Meanwhile, the Army's chief signal officer arranged for the RS-1 to be adopted for military use and renamed the GRC-109. Even though the Army had many RS-1 sets in use already, giving it an Army identifier would have simplified logistics. By late 1962, the Special Forces team network had 24 stations.
The GRC-109 set in each "A detachment" SF camp was kept in a sandbagged bunker, with several antennas installed. The antennas were a target of Viet Cong raids, but for emergencies, they found that a. Buried 18 underground in bamboo pipes could be used.
The GRC-109 became a standard issue radio to all combat units in forward areas after 1965. It was included in the inventory of all fire bases, and was at least used as a backup radio. Even though Special Forces had access to the latest high-tech radios, by the mid-1970's many units had adopted the GRC-109 as their primary long-range radio. It was rugged, reliable, and maintainable in the field, and offered several power supply options.
The newer radios tended to require specialized batteries which were often not available in the field. The item "SPECIAL FORCES RADIO SET GRC-109 R-1004 RECEIVER RT-3 TRANSMITTER PP-2265 PS" is in sale since Friday, January 18, 2019. This item is in the category "Consumer Electronics\Radio Communication\Ham, Amateur Radio\Ham Radio Transmitters". The seller is "bandit35" and is located in Harmonsburg, Pennsylvania.This item can be shipped worldwide.