Original Item: Only One Available. During the Vietnam War the CIA supported the "Village Radio Program". By providing village inhabitants with simple portable transceivers, Vietcong activities could be reported to the authorities. The CIA commissioned a domestic authority, the "Office Of Public Safety", and so the village radios also were called OPS- Radios. Most of the radios were built by Hallicrafters and their subsidiaries like this one.

One of the more fascinating and virtually forgotten survival communications systems was established in the very early days of the war in Vietnam. At the time, the US government felt that this system would be the deciding factor in winning the war-yes, it was that important!

This was about 1962, shortly before the large-scale troop infiltration began in 1964 with Soviet and Chinese assistance. At this time the American presence consisted of 13,000 "advisors" who were involved in the conflict against the Viet Cong.

The government came up with a novel survival communications concept pegged on the usefulness of a small voice transceiver weighing about 18 lbs and not unlike a CB rig. Most likely, the concept for the use of these transceivers was based upon the early success and popularity of American CB radio (which got started in 1959).

The transceiver designed for Vietnamese use was dubbed the TR -20 and it was produced by the Radio Industries Co., a Kansas City (KS) subsidiary of Hallicrafters. RI manufactured about 2,400 TR -20 units for the U.S. Operations Mission in Saigon. By early 1963, 2,000 of the single channel transceivers were installed in key villages throughout South Vietnam.

The concept was simple. Communications between villages had been so poor that it was too easy for the VC to conduct their operations without being detected by the authorities. An increasing number of assaults, murders, kidnappings, burnings, robberies, and other intimidations against civilians made it apparent that there would be a genuine advantage for the remote and scattered villages to be able to communicate with one another. Telephones didn't exist. Railroads and roads were minimal in the country. For one village to warn another of VC marauders it meant hacking through jungle at only 300 feet per day and also trekking over rugged mountains.

A radio network seemed the obvious answer, with rugged and portable transceivers, voice mode, easy to operate, and sufficient range to reach nearby villages and also Vietnamese military forces.

The TR -20 was specifically designed for this application. It operated on only one single frequency and it required no tuning adjustments. That meant that even the most uneducated Vietnamese peasant couldn't put it out of operation. Since the villages didn't have access to electric power, the TR -20 operated from a 12 volt battery. The 20 watt radio, which could be set for a frequency between 30 and 40 MHz, was partially designed around a printed circuit that could stand up to the heat and humidity of the jungle. One interesting little "extra" of the TR -20 was a special "Destruct" switch. When activated, it shot 300 volts through the TR -20 and fried all of its components so that it would be useless in the event it fell into enemy hands. Within a few months after the sets were installed some 20 of the TR 20 were destroyed in this manner when they came into jeopardy of falling into VC possession.

The internals of the radio appears to be complete, and requires D Cell batteries. We have not tested the radio for functionality as it is being sold as collector items not a functional transceiver. Overall condition is very good and would look very nice displayed in a Vietnam Collection. Measures approximately 15" x 11 1/2" x 7".