Trip to Phoenix

b28_82

Member
I am going to be in Phoenix, AZ for about 3 weeks from 29 Oct-16 Nov and I was hoping that I could get together with some of you that live in the area. Maybe even show me some clubs down there while I'm there. I will have the weekends off including Veteran's day. Hope to hear from ya.
Jake
 

TrainNut

Ditat Deus
Oh sure... now that the scorch of summer is tapering off!!!!:p Smart move!:thumb: I'm sure we can work something out possibly with quite a few of us at the same time! What part of the valley will you be staying in?
 

b28_82

Member
I'll find out next week when I know what hotel the other guys are staying at. I'm mainly going to be there for work evaluating a radar or two at the Air Guard Unit so I suppose not far from there.
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
Well, you'll be here just in time to go to the train show on Nov 3. Yeah, I'm sure we can get a few of us together and meet with you. The air guard is at Sky Harbor, so I'm assuming that's where you'll be working and probably staying nearby. Just keep us posted.
 
N

nachoman

well, your employer picked the best time to be here, weather wise! You have an awfully considerate employer to not send you here when it was 115!

Kevin
 

b28_82

Member
It was all in the schedule for the team that goes around to evaluate radars. This guy does the type of radars I work on and asked us to help him since he's short on people. The Air Force has been generous to me in the timing of quite a few things in the 7 yrs I've been in.
 

b28_82

Member
Oh i just looked it up. Looks like I'll be somewhere on the Papago Military reservation if that rings any bells.
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
Oh i just looked it up. Looks like I'll be somewhere on the Papago Military reservation if that rings any bells.
That's the Arizona National Guard. It sits just on the west end of Scottsdale on the edge of Papago Park. I suspect that since they fly helicopters out of there, they'd have some radar there as well.

But, better yet, if you hang around long enough, there'll be a train show/swap meet right there in the armory. Boy, this seems to be your lucky day.sign1 sign1
 

b28_82

Member
Haha, yeah theres an Air Control Squadron which is Air Force but its all deployable so we go set up in the middle of nowhere like the army so thats why its there. The only time I've been on the flightline for my job was when i was in Iraq because we had to drive on the taxiway to get to our radars. Just a little background. I'll shrink a picture of the radar I work on in a little.
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
Haha, yeah theres an Air Control Squadron which is Air Force but its all deployable so we go set up in the middle of nowhere like the army so thats why its there. The only time I've been on the flightline for my job was when i was in Iraq because we had to drive on the taxiway to get to our radars. Just a little background. I'll shrink a picture of the radar I work on in a little.
Well, I had to go on the flightline to work on the radar seeing as how it was already installed in fighters. Maybe you've heard of some of them, like the F86 and F89... I guess that was some of the first air-to-air radar used, no guidance systems then, just radar and a good pilot.
:row1:train97
 

sumpter250

multiscale modelbuilder
Ahh radar, brings back memories of water cooled tetrodes, magnetrons, power klystrons, thyratrons, pulse forming networks, plan position indicators, distribution switchboards, IFF, and all the rest.
If you wanted to come and help evaluate the radar I worked on, you had to take a flight to the nearest "airport" (USS aircraft carrier CV-XX),
wait untill we came alongside, and then get highline transfered, or, in later days, get helo transfered (lowered by cable to the pitching, rolling fantail of an underway destroyer), in only the best of weather. :mrgreen:
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
Ahh radar, brings back memories of water cooled tetrodes, magnetrons, power klystrons, thyratrons, pulse forming networks, plan position indicators, distribution switchboards, IFF, and all the rest....
Ahh, radar, brings back memories of skinned knuckles and bloody hands as a result of trying to take out one of those component units.:eek: Each one was tied down with knurled nuts at some obscure location then each of the nuts were wired secure.wall1 wall1 I always maintained, when they built those planes, they started by setting the radar units in place and then building everything else around them.:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 

b28_82

Member
Haha, Ours uses a twystron before it heads out on the waveguide.

here's a pic from back in '04



I say it like that because we have a thyratron on the trigger amp and a TWT in the driver right out of the frequency generator.
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
Haha, Ours uses a twystron before it heads out on the waveguide.

here's a pic from back in '04



I say it like that because we have a thyratron on the trigger amp and a TWT in the driver right out of the frequency generator.
Hey, I hate to tell you this, but that doesn't look like it'll ever get off the ground. Our antennas were usually behind a nose cone, not sticking up in the air like that. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Can you ID that aircraft for me please.sign1 sign1
 

b28_82

Member
AN/TPS-75 that one was SN: 1049

I work on 1046A, 1018A, & 1015A presently.

Yeah, as you can tell I'm Ground Radar System's Maintenance.:twisted:
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
AN/TPS-75 that one was SN: 1049

I work on 1046A, 1018A, & 1015A presently.

Yeah, as you can tell I'm Ground Radar System's Maintenance.:twisted:
Yeah, that had to be it, that didn't look like any fighter aircraft I've ever seen.sign1 sign1
 

b28_82

Member
If you ever feel like going for a "jog" those radars are about halfway between oak and mcdowell on 52nd. I was able to see them on google and microsoft local.live.com as plain as day.

Google Maps
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
If you ever feel like going for a "jog" those radars are about halfway between oak and mcdowell on 52nd. I was able to see them on google and microsoft local.live.com as plain as day.

Google Maps
That was a lot closer when I lived on that side of town, but I am way on the northwest side now. It would be about a 35 mile jog for me, too much for me to do in one day. The train swap meet is right in that same area on 52nd St.
 
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