page_title: AN/TRC-97
section_title: Users
hierarchical_section_title: AN/TRC-97 / Users
caption_attribution_description: English: Two members of the 225th Combat Communications Squadron adjust the angle of the dish as they set up a TRAC-170 Wideband System for Exercise Roving Sands 97 at El Paso, Texas, on April 8, 1997. More than 20,000 service members from all branches of the armed forces of the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands are participating in Exercise Roving Sands 97. The exercise is designed to refine their skills in operations using an integrated air defense network of ground, missile and radar early warning systems combined with tactical fighter and bomber aircraft operating in a simulated high-threat environment. The 225th, deployed from Martin Air National Guard Station, Gadsden, Ala., will provide communications links for Roving Sands 97.
context_page_description: The AN/TRC-97 Radio Set, or TRC-97, is a radio set that has 12 multiplex channels and 16 telegraph channels connected to an analog radio. The radio set is a mobile terminal that can transmit up to 40 miles straight line-of-sight at up to 1 watt, using a traveling wave tube amplifier, or 96 miles in tropospheric scatter at up to 1 kilowatt, using a tunable klystron amplifier, at a frequency range of 4.4 to 5 gigahertz and 1.2 to 2.2 gigahertz. The set has been manufactured by RCA, Camden, N.J.
context_section_description: The TRC-97 was initially made for the Marine Corps to help them with their military operations, such as the Vietnam War. It originally only had only 12 multiplex channels, but when the Air Force decided to use the equipment, they added an additional 12 channels in another module called the baby mux, next to the cabinet that houses the klystron. (This modification caused the equipment to be recognized as the TRC-97A.) Wired to voice channel 1 was a 16 channel teletype multiplexer. The Air Force had been using it for 20 years in the 1980s.
  There are several military organizations that have used the TRC-97 and TRC-97A. One such organization was the 601st Tactical Control Wing, headquartered in Sembach Air Base, near Kaiserslautern, Germany, which has one of the largest concentrations of Americans outside of the United States. Also the 606 Tactical Control Squadron, Basdahl, GE outside of Bremerhaven, GE on the North Sea. There was also the 626 and 636 Tactical Control Flights along with the 601st, 602nd and 606th Tactical Control Squadrons fell under the 601st Tactical Control Wing, and military personnel assigned to those squadrons often went on deployment to various sites in Germany, thereby providing a show of force during the cold war.
  The 602nd Tactical Control Squadron was located in Turkheim, Germany, which was a remote village in Bavaria. The nearest military installation was an Army installation in Neu Ulm, Germany. The 602nd Tactical Control Squadron closed in 1985, when the United States agreed to minimize their military presence in Germany.
  The 728th Tactical Control Squadron was located at Duke Field (Field 3) associated with Eglin Air Force Base located near Fort Walton Fl. The 728 TCS was formerly based at Shaw AFB. the 728th TCS became later known as 728 ACS. Before the 728th, Duke Field was home to the 729th Tactical Control Squadron.
  In the 1970s, several TRC-97s were turned over to Air National Guard bases stateside.
  The 5th Tactical Control Group based at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines used the TRC-97 extensively. The 5th TAC's mission was augmentation manning of SEA (Southeast Asia) radar installations. Many, if not most, of those missions were performed via TDY (temporary duty) support to Korea, Vietnam and surrounding areas during the Vietnam War. Most of these microwave links were used to provide communication links between the radar sites and the aircraft bases.
caption: Two members of the 225th Combat Communications Squadron adjust the angle of the dish as they set up a TRAC-170 Wideband System for Exercise Roving Sands 97 at El Paso, Texas, on April 8, 1997.
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