November 22, 2011

WWII Film - Hallicrafters: Voice of Victory - SCR-299


In 1944, Hallicrafters teamed up with the US Army Signal Corp to produce this interesting training film called, "Hallicrafters: Voice of Victory".  The technical advisor of the film was W9AA - Cyrus T. Reed.  This film shows the assembly and testing of big iron Hallicrafters radio SCR-299.  When we write "big" we mean "BIG" (takes up the better part of a truck and two men to load).
This film would likely be of great interest to Hallicrafters enthusiasts,  SCR-299 owner this film, and people interested in the role of US amateur radio in winning World War 2.  This film runs about 14 minutes.  We hope you will agree it is a rather amazing and unique work.

A few things to look for (list courtesy of K0OD):
  • 3:32 - Listen for the replica (no hams on air in '42) vintage CQ and exchange. Notice the op manually switches off the transmitter and tunes his SX-28 receiver after his CQ. Most callers would have been crystal controlled and on a different frequency.
  • 7:42 - Shot of early 2 element beam rotating on what looks like a wood tower.
  • 12:20 - Ugly soldering iron.
  • 12:45 - Assembly line worker using power hoists to position the heaviest parts.
  • 17:05 - Light bulbs used as a "dummy antenna". 


SCR-299 Advertisement circa 1942


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