AN/UCC-4

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The AN/UCC-4, or UCC-4, was a solid state frequency division multiplexer manufactured by Lenkurt in 1969, and used by the United States Air Force to provide voice frequency communication to the Department of Defense.

1 Description
2 Repair and maintenance
3 Usage
4 See Also
5 Associated links

[edit] Description

The UCC-4 was comprised of 12 voice frequency channels in the range of 300 to 3000 hertz, which made up a group. Five groups formed a supergroup and five supergroups formed a mastergroup, thus making it expandable to 600 voice frequency channels or more.

The UCC-4 was connected to a microwave radio that operated in the band of approximately 5 or 8 gigahertz, which was transmitted via either line of sight or tropospheric scatter to the next communications station.

[edit] Repair and maintenance

The technology and maintenance of the UCC-4 was taught to airman of the career field 304X0 at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi.The UCC-4 was unique because all of the modules were hermetically sealed. The technician maintaining the piece of equipment merely had to take out the faulty module and replace it with a functional one, and this was the start of what became known as black box maintenance. Before the development of this technology, technicians would be required to troubleshoot and repair the faulty unit. The black box technique of maintenance meant the equipment was put back on line quickly, and the faulty module was sent to a depot where it was repaired by a team of technicians.

[edit] Usage

One unit that used the UCC-4 multiplexer was the Electron Maintenance Workcenter in 2045 Communication Group, based at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. The Electron Maintenance Workcenter was comprised of Radio Relay Equipment Repairmen, who later became known as Wideband Maintenance Equipment Repairmen who maintained the UCC-4, teletype equipment, radio equipment, modems, and other ancillary pieces of equipment to support the communications effort.