HF Radios for HMMWV

I'd also like to find a PRC 138, as I have about everything less radio.

Was kind of hoping USMC would sell some more like the ones Mike Murphy had - but something tells me the DoD "shred everything" diktat finally forced the Corps to toe the line alongside the Army, which meant no more unilateral sales of that stuff by USMC to dealers. Too bad, really - because the Corps tries to maximize every budgetary penny (hence the HMMWV sell off through United Defense years ago) which seemed to extend to the disposal of surplus 138s and 104s for awhile there - if you were hooked up. Hopefully that will return in some form, because there's no cryptographic issues with either radio and they aren't CCI in any shape, form or size - so there's no reason *not* to sell them. And the nonsense "but what if they wind up in the hands of DAESH!" reasoning doesn't fly within anyone with two brain cells left to rub together, as they can buy HF all day long on the open market the same way they can buy their ICOMs. How about all those MARS volunteers or amateurs hooked into civic and state Emergency Preparedness groups who are crying *out* for stuff like that which Uncle is tossing in the shredder? It's...obscene.

Wile E. Coyote said:

RT-1444 was really only used with the GRC-206 FAC/ TACP setup along with the AM-7148 amp etc., and there's an ALE version as well made for some foreign government (Mike Murphy had some, but I think they're all gone.) There was also a frequency-hopping controller. Lots of great info on Brooke Clarke's unbeatable page here: http://prc68.com/I/PRC104.shtml

I'm also pretty much a data guy lately - my main area of interest. I wanted a PRC-138 so badly I could taste it, but Availability and Cash on Hand never seem to coexist in the same universe.

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For the record, I've picked up an RT-1444 for less than $50...working on getting the RT-1209 to go with it. ONTOS66 had offered up a GRC-213 set to me before he left on a trip, but I had to delay for budgetary reasons. He's been dead-silent for over a month past his announced return and I'm really starting to worry if the guy made it home...

Well, what an interesting thread. I've kinda thought about a HF for the MV's. But never dug into it much. Now I see a few options. Just gotta figure out where to find them. Or at least make a list and try to keep my eyes open at the next hamfest I go to.

I have gone through the list of all the radios mentioned, but I dont see the GRC-106 mentioned, great radio that can be found in working order, and their is plenty of troubleshooting fixs out there if it doesnt... Scott O&O

subscribing to the thread, as another MV & radio enthusiast

I'd like to find something that can do AM/USB/LSB 80-10m. But is there any control of output wattage on anything? They all seem to be low power (20w)? I'm kinda leaning towards a PRC-147. Would be kinda cool to have something I could setup in a radio rack, and pull out and use as a backpack. I was wondering about output power for use with a linear.

Many of the military packable HF sets have 10, 20, or 30 Watts output. Higher power would limit battery life. Those relatively low Wattages do remarkably well.

This range of power is just right for the HF amplifiers made by RM Italy, like the HLA-300 that I use. With the attenuator in the HLA in the circuit, 30 W out of a transceiver puts out the rated 300 Watts (10db gain, and assuming full DC voltage and matched antenna). At 10 W out of a transceiver, attenuator bypassed, again 300 Watts. This makes a nice combination. I have used the HLA-300 with PRC-74, PRC-174 and PRC-320 with success.

Adding the amplifier but still using a military whip adds another complication though, matching the antenna to high power.

Please educate me, what is a PRC-147? That's new to me, or maybe I'm having a brainfart and just don't remember.

subscribing..

I happen to have a couple grc-215(from Mike Murphy years ago), and one nice prc-138 for sale. Pm me if interested I can get you details and pics.
Also have a complete harris falcon rf-5000 system with 125w amp, coupler,power supply and mounting platform(with both hop and encryption options).
These are still pretty pricey rigs but very difficult to find nowadays.

dwelch said:

I happen to have a couple grc-215(from Mike Murphy years ago), and one nice prc-138 for sale. Pm me if interested I can get you details and pics.
Also have a complete harris falcon rf-5000 system with 125w amp, coupler,power supply and mounting platform(with both hop and encryption options).
These are still pretty pricey rigs but very difficult to find nowadays.

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Sounds interesting. I've shot you a PM. I'd love to see what you have, just not sure if I can actually pull the trigger on the sale until I hear what you want for them.

patracy said:

I'd like to find something that can do AM/USB/LSB 80-10m. But is there any control of output wattage on anything? They all seem to be low power (20w)? I'm kinda leaning towards a PRC-147. Would be kinda cool to have something I could setup in a radio rack, and pull out and use as a backpack. I was wondering about output power for use with a linear.

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Military radios were meant to be used in relatively short range applications (from .25 mile up to about 50 miles) since the frequencies had to be shared with many other units. Operators really only wanted to hear the closest (strongest signals) transmitters because that is who they needed to communicate with. And, they didn't want to have a lot of hostile direction finding locking onto where they were by triangulation. For those looking for 'more power', remember the antenna has more to do with the radiated signal than the final amp. People have 'worked the world' with less than five watts of power, but they were not mobile when they were doing it.

tennmogger said:

Adding the amplifier but still using a military whip adds another complication though, matching the antenna to high power.

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Something new to learn every day:

- So the whip has to be "tuned"/ matched to the signal's output power?

- By length, diameter, other specs?

It appears that I just scored a PRC-138. It's throwing a couple of BITE codes, but I got ahold of a service manual and I think I can handle them. As it is, the radio seems to go through all functions, receives A-OK, and transmits at very low power. Once I have the radio in my hands, I'll post up some more details.

Another Ahab said:

Something new to learn every day:

- So the whip has to be "tuned"/ matched to the signal's output power?

- By length, diameter, other specs?

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Match the antenna to the FREQUENCY. Longer the antenna, the longer the wavelength. It's why microwave and GPS antennas are a few inches vs. a 160 Meter antenna full length dipole is just that, 160M overall length.

You can "cheat" with coils, partial shielding (Zepp antennas for example).

Military uses folded dipoles in their antennas, matching circuits "antenna tuners" and other tricks.

And too much power will melt the antenna.

The PRC-138 is officially mine. Payment was sent last night, shipping label created this morning...anxiously pressing F5 on the tracker page until I get a delivery ETA.

Now that I'm not paranoid that somebody will steal the deal out from me and I've already shared the other one with one person that was specifically looking and they seemed to have passed on it, I'll share with the rest of the group: https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/harris-an-prc-138-rt-1694-military-radio-set.572924/

It's a PRC-138 currently for sale on QRZ's (an amateur radio site) classified section. He's wanting $4,500 + shipping for the unit with accessories. He states that he's only taking checks/money orders, but I talked him into PayPal by offering to pay the fees. He had a second one (in a separate listing] that wasn't fully functional that I had purchased. I'll say that I talked him down substantially from his asking price and he took it without much fuss. He might have less movement on the fully functional one listed above, or he might accept a much lower offer... you won't know unless you ask.

If this is anyone else's dream radio like it was mine, you might consider selling a kidney, letting your house fall into foreclosure, or trying to convince your wife and daughters to hang out on the street corner for you. ...or not, as those are all terrible ideas. Just sell some spare parts you didn't really need and call it a day.

I've got a case of envy....

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Holy smokes, I need to buy a lottery ticket! I didnt have a battery charger until this morning, so when I was doing a visual inspection, I unseated every module, inspected it for an obvious physical defect, and reseated it.

I just got my batteries charged today and tried powering on my PRC-138. First, I did a self-test...no errors. Then, I did a VSWR test...perfect 1:1, 19W transmit. It was sold to me as having A08 FFF, A01 F56, and transmitting at less than 1 W. Unplugging modules and plugging them back in fixed the issue, plus saved me $3000 off the going rate on these! I don't even know what I'm going to do with myself right now!

Wire Fox said:

Holy smokes, I need to buy a lottery ticket! I didnt have a battery charger until this morning, so when I was doing a visual inspection, I unseated every module, inspected it for an obvious physical defect, and reseated it.

I just got my batteries charged today and tried powering on my PRC-138. First, I did a self-test...no errors. Then, I did a VSWR test...perfect 1:1, 19W transmit. It was sold to me as having A08 FFF, A01 F56, and transmitting at less than 1 W. Unplugging modules and plugging them back in fixed the issue, plus saved me $3000 off the going rate on these! I don't even know what I'm going to do with myself right now!

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Really good deals are hard to come by. Congratulations WF.
I assume you will be posting up some pics for us to see, in the near future