TCS
The TCS was used in many different
applications. I have seen a picture of it in a tent in a
forward operating area, and heard of its use in vehicles from
jeeps (MZ radio jeep) to cruisers. Bill Henneberry
reported that the TRENTON CL-11 had some, and Norm Gertz
reported that the APPALACHIAN AGC-1 had 30 to 40 TCS sets
in the Troop Radio Room, used during the ship to shore phase
of a landing. An AGC was an amphibious assault control
ship.
My TCS set is more beat-up than a lot of my
equipment, and I have installed it in my car as a mobile,
using the 12V dynamotor supply and a 10-foot whip
antenna. On 3.8Mc AM I have only been able to work 6
miles, but more experimentation is
necessary. I am trying to simulate the
performance of the MZ radio jeep, which had a 15-foot
vertical.
On 7 and 10Mc CW, I have worked
stations out to around 1000miles while in motion.
While in the Master Oscillator
mode, the TCS is subject to a fair amount of "road
modulation", frequency instability due to vibration of the
set. It is not really noticeable in AM mode, but quite
obvious on a rough road in CW mode. I am experimenting
with crystal control of the transmitter to see if that
improves the stability.
I have found that although crystals in the
1.5 to 3Mc range are specified for the TCS, FT-243 crystals on
3.5 Mc can be used to give operation on the 80m and 40m
amateur bands.
The downside of using crystal control is
that the oscillator starts slowly, limiting keying
speed. Since this is mentioned in the manual I am
attributing it to design and not to poor performance of my
particular unit. Maybe the oscillator performs better
with crystals in the specified range.
