(c) 1999,2008 Peter McCollum
The "Village
Radios"
The "Village Radio Program" was sponsored by the CIA
during the Vietnam conflict, through a front organization known as the Office
of Public Safety (this series of radios are also known as "OPS
radios"). The purpose was to provide simple radios to the local civilians,
so that they could inform officials of Viet Cong activities. The radios were
built under contract with Radio Industries (a subsidiary of Hallicrafters,
purchased in 1963), and included the HT-1, the HT-2, the TR-5 "Hamlet
Radio", the TR-20 "Village Radio", and probably the TR-35A,
among others. HT-1 units that have come into surplus channels recently are
unmarked - earlier units have ID plates. Radios in the OPS series were used in
other places in addition to Southeast Asia.
An HT-1E handheld transceiver. Author's collection.
The case of the HT-1 is made of a piece of extruded aluminum,
with a cap-plate on each end. The bottom plate covers the battery compartment,
which contains 8 "D" cells. The radio operates from 30-40 MC AM,
crystal-controlled on a single channel, with a power output of 0.5 watts. Input
power is 12 VDC, 0.18 amps (transmit). Several versions were made, including
the HT-1A through HT-1E.
Early versions of the HT-1 had a "destruct button"
near the bottom of the case, near the antenna base. This button did not
detonate an explosive; rather, pressing the button and the PTT switch at the
same time would blow a 125 mA fuse on the circuit board, thus rendering the
radio inoperable by disabling both the audio driver and transmit oscillator
stages. In the field, users had instructions that if they were ever out of
radio contact that they should return to base. So, when a user became nervous
in the jungle, he would sometimes "destruct" his radio, so that he
had a good excuse to return to the village. For this reason, the destruct
button was eliminated from later models. The internal fuse was replaced with a
wire. The HT-1A manual says that the destruct circuit was not included on all
radios. The schematic indicates the wiring changes if the button is present. By
the time of the HT-1E, the destruct button is mentioned only in the disassembly
procedure (probably erroneously) – the wiring for the button is gone from the
schematic. [Note: The HT-1E schematic is missing a connection that is required
for the transmit oscillator. This connection was probably removed by mistake
when the destruct circuit was being removed.]
Schematic diagram of
the HT-1E (265 KB)
The HT-2 is a dual-band version of the HT-1. The TR-5
"Hamlet Radio" probably has a power output of about 5 W (no other
info known at this time).
An HT-2, with dual-band
capability. Image courtesy of Bill Howard.
The TR-20 "Village Radio" is a hybrid tube/transistor
"base station" transceiver with a 20 watt output, and it operates
from 30-40 MC. It has a Destruct button similar to the early HT-1 which, when
pressed, blows a concealed fuse. The TR-20's front panel is labeled in both
English and Vietnamese. One TR-20 unit (serial #0233F, owned by Mike Zane), has
component markings indicating it was likely made in early 1964. The front panel
layout is somewhat different from serial #A101. Both units are pictured below.
A TR-20 transceiver, serial
A101. Image courtesy of Keith Snyder.
Another type of TR-20,
serial 0233F. Differences include the location for the Destruct switch, and a
lack of a Key jack. Image courtesy of Mike Zane.
A close-up of the TR-20
panel, showing the destruct switch and Vietnamese markings. Image courtesy of
Keith Snyder.
TR-20 schematic, part
1 of 3 (169 KB)
TR-20 schematic, part
2 of 3 (185 KB)
TR-20 schematic, part
3 of 3 (136 KB)
Hallicrafters TR-35A
The following pictures are of a TR-35A, circa 1966, which tunes
2-9 MC with a power input of 35 watts. The set operates from 110 VAC or 12 VDC.
It is likely another member of the Village Radio program. Images courtesy of
Gary W9NU.
“This radio has a solid state receiver and operates on CW or AM.
The transmitter uses a 7905 oscillator tube and a 4604 final tube. Both these
tubes have instant-heating filaments to reduce the stand-by current
drain. The weight is 28 pounds. This transceiver was built while the
"Jungle War" was in full swing in Vietnam. It's possible a
CIA clandestine operations specialist picked up a pair of these radios at Fort
Monmouth, NJ before his long flight to SE Asia. For security reasons, he was
instructed to remove the Hallicrafters tag, but decided to leave the h on the mic to remind him of the hell he was going to. Perhaps
one of the radios was given to a "friendly" in Laos or Cambodia who
became his radio contact. Maybe this radio played a part in Operation Junction
City in 1967 or in the 1968 Tet Offensive. I guess we will never know its
history, but I suspect that it did not see any "action", due to its
superb condition. I will bet that the Hallicrafters production tag was removed
after it was decommissioned.”
