to the IOMH.

I'd love to have one of the Ten Tec "spook" radios, but they are $pendy.

KG4CGC

09-04-2011, 01:33 AM

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/bebop5/drinks/af7c45b6.jpg

sirdrakejr

09-04-2011, 10:03 PM

I tried to open a bar tab but the bar keep mumbled something about "not them again" and I left. :)
Frank

N8YX

09-09-2011, 04:18 PM

"There is a Cubic "Astro Dr" transceiver for sale on eBay today."

Frank,

Welcome to the site - and thanks for the heads-up!

4637

The radio shown here is now headed to my QTH:

4638

I played a high-stakes game of chicken with the reserve vs the bid amount and had a couple other tricks up my sleeve to boot. What probably helped me snag this is that the PA appears to be bad - but I have a spare set of drivers, PA transistors and a gazillion of the pre-drivers which were used in almost all of Cubic's 100w-class HF rigs.

The seller indicated that an Icom 735 is "much more radio" than this set. He is correct. No interference-fighting controls, SSB/CW/AME only, no memories, single VFO.

But the latest acquisition matches the other "R" series Cubic stuff I have in the shack. There is one of 20 known 'Cubic Kilowatts' in process of restoration downstairs and this transceiver will be the icing on the cake. A friend and fellow Cubic enthusiast said since about 2000 he's only seen one "R" series transceiver (a Astro 150R 80-10M amateur bands unit) offered on eBay for sale - and none at any other hamfest he's ever attended. For that matter, neither have I. Last year at Dayton I was damn lucky to stumble onto a 150R and PSU-7R PS/patch/speaker assembly, and I knew where an ST-2R rack-mount tuner was hiding. The 'dumb luck' part of all of it started when I answered a QTH ad for what I thought was a Cubic 1500ZA amplifier. Little did I realize what I would be getting in the mail was actually a ZR...

I suppose the money I spent can be rationalized by all the gas money I didn't burn trying to find one of these.

Frank - I owe you a beverage for the heads-up. To be honest, I wasn't even looking for a -DR at the time!

KK4AMI

09-09-2011, 04:26 PM

You do realize that you are to be considered "The National Cubic Radio Resource" now. Starting to wish I kept mine now.

N8YX

09-09-2011, 04:35 PM

You do realize that you are to be considered "The National Cubic Radio Resource" now. Starting to wish I kept mine now.
I am going to start working on a Cubic-related site and would love to host the service/operations manuals...IF there are no copyright issues involved. I think Brock Publications is still offering them and that could pose a problem.

Would have been neat to get a look inside that .mil unit you had. Judging from the material you sent to me it was a cross between an Astro-D and one of their fixed-channel units - the Astro A or B, neither of which I have at the moment. Perhaps the thing could have been a mil-spec 'C' unit? It had thumbwheel switches for setting the frequency, correct?

KK4AMI

09-09-2011, 04:40 PM

I am going to start working on a Cubic-related site and would love to host the service/operations manuals...IF there are no copyright issues involved. I think Brock Publications is still offering them and that could pose a problem.

Would have been neat to get a look inside that .mil unit you had. Judging from the material you sent to me it was a cross between an Astro-D and one of their fixed-channel units - the Astro A or B, neither of which I have at the moment. Perhaps the thing could have been a mil-spec 'C' unit? It had thumbwheel switches for setting the frequency, correct?

No, it had push buttons, one for up frequency and one for down frequency. Each wheel then went up or down numbered 0 to 9.

N8YX

09-09-2011, 04:47 PM

No, it had push buttons, one for up frequency and one for down frequency. Each wheel then went up or down numbered 0 to 9.

That makes sense, considering it would be used in a contaminating environment. Maybe the ruggedized version of the C...but none of the literature I have here describes such a beast.

The Achilles Heel (and there always is one) lies with Cubic's choice of CMOS ICs in the divide-by PLL logic. Last time I had one of my -Ds in the lineup its PLL failed and I think I'm going to have to replace every 4000-series chip on that board. :(

There may be a fix: Its 1st LO tunes from 45-75MHz and I'm half-tempted to design a DDS/PIC-based unit as a replacement, complete with LED driver circuitry.

KK4AMI

09-09-2011, 05:16 PM

That makes sense, considering it would be used in a contaminating environment. Maybe the ruggedized version of the C...but none of the literature I have here describes such a beast.

The Achilles Heel (and there always is one) lies with Cubic's choice of CMOS ICs in the divide-by PLL logic. Last time I had one of my -Ds in the lineup its PLL failed and I think I'm going to have to replace every 4000-series chip on that board. :(

There may be a fix: Its 1st LO tunes from 45-75MHz and I'm half-tempted to design a DDS/PIC-based unit as a replacement, complete with LED driver circuitry.

That will make you a hero. I still think it was an R-1131. Might have been built as an export radio. If I remember correctly, there were two foreign (French) 8 bit processors installed to replace the US 16bit chip they seem to replace. That could have been done by the Iraqis, or Cubic could have done it to get around export restrictions back then. Anyway, it looked too complicated to fool with so I passed it on cheap at a Hamfest. I'm happy with the Alinco DX70 and now its got more coverage then the Cubic :shhh:

sirdrakejr

09-13-2011, 12:15 AM

I am happy to have been of service in parting you from your money and adding another radio to your shelf! :clap:
Frank

N8YX

09-17-2011, 09:53 AM

Astro-DR arrived this morning. Preliminary inspection shows that the 6p Molex connector which Cubic used as a power receptacle is missing - and in its place is an assortment of crimp-on wire nuts and bullet connectors. Warming up iron now to deal with this mess...

N8YX

09-17-2011, 05:13 PM

Bad front panel board (burned-up trace) and the spare board I have on hand has a bad 4069 hex inverter (this interfaces to the optical encoder and mic tuning circuits). Warming up desoldering iron to free a switch then it's onto the trace.

K7SGJ

09-17-2011, 07:18 PM

If you had another hand, you'd need another tool.

sirdrakejr

09-18-2011, 12:37 AM

Aah, the small of a hot soldering iron!! :-D
Frank

N8YX

09-18-2011, 06:17 AM

More than I thought wrong with the rig and I need to order parts. Back on the shelf it goes for a bit.

N8YX

09-18-2011, 11:43 AM

Thus far:

One bad 100hz synthesizer board (previous owner's fault)

One bad synthesizer control board (my fault - don't ask) :oops:

One possibly bad transmitter board (again...) :oops:

I had a spare 100hz board along with a spare transmitter board and swiped a good control board out of one of the "working" Astros to verify that the newly installed assemblies fixed the issues that were discovered. So far, so good...just need to connect dummy load to rig this evening and verify TX power. If that checks out then I'll button it up, replace the meter lamp and the rig is good to go.

A sheetload of ICs have been ordered for this project and I probably won't use them all. Any other Cubic enthusiasts who come across this thread in the future might want to contact me if you're having trouble finding parts for your rig.

NQ6U

09-18-2011, 12:18 PM

A sheetload of ICs have been ordered for this project [...]

Is that a metric sheetload or an imperial sheetload?

N8YX

09-18-2011, 12:51 PM

Is that a metric sheetload or an imperial sheetload?
A long sheetload.

Got quantity price breaks on a number of parts and figured I might as well lay a stash of spares in, as the Astro's synthesizer is almost wholly constructed of off-the-shelf (albeit some obsolete) CMOS and Schottky logic ICs.

n2ize

09-19-2011, 07:05 PM

Hello

N8YX

09-20-2011, 04:57 AM

Hello
<- The APU is over that - a -way.

N8YX

09-25-2011, 10:42 AM

Fixed.

Decided to have a go at troubleshooting the PA problem yesterday so I buttoned the rig up and connected the peripherals. Wattmeter attached along with dummy; key mic while in CW mode...and the over-power/SWR trip circuits activated, with almost 200w showing on the meter!

Hmmm...reset the TX PO and meter/SWR protection circuits per the manual, set the AME, CW, Tune and SSB power levels...and things look good. Except at certain points of the HF spectrum, where power drops markedly and the radio goes into 'fault' condition.

This is a wide-band TX design. No tuned circuits save the switched low-pass filter which immediately follows the PA. Since I have a spare module on-hand (in another radio) I decide to try swapping them.

Bingo! 100mW ouput everywhere!

Wait wut ??!!??

At this point none of the power-setting controls have any effect at all on the carrier level and SSB output is nonexistent. This tells me that something's amiss with the DSB generator (on the TX board) or the SSB filtering section (on the RX board).

Plug scope in, connect to rig and pull the "SSB Out" mini-cable from the RX board to see if it's outputting an SSB signal...and there it is.

Does anyone remember the little RG-174 plug/jack assembly which was very popular in the 70s and 80s for interconnecting RF modules? The one which Drake, Swan, Cubic and several other manufacturers used, and which the guys at Drake used to call "lunar landers"? The one which uses the center conductor of the '174 as its "center pin"?

Know what happens when that conductor is bent and doesn't make contact with the female portion of the assembly on the board? It works...sometimes. We may ostensibly chalk this one up to a previous owner and the fix was a lot cheaper than replacing PA transistors!

Application of the needle-nose and setting power adjustments now gives me 100w out everywhere - all modes. AME was set for a max carrier power of 25w and the radio will generate around 50w PEP at that setting with 90% modulation. (I devised a way to implement true DSB TX with these rigs and may mod this one at a later date, using a companion Mackay receiver for AM RX.)

So...I now have a completely working -DR (the only one I've seen for sale in 10 years) along with a pile of faulty modules to troubleshoot and repair.

Pix forthcoming when she's racked. Hope to work some of you folks on the air with this setup.

K7SGJ

09-25-2011, 10:48 AM

Well done. Usually, the simple fixes, are the hardest to find. BTW, I love pictures of her racked.

sirdrakejr

09-25-2011, 11:59 PM

Did I tell you about that radio KNOWING it would be racked? Darn. :)
Frank

N8YX

09-26-2011, 03:35 AM

Look what just popped up for sale:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CUBIC-ASTRO-D-AMBASSADOR-HF-HAM-TRANSCEIVER-ANTENNA-TUNER-POWER-SUPPLY-/360396705381?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e9514e65

It has the voice scrambler leads and all other issued accessories...but that price is a little high, considering the other suitcase (with backup battery and charger) is missing.

Chris

09-26-2011, 03:56 PM

The R71 and R7000 served with NSA for a while. They bought them by the pallet, outfitted with options that were deemed needed. That's as close to spook radio as I have got so far.

W3WN

09-27-2011, 08:51 AM

< snip >
A sheetload of ICs have been ordered for this project and I probably won't use them all. Any other Cubic enthusiasts who come across this thread in the future might want to contact me if you're having trouble finding parts for your rig.Is that an African sheetload or a European sheetload?

...and a round of applause for getting the rig up & running ...

N8YX

10-01-2011, 09:23 AM

Is that an African sheetload or a European sheetload?
Which ever is larger; there's parts here if we need 'em.

...and a round of applause for getting the rig up & running ...

In staging position within the rack. "Staging" means I've got to build a bunch more rack ears and supports before I can put the rest of the gear into place. The Mackay receiver chassis are wide enough to be supported by just the ears while the Cubic equipment needs a cross brace (or two, depending on the weight) underneath.

4708

Astute viewers will note that there are no excuses. :rofl:

I had to order a bunch of oval-head panel screws and non-marring panel washers (100ea) in order to mount all this stuff and will probably have a few spares if anyone needs them.

WØTKX

10-01-2011, 09:34 AM

You and your 11 meter fetish... :lol:

N8YX

10-01-2011, 09:49 AM

You and your 11 meter fetish... :lol:
I coulda parked that thing on 14.313 for the photo and sent the ham community into meltdown ... :whistle:

Astro-150R now on the bench to get fixed. Perfect weekend for it: Rainy and cold...but I promised 'DSG I would fix her sweeper first.

N8YX

10-01-2011, 12:33 PM

The R71 and R7000 served with NSA for a while. They bought them by the pallet, outfitted with options that were deemed needed. That's as close to spook radio as I have got so far.
4x each variety here. Recently restored an R-71A (as related in the "Tale" thread) and I have a pair of R-7000s which just showed up. One needs fixing. Both need the RC-12 units and I'm going to fit the SGC ADSP2 later on.

Dived into that Astro-150R and spent the last two hours changing the darned fuse holder. Now to get all of its various boards checked out in one of my test rigs and install them ...

N8YX

10-02-2011, 01:54 PM

Dived into that Astro-150R and spent the last two hours changing the darned fuse holder. Now to get all of its various boards checked out in one of my test rigs and install them ...
'150R now "fixed". Everything repaired - rather, a working set of boards was identified and placed into the chassis. I did have to remove and replace the Major Loop Board, swapping it with one from a known good unit...it'll be fixed later.

Cosmetics (including a meter swap) and a final alignment are the only things left to be done then it's on to the mountain of defective boards. Luckily I have about a dozen of these rigs tucked away so I can fix them one at a time.

Pics as soon as this one is completed.

N8YX

10-03-2011, 07:26 PM

Had to swap another receiver board (10 minutes) and the meter (4 hours...!) but the radio is almost fully complete. A few more knobs to put back into place then on to the test bench it goes for a final alignment before racking.

TX puts out 100w everywhere.

I created a new Yahoo group to discuss these rigs, buy/sell parts, whatever. Link is in my sig line, and over the winter I may put up the Cubic-specific website which has been under contemplation for a while. Frankly, I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet.