The AN-GRR-5 Military Shortwave Radio. (Photo source: Popular Science)

Vin Marshall, of Popular Science, has written a great short article about lessons learned from military surplus radios:

“Military surplus equipment is more than just cheap, weird and green. For me, it’s a design study in what happens when usability and ruggedness are given priority and production cost is forgotten. […] Leaving aside the cost issues, I like to look at these pieces of equipment as a design study: How to build something that will be easy to operate and will continue working in almost any conditions.”

Read the full article on Pop Sci’s website–be sure to check out the photo gallery, too.