[MilSurplus] TBW-5, TA-12D

[David Stinson]

Ronnie Parker wrote:

> I am in need of conversion copy prints for the TBW-5 transmitter
> and the TA-12D transmitter.....

The units are certainly your property and I
wouldn't presume to tell you what to do,
but please consider the perspective of a serious
collector of these historic radios.

The "modifications" to military equipment written about in
ham magazines during the 50s and 60s are almost universially
detrimental to the operation of the radios and certainly destroy
their value, both in a monetary and in a historic sense.
The anti-TVI mods, for example, turned out to be
totally wasted effort; the radios weren't defective-
poorly designed TVs and improper radio operation were the culprits.
I've done the work with modern analysis equipment to prove this.

Moreover, drilling one small hole in your TBW is a
sure and certain way to turn your $150 radio into
a $15 radio.  Most serious collectors will not
spend time or money on a drilled radio or one in which
major componants have been removed (unless it's really rare ;-).
The vast majority of these radios can be run without modification,
or with modifications that are 100% reversable
(meaning no drill holes or parts removed and lost).

Both of these fine radios can be run without modification
or with 100% reversable mods.  You'd need to pull the
rectifier tubes from the TBW and run external DC to the
power supply busses.  The TA-12 needs only power and/or
a modulator and some controls, all of which can be
mounted externally as the designers intended.

As a matter of personal principle, I never provide
any assistance when a historic radio is to be irrevokably modified;
too many of them have been destroyed already.
However, should you decide you would like to attempt to
run the radios without such modifications,
I will be glad to provide all the information
I have available to assist you.

Just the perspective of a serious collector, for what it's worth.

73 OM DE Dave Stinson AB5S
arc5 at ix.netcom.com

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