Where is Wade Buff @Armor_Buff ? Last posted 8 June and haven’t heard from him since. I hope he’s okay.
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How about Mike Roof @SdAufKla, don’t see much activity from him now a days.
Cajun 
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Wade stuck a ‘like’ on a post I created 2 days ago which means presence on the 16th.
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Mike posted on the 13th of June
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Summertime is upon us with lots of other things to do.
I will be off for 4 weeks of vacation soon …
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I know that was just a typo with the 4 week thing. How could you afford a 4 week vacation? Anywhere my wife allows us to stay is $300 plus a night. Then there is first class airfare and car rental, food and trinkets. Can’t seem to vacation closer than a 5 hour flight. 
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Summerhouse, 70 meters from a large lake.
I had planned for a 5 week vacation but work has dragged on …
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As I recall he is a new grandparent, probably doing baby stuff. You know how that goes.
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I saw the thread title and pictured trying to find Wade in a crowd, where he’s wearing a stripey red/white shirt…
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I’m flattered that anyone missed me! I’ve been surprisingly busy with my side-gig gun smithing work and my other hobby, militaria collecting (to include participating in public displays at various events around the region.
This is a small display of WWII US Army Infantry Battalion radios and field phones that was my part of our militaria club’s participation at the SC National Guard Museum for the 250th Birthday of the US Army last Saturday, 14 June, 2025.
Left to right: SCR-511 “Pogo Stick,” SCR-511 “Handy Talkie,” SCR-300 “Walkie Talkie,” EE-8 Field Phone, SCR-609 artillery FO set, and the RM-29 Remote Control Unit (used by the Artillery FO teams with the EE-8 field phone to allow the observer to locate remotely from the radio set while talking over the set to conduct his calls-for-fire).
The same items from the opposite side.
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large? like lake michigan large? or something else?
Regardless, that sounds really delightful. I hope you get to it soon…
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Way way smaller than the big US lakes.
“Our” bay is roughly 1/4 mile across and a little short of a mile long.
Distance nortwest to Edane is 5.3 miles
Distance northeast to Brunskog, straight line on the map is
almost 7.8 miles.
Distance south to the outlet north of Borgvik, straight line on the map,
is 12.6 miles and the furthest southeast to near Bråten it is 8.6 miles.
The lake flows out, through some dams at Borgvik, to Lake Vänern
which is 2181 square miles (third largest in Europe).
Bigger than Lake of the Woods and a bit more than a quarter of Lake Ontario.
Plenty of islands, small bays, shallow spots to make boating “interesting”.
There is one very rough surfaced rock, usually about half a foot under the surface which has a very large colour “palette” from all the boats that
have gotten too “familiar” with it.
The lake is just about big enough to make it interesting for kayak paddling but without getting dangerous.
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Amazing collection Mike. Not something you see much especially in our hobby but definitely useful. Great to hear from you!
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Hi Matt, thank you, I’m well - fat sassy as ever. 
June took a rough turn, Kali-Kat developed thyroid issues, we caught it quickly but it is cancer. Scheduled radiation for her in Sept. The after care for a radioactive cat turned out to be very challenging.
That derailed the new engine project as Kali-Kat is priority over a new 400 LS for the Z28…but have to visit the engine builder next week. Deliver parts, explain why this has to be pushed back 3 months.
I’m in Carolina now, prepping for family from out of state, staying at my mom’s. There’s a memorial for an aunt who passed away.
It’s been a comedy of errors, mom’s 10 year old grill fell apart rusted out. Open the top and the bottom fell off the stand. Had to replace etc. Had to get groceries for the crew coming and cooking etc. Plus replaced some furniture.
Crazy 
last ten days.
Sadly I won’t be able to finish the Pz IV for @Johnnych01 D-Day campaign. I brought the Pz IV with me but haven’t had a chance to touch it this week.
Next week things should return to normal.
Best regards,
Wade
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@Armor_Buff mate sorry to hear about kali-kat, and your other matters. I hope things go ok with her.
Given you can bang out a fantastic Mark IV over the course of a night in your sleep, you really must be busy!
@SdAufKla that is a very nice collection! Are the radios in working condition?
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Thank you for posting Wade. As you are a daily poster, going dark for two weeks is enough for me to start checking hospitals. Sorry to hear about Kali-Kat. I’m sure the rest of her days will be comfortable. I hope everything works out there and you are back with us soon. Take care.
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I foolishly tried to pronounce some of the names on that map out loud. I think I’ve sprained my larynx…
Cheers,
M
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The Swedish e is always like e in memory.
The Swedish i is always pronounced like the english letter e, like i in give
The really tricky ones are å, ä and ö.
Å sounds like o in both, boat, bother, off. We also have two different pronounciations
for o, one is like o dog (very close to the å …) and the other is like oo in good.
Ä has a similar relation to e, we write däck for the flat surface on ships, deck.
Ö is a little bit more difficult, similar to, but a little sharper than, the o in work.
The other letters are easier except that g and are softened depending on which
vowels follow them. G turns into j when it is in front of e, i, y, ä or ö.
K turns into sj, sh and variants of those when in front of e, i, y, ä or ö
Swedish kids usually have a hard time learning all the different ways of the “sje-ljud”,
some examples g(e, i, y, ä or ö), k(e, i, y, ä or ö), sj, kj, tj, sch, skj.
Vernier calipers are called skjutmått, the skj sounds like sh in shoot.
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All of the radio sets are complete with their internal components. However, the only one that I know works is the SCR-300. (I have a functioning pair but only had room at this event to bring one of them.)
Operating these portable sets confronts two main problems. The first is the power supply. All of them required specialized batteries that provided different voltages (often several different voltage taps with the same battery). The majority of these batteries were disposable dry cell types that have long been out of production. Even finding used, dead examples just for display is quite the challenge. (In most cases, original batteries are harder to find than the radio sets).
The second, more serious problem, is that frequency bands that these sets operate on. First, almost none of them can transmit to or receive from other, different model sets. Thus, at the minimum, you have to have two of any particular model if you hope to operate them. (There are exceptions, but not with these small, man-packed tactical sets.) Then there’s the issue that the frequencies that they do operate on are all essentially prohibited by the FCC (here in the US) for private citizens to use. Licensed ham radio frequency bands do not overlap with these sets, and the very few frequencies that may overlap for civilian use all require commercial licenses (which are quite expensive and restrictive).
The EE-8 field phones (and the RM-29), being wire coms don’t have the FCC restrictions, but there may still battery power supply problems. The EE-8 uses a pair of standard D-cell (BA-30) batteries, but the RM-29 uses a special 4-1/2 V battery (BA-27). I’ve reproduced this battery so that I can operate my RM-29. These use modern C-cell batteries which can be replaced in a battery “holder” that replicates the BA-27 battery.
I also have another EE-8 and the late-war RC-261 Remote Control Unit (which uses also uses D-cell batteries and was intended to replace the RN-29) so that for some displays I can set up a telephone “hot-loop” to let visitors experience a little bit of what WWII voice-coms were actually like.
My SCR-300 sets use 6 v. rechargeable batteries connected via a solid-state power converter fabricated by an Italian radio collector. I also have all of the WWII field test and maintenance instruments used to keep the SCR-300 in operation. The Technical Manuals for the sets included very detailed maintenance instructions and procedures, so with the correct power I do keep these working.
Anyway, militaria collecting is one of my other hobbies, and this radio stuff is the latest direction that I’ve gone on with it.
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It is an excellent collection and one I’m in awe of. Having previously done a lot with comms when in uniform, I wish I could collect, restore and display on that scale. Also thanks for the explanation.
Smart to have set up a loop. A mate of mine collects old phones with the oldest from 1879 right up to modern era. He has them in a large shed with displays but has managed to hook them all up in an internal loop so they can all send/receive calls from each other. It’s great to showcase functionality particularly when he gets school groups through who’ve never seen a landline phone let alone used one.
Thanks for sharing and would love to see more of your stash!
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