Any of you radio guys ever see, or play with one of these?

[amgeneral72]

Trying to pick this up to display in my 52 model M38A1 Civil Defense Jeep. Looks cool so just figured Id post some pics.

 

[Flyingvan911]

Wow. That's the first time I've seen one. Get a hold of a local amateur radio club. There sould be plenty of guys who can help you sort it out. If I was there I'd sure be happy to help you out.

 

[maddawg308]

Yes, the Gonset Communicator came in several versions, and several paint jobs, but it was common in use during the 1950s and 1960s. The yellow CD paint job is by far the most catchy, and the most sought-after of the Communicator series.

 

[amgeneral72]

They said it works. I will admit I don't know the first thing about radios. But hey it looks cool.

 

[NDT]

Hmm, 2 meter, so this would be for local emergency communications. I have never seen one of these before. I wonder if there was a shortwave version so survivors of the nuclear blasts could communicate with each other?

 

[dmetalmiki]

What an interesting and unusual bit of kit. You should have loads of fun getting the unit up and running, A good addition.

 

[maddawg308]

Some more from Wikipedia:

"The Gonset Communicator was a series of vacuum tube VHF AM radio transceivers that were widely sold in the 1950s and early 60s. They were designed by Faust Gonset and manufactured by the Gonset Division of L. A. Young Spring and Wire Corp. Models were built for amateur radio, aircraft radio and U.S. Civil Defense use. The Gonsets were among the first commercial radios available for the post-World War II amateur bands and helped popularize VHF for amateurs.

The Gonset Communicators were packaged in a square box with a carrying handle and a UHF connector for the antenna on top, making them quite portable. Early models had a magic eye tube tuning indicator in front. The configuration earned them the name "Gooney Box." The radios could operate from 110 volt AC mains, or 6 or 12 volt DC from a car battery. A simple whip antenna could be plugged into the antenna connector on top. The transmit/receive switch was on the front panel, not the microphone. The Gonset could also be connected to an external speaker and used as a public address (PA) system.

The Gonset's receiver was manually tuned over the unit's frequency range with an analog dial, while the transmitter frequency was controlled by a crystal oscillator. The original model had a single jack on the front panel for an FT-243 style crystal. A chain of frequency multipliers allowed crystals in the 8 MHz range to be used. Many such crystals were available as military surplus in the 1950s. Later models had jacks for four crystals with a switch to select which one to use. Models were available for the 6 meter and 2 meter amateur bands, as well for as the VHF aircraft airband where they were often used as ground stations at smaller airfields. The civil defense model was painted yellow with CD insignia, and was available for the 6 and 2 meter bands. The 2 meter model was also used for the Civil Air Patrol, and could cover CAP frequencies which were adjacent to the 2 meter amateur band.

The first model, introduced in the November 1952 QST Magazine, sold for $189.90. The model II, introduced in 1954 cost $230. It added the bank of transmit crystals and included knobs for the transmitter tuning controls, which required a screwdriver in the original. The model III was white and had a meter instead of the magic eye. The model IV switched to a lower profile package."

 

[m1010plowboy]

For additional info there are a few nuts out there trying to capture the cold war stories on both sides of the border. With the huge number of 50's/60's fall-out stations we'd presume a ton of these radios would still be around.

I saw them in my Civil Defense searches somewhere so if I dig up the data, I'll post here. We are trying to save a 51' bunker up here so I'm interested.

http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/

http://www.civildefensemuseum.ca/

 

[amgeneral72]

1 more pic.

 

[ReoRider]

Absolutely beautiful radio- need one to go with the paper blankets, canned water, originally stale crackers and rad meter, in the rest of the stash.

 

[sigo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFUqh7uF1G4

 

[foxtrk2]

cival air patrol used a lot of th egoony boxes also we had two when I was in back in the early sixties

 

[maddawg308]

Here's a pic of a couple others I took a few years back at my friend Bernie's place. You can see the yellow CD version, another less flashy version is on the left.

 

[Whiterabbit]

There's a 6m version out there too. I almost got it but the price went through the roof on Peebay.
Boat anchors are cool, CD boat anchors are cooler!

 

[amgeneral72]

Well I finally scored these 2 radios.

GONSET Civil Defense Communicator 2 Meter Transmitter-Receiver



GONSET Civil Defense Communicator 3 Meter Transmitter-Receiver


If nothing else, they look cool.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Very cool. I know Bob Gonsett, son of Faust Gonsett, who invented those radios. He was hired as a consultant for some gnarly interference problems where I worked in the 90s, and I learned a lot from him. He's a real old-fashioned gentleman, and it was a pleasure to work with him. I kept up with him over the years, exchanging emails now and then. I got his newsletter back when it was printed on yellow paper. I remember him handing me the first one, and asking if I'd like to be on his mailing list.

This thread brought back some good memories of a great guy.

 

[maddawg308]

The Gonset Communicators are alive and well at the Richmond Frostfest, a large ham radio show, that I went to today. There were perhaps 6 of them for sale at the show, 4 of them at this one table. Note the yellow CD version top right, and three of the less-flashy grey models underneath. Prices ranged from $30 to $60 for them, all were sold as "used to work well but needs TLC", in other words, AS IS.

Still a bargain considering the 1954 price was $230 each, in today's dollars that's about $2,025. !!!

 

[tennmogger]

A 2 meter version, gray face, 4 crystal version, on loan, was the radio I made my first 2m contacts on. Still can recall the excitement of operating such a "modern" and expensive radio back then. I was earning $0.90 an hour and paying $12 a week for room and board. I could not even think about buying one then. Sorta makes me realize how cheap ham radios are today.

Bob WB4ETT