There has been some misleading and downright incorrect info posted here
concerning the subject so, to clear up the matter, here's the straight
skinny.
The current DoD document which prescribes the designations for US and
Canadian military electronics equipment is MIL-STD-196(). The system is
titled "Joint Electronics Type Designation System", or JETDS for short.
Groups of one or more equipment items which are considered to be an
operational system or "set" will have an overall designation such as
AN/VRC-10. The "AN" prefix to the left of the slash simply indicates
that the designation was assigned under the JETDS. It is a holdover
from the WW-II days when the JETDS was adopted, and meant (Joint)
Army-Navy at the time. The "-10" following the "VRC" indicates that
this is the tenth system or set to be assigned the AN/VRC- designation.
For a correct "decode" of the VRC, PRC, etc, etc meanings see the Web
page at the Ft. Gordon, GA Signal Museum:
www.gordon.army.mil/museum/an.htm
Unfortunately, I am unable to locate the full text of MIL-STD-196 on the
internet (although it must be there SOMEWHERE!) and the Ft. Gordon Web
page does not go into the detail of designations for individual
components of systems. Items which mil-veh readers would most likely be
interested in are such things as: ("xxx" would be the applicable nos.)
MT-xxx equipment mounting
RT-xxx receiver-transmitter
T-xxx transmitter with no receive function
R-xxx receiver with no transmit function
AM-xxx amplifier, audio or RF
AB-xxx antenna base or, in some cases, antenna mast sections
PP-xxx power supply; requires AC or DC primary power
PU-xxx power unit, usually an engine-generator set to produce primary
power
BA-xxx primary battery or battery pack; non-rechargable
BB-xxx secondary battery or battery pack; rechargable
LS-xxx loudspeaker
M-xxx microphone
CX-xxx cable assembly, power (usually)
CG-xxx cable assembly, RF (usually)
There are a zillion more for various other functional types of items,
but you get the picture.
Note that items designated prior to early WW-II under the individual
services' systems should not be confused with items designated under the
JETDS, even though there are confusing similarities in some cases. Army
equipment designated under the old SigC system, for example are SCR-XXX
for systems, and BC-xxx for components of systems. The Navy system was
even more strange.
Hope this clears up the confusion!
Ed Greeley
Mobile, AL
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