# MILITARY COMMUNICATION SHELTERS use



## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

This one is my hamshack, right now it is being upgraded, been in operation since 1995








This shows the tower which I have installed the new HF vertical on, it has not been extended yet.
It will be run up 50 feet, with antenna attached it will be 75 feet high, still not over the trees though.









Entrance door, EMP proof, Look at the roller latching system when shut it is air, RF and electrical proof.
The smaller door accepts NBC filters, And the unit has forced ventilation by blower in the rear upper corners.








This frame shows the operating station with HF and VHF equipment set up for packet and RTTY.
Not all units have been reinstalled yet.
The receiver under the Coleman lantern is an R-392, it is EMP proof, and one of the best HF receivers going.
The units to the left of it are GRC-106's, primarily for RTTY, but work on CW and SSB, 600 watts out.
Below them is my Ameritron AL-811H linear amplifier, when tuned right it will emit 875 watts.
The 106's will RX and TX from the broadcast band right thru 30 MC continous.








This final one shows on the left my six meter equipment, a couple of antenna tuners and meters,
and an older FSK unit which is still in service. The spool of 550 paracord is for stringing Wire Dipole antennas.








Sorry about he sideways pics could not rotate them.
I have twelve of the shelters, great for food storage, they are rat and bug proof, made completely from aluminum.
They have airframe construction and are well insulated.
They cost the military around $17,000.00 each IIRC.
The configuration is my own doing, they originally came with time and frequency division telephone repeaters in them, which I sold and got the shelters for nothing out of it.
When completed, the cammo netting will be put back up, you can see it just to the right of the shelter on the ground.
The unit is grounded in two places with two inch wide grounding straps(see below power entrance) which run into a copper grid under the ground to disperse any high energy load.
The Coleman is to heat it up, it does have an electric heater on the floor, once everything is turned on it will pretty much heat itself up.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Impressive SOCOM42!


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## rstanek (Nov 9, 2012)

Very good, is it connected to the grid for power or completely independent?


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## Targetshooter (Dec 4, 2015)

Cool set up , great job .


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## AnotherSOFSurvivor (Sep 7, 2016)

This gave me a commoboner.

We use the same shelters still on 1065s

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## rstanek (Nov 9, 2012)

It's comforting to know that these kind of communications exist


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

rstanek said:


> Very good, is it connected to the grid for power or completely independent?


In normal operation it is hooked to the grid, power out I have three generators to power it.

No solar, if you look the trees prohibit it, they are anywhere up to 120 feet tall, average is about 100.

Power changeover is only a couple of min's.

The DC power supply in the lower right rear partially hidden is rated at 24VDC @ 80 amps continuous.


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## MaterielGeneral (Jan 27, 2015)

Impressive, lots of money invested?


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

MaterielGeneral said:


> Impressive, lots of money invested?


Not really, about four thousand.


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## Oddcaliber (Feb 17, 2014)

Quite the setup,all I've got is a smart phone!


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Oddcaliber said:


> Quite the setup,all I've got is a smart phone!


I don't have one of those!

Mine is just a plain ol flip phone which gets 3-5 minutes a month usage.


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## Boss Dog (Feb 8, 2013)

THAT, is too COOL! I used to travel with and work in something very similar to those in the Navy.


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## RedLion (Sep 23, 2015)

Awesome set-up.


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## 6811 (Jan 2, 2013)

Awesome is an understatement. This is the ultimate comms prep I have ever seen, the "cool" factor alone rates it up there. Wow...


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## azrancher (Dec 14, 2014)

S-280 shelter for a CUCV? $2,500 on ebarf.

*Rancher*


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## AnotherSOFSurvivor (Sep 7, 2016)

I had the opportunity to snag a GRC213 set with the old Hughes PRC104 RT set - had a NVIS and SOROK to go along with it, we coded it out and DRMO wouldnt take it - still kick myself for that.

I keep drooling over your setup - only "nicer" modern approach to it is the new M1085A2 with MSQ12...it provides 3 server stacks/enclaves for Secret/Unclass/Colorless comms, 30k genset, 10m HNR mast with 4 hookups for OE254/COM201B (VHR omni antennas), 25m for grounding straps for a matrix and enough camo nets to cover the motor pool

Had front and rear points to erect QEAM 15m masts for for VHF comms, NCW satt and JCR sat for C4ISR/ABC2S and even had a mount in the cab for 1 VRC104, 2 117Gs and a ROVER for Pred/UAS feeds.

HF is a lost art in the Army outside of special ops and even then most new 18Es used PRC137s instead of "real HF"

Had some grizzled old TS that still insisted on keeping PSC5s, GRC213s, RS1s and PRC77s on the books for backup...good damn times

Have you seen those 40mm "antenna" grenades? Could shoot lead wire for the RS1 up into trees, also learned dunking HF ants in rivers leads to crystal clear comms

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