Commercial / military / clandestine equipment thread

[N8YX]

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

[KC8TCQ]

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

[N8YX]

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.

[W5BRM]

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

[KA5PIU]

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]

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 Attachment 4005you for your time, I included a photo of the front face.

[KK4AMI]

Attachment 4008Attachment 4009Attachment 4010Attachment 4011

[N8YX]

Mike,

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

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:



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

[KK4AMI]

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]

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.