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Any of you Com guys recognize this set-up? I think the M100 trailer must have a generator set in it.

Well, it is a little before my time but looks a lot like an RC-292 elevated ground plane antenna we used. Never seen one mounted on a vehicle though.

Mark

It may be a case of perspective, maybe the antenna is on the ground in front of the truck?

ChrisC wrote:It may be a case of perspective, maybe the antenna is on the ground in front of the truck?

Taking the perspective issue into consideration, I'd guess that the antenna is mounted on the forward end of the box. That would be the normal position, anyway.

I think it is mounted at the back of the truck, there looks to a cut in the cargo top for the antenna and also there looks to be support legs in a inverted V shape outlined by the end curtain.

Rick

I did some web surfing.

http://sill-www.army.mil/famag/1963/NOV ... _25_27.pdf

Here are the first two paragraphs.

Many United States Army field artillerymen stationed in Europe have seen the new German-made mount (mast pole, telescopic, crank operated, 6KBM) for the RC-292 antenna. This antenna mount fits on the rear of a 1/4-ton truck, and the antenna can be quickly erected by turning a crank. Although this mount represents an excellent, solution to the problem of swift assembly and erection of the RC-292, it is currently in short supply and its high cost (approximately $250) is a distinct disadvantage.

An alternate mount (fig 1) was fabricated and has been used successfully by one US Army unit for over a year. This mount is similar to the German-made mount, in that it uses several lengths of pipe in a nested arrangement. Although this mount was installed on an M151 1/4-ton truck, it can be easily adapted to larger vehicles. (See ARTILLERY TRENDS, January 1963, page 25, for an RC-292 mount for the M113 armored personnel carrier.)

It's a 292 antenna you can see guide ropes about half way up. I'm thinking it's ground mounted infront of the truck. What seems odd is the 1/4 ton m100 trailer behind the truck. Generally it was SOP not to tow trailers with bigger trucks. 3/4 ton could not pull a 1/4 ton and a 2.5 ton couldn't pull a M101 3/4 trailer etc. Hard to almost impossible to back the trailer up because it can't be seen in the mirros till it's jack-knifed.

I say two ninner two properly ground mounted.

The trailer has a power unit in it. I'll bet the M38 towed the trailer up there and dropped it off and the M37 backed up close enough to it to connect the power cord. I still think the antenna is mounted at the rear end of the bed to the "A" frame which you can make out against the rear curtain. I would say the truck is a semi-permanent set-up and the jeep delivers the generator the gas and the people for each shift.

I'm going with ground mounted - the guy wires are plainly evident connecting to the mast about halfway up. They are very faint in the picture, but one is easy to spot going over the jeeps roof...

An antenna that tall would have guy wires weather it was mounted in/on the truck or in/on the ground.
Here it is blowed up a few times. Sure looks like the mast comes right out of the fitting sticking thru the canvas roof which seems to be very well lined up with the Inverted V sections showing thru the rear canvas.

You may be right.... The evidence is starting to pile up in your favor...

Yep! I can also see the guy wires in the larger pic. They're much too close to the mast, though. A mild gust could probably topple it from the look of things/