IIRC one of the major problems was that the automatic system meant tying the radios together so they couldn't be used by the crew. The aircraft only had two VHF/UHF sets to that meant they couldn't talk to ATC or ADGE, and for radio relay they orbited above FL245.
Depends on the aircraft. The Victor had two VHFs, 2 UHFs and one HF. The problem was VHF1s and UHF1s shared the same controller as did the number 2 radios. This was limiting if not linking HF, but you could be contacted through one of the boxes being used and this meant listening to everyone else's chat. The VC10 had separate controllers for all the radios and 2 HFs, so it wasn't an issue.