Without exception, we were lucky to get 3 or 4 messages out before
losing sync and having to reconnect. The 8th Army support element
for our crypto was run by CWO Freshwater. Mr. Freshwater issued us
extra baskets and rotors when we were in the field. I put one guy on, full-time,
just cleaning, and setting up spare baskets so that we could swap out anytime
that sync was lost.
At one point while we in the field, I went to the Missile
Command Commander to see Col George Sammett when our outfit couldn't keep
the backlogs down and had to move most of our traffic by messenger. We
finally got two KW-26s installed for the Base CommCen which improved the
situation but in the field, the KW-9's drove us crazy.
When I left Korea, I was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division at Ft. Benning and went into another nightmare with KW-9's. The problem now was that we had more RTTY rigs, real MSC-29's and a Division Commcen which was a tributary off the main post CommCen. In spite of better equipment, a decent environment and good support, we still never got a KW-9 to last over a few hours before it dropped sync. We alsways had to swap out the basket or bring it down, clean the rotors and reset it.
One of the happier days of my life was standing by CWO Arnold Kendrick
as we watched the last tractor trailer leave for Lexington, with
the remainder of the Divisions KW-9s on-board. I don't think my experiences
were any worse, or better than others but it would sure be nice to understand
how the things got approved and issued to field troops in the first place".
 |
| TSEC/KW-9 without case. (NSA photo dated October, 1961. Submitted by David Youse) |
George Mace provides an elementary description of the KW-9. "It had
send and receive loop boxes facing the front of the unit. They had meters,
knobs and jack receptacles. The stepping unit, with rotor basket set in
the center of the unit and had tubes all around the outer edge of the circuit
board. The frame of the KW-9 looked just like the KL-7 with aluminum rails
on both sides for shipping protection.
