MASH/Radio Equipment in Radar's office

[HamBanjo]

kind of a curiosity of mine has been to find out what the radio equipment that was in the office on the TV SHOW MASH.......
my guess is WWII equipment, but does anyone know Names, models, Bands, Capabilities, all info welcome,
and where i might get a set up like that???....lol
i already have a few crank phones so ill be ready with the switchboard i see on the set.....lol

ty and 73

 

[Rt169Radio]

Good question, another one would be what kind of antenna would it use? Long-wire perhaps?

 

[HamBanjo]

dont remember seeing any antennas in the show but now that you mention it, ill start looking when i see the show.....lol

 

[Jimru]

Have you been able to get any still shots of the rigs in question and match them to anything you can find online?

That is how I would start.

Happy hunting!

 

[mlmummert]

I haven't seen the show lately but I wouldn't count on it being an accurate radio setup. It is television after all, entertainment.


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[Ronaldski]

 

[HamBanjo]

ty Ronaldski

looking through pics was my next idea,,,,
been seeing a few along but had no luck so far....
but in searching im finding out all kinds of cool old history info and some awesome old videos...

ty and 73

 

[N5TWB]

I'm working strictly from memory but I recall Radar used the microphone for connecting to the PA system to announce incoming patients. When he was connecting to "Sparky" my recollection is that he cranked a telephone ringer while plugging into a switchboard. The photos shown above imply a radio with the dials and meters. Perhaps it was to talk to the helicopters???

 

[jhooten]

The primary purpose of the radio in Radar's office was to talk to the medevac choppers. It would have been in the VHF range and low power, probably made by Collins.

 

[KC0KM]

From what I recall, it was a telephone that was in the office. However, they did have a MARS connection, and other "Amateur Radio" connections (perhaps via the phone). When Hawkeye had tried to call home one time, a MARS station pickup on it, and made the connection. When they did the bris on the young child, it was done via radio to one of the ships. Even when Klinger got married, I think it was done by radio. No call signs where ever used, and do not know anything else, since I never really paid attention to it (even though I have the entire set on DVD).

 

[HamBanjo]

WOW......
Some awesome info guys thank you........
ive been looking at the Military phones/mag cranks, that ive seen on the show and the switchboard...( the next 2 items i want to add to my old phones collection, working of coarse, lol ) and have been curouos as to the radio..... and yeah my guess was for the choppers incoming, but I think ive also seen them trying to call units to move the shelling at times.......

 

[Ronaldski]

Lest we fergit when trying to work a deal.... calling Sparky !

 

[HamBanjo]

Lest we fergit when trying to work a deal.... calling Sparky !

hehehehehehe that gave me a giggle..... wish i could get him on the horn.....

 

[gewecke]

Those pics are a blast from the past!
Thanks for posting those.
I realized how old I'm (NOT) getting when I see pics of all those classic shows!

73,
n9zas

 

[QDP2012]

EHam.net had the same question in their forums

So did QRZ, but you will have to wade through some other comments to find useful info.

Hope this helps,

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

There was an episode where Radar stuck a metal wastebasket on top of the radio, then had the officers touch it and hold each other's hands to add to the antenna system. Once he got the info they needed, they all left, leaving Radar to tell the person...

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

on the other end, "I can't hear you, my antenna just walked out!" LOL

 

[HamBanjo]

from the qrz thread
""""W0HU
02-20-2009, 02:40 PM
What you are looking at in Radar's office was actually a model "T.E.D." radio transmitter. It was normally used with a "R.E.D." or R-390 type receiver. Yes, it is a "period" piece accurate in time to the Korean conflict. There were a couple of these on my ship, however, they were not in use.

W0HU""""""

"""""""The hand-held units were Motorola designed and built BC-611's. These were HF handies, usually in the neighborhood of 80 meters, with a couple watts output at most, with TUBES.

They were propular for a while in surplus circues, until people discovered they were not too useful because of the low power and cost of batteries to keep them running.

Gary WA7KKP""""""""""


"""""""The TED / RED equipment was mainly UHF stuff which we used for air operations and linking with the ships in our Task Group. Worked off crystals; generally a pain to change (run from the second deck up to the 07 level and back a dozen times or more every watch!).

K7KBN""""""""

wow and thanks for all the help guys.........
73 and have a great night

 

[AC2OY]

Great show and very interesting facts about the equipment.

 

[MrQ]

MASH equipment

I haven't seen the show lately but I wouldn't count on it being an accurate radio setup. It is television after all, entertainment.


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You are correct! Many items on the show are out of date - just a couple examples:
A chocolate (Hershey,s) bar given to a native has the Hersheys logo turned down but the bar code is plainly visible! In the club, a much more modern red helo is pictured on the wall (a "Huey"?), and many other date related mistakes are easy to notice on all the episodes.
Guess the production crew didn't realize how popular the series would be so didn't bother with such obvious mistakes.