Like a lot of the “Spurious Signals” cartoons, this is based in fact. I did go back to Season 1, Episode 1 of “M*A*S*H” and start watching the show all the way through, and I did try to figure out if Radar’s radio was a real piece of military equipment or just a mock-up built by a studio prop expert.
The debate still isn’t settled. Some folks in online discussions have argued that Radar’s using a 1960s vintage U.S. Navy radio called a “T.E.D.,” but in my opinion, it doesn’t match the photos of those radios, as far as I can tell. I suspect it was just a prop made up to look like 1950s vintage Army equipment.
This is one of the rare occasions when my editor, Rich W2VU, suggested some changes; he felt the wording in the second panel was a bit clunky.
