Posted: 10/27/2014 9:58:34 PM EDT
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Prc 320 information.
I am not going to bore you with the reasons I got into the PRC 320 save to say it is a case of an older man trying to follow a childhood dream. I'll do a seperate write up on that at a later time. I started scouting around for some type of old military transciever and came across the '320 on eBay and researched it a little. There are a couple of excellent groups on Yahoo and I figured the set would meet my needs. OK, so here I am sitting on my ass trying to figure out what I can do to get myself set up with the rig. As many of you know the rig was made in the UK by Plessey. I sat down and gave things a little thought and decided that I was willing to lose up to $1000 US dollars in my attempt to set up my little radio station on my own terms. While I certainly wasn't simply going to throw my money away, I knew that there are a lot of pitfalls dealing internationally and that if I got cheated somehow it was going to probably take more effort than it was worth to recover my money. If this is not you attitude, I seriously recommend you do not go this route as there is a chance you can lose your money. Now I knew I was going to be dealing with the UK and that is basically a civilized place and that is a good thing. It isn't like trying to make some easy money by sending my money off to a Nigerian bank where it will dissappear and the Nigerian government will make no effort to recover it for me. Still, Scotland Yard is still up and running and I would imagine that the reason for this is that there is no shortage of thieves in the UK, so we are looking at a possibility. Going through eBay is generally pretty safe in that they will intercede and they also have connections with PayPal which means that if I got stung I would have some recourse. But for some reason I didn't like everything I saw on eBay. For one thing, the sellers by appearances were simple surplus dealers that had stumbled into a bunch of surplus radios they were trying to move. Although some were advertised as having been tested, that really doesn't mean a lot. You have to define the word 'tested'. You turn the unit on and it makes noise and one can say the unit has been tested. One of the eBay dealers also said that they would not export anything without an end-user's certificate which they said they would take care of for an extra 25 GBP. They claimed that the UK government had classified these radios as munitions and required this. While we are on the subject, I realized that there was a very real possibility that I could have lost the entire set while it was entering the country. It was told to me by another ham that the status of these sets is somewhat of a judgement call by customs officials. Things could go either way depending on who was making the judgement. It could be considered what it in fact is, an old radio station or it could be misconstrued as being military hardware which means I'd lose it as it entered the States. None of the other dealers I communicated with, eBay or not were end-user cettificates this so it is likely that either this was a way of knicking a buyer for another forty bucks or the guys that required this were acting on the advice of an attorney and playing CYA. Maybe the guys that didn't require this were simply flying under the radar. I don't know. In short, I was entering a somewhat murky world where I could have easily lost my money. I decided that instead of eBay I would to go to a specialty shop, of which I found three with a cursory Google search. One of them never returned my emails and he was the most expensive of the lot, the other didn't have what I wanted and it looked to me like it was a case of a widow getting rid of her late husband's collection, although I may be mistaken. The third merchant seemed to be pretty good. He seemed willing to do business and we cut a deal and fixed a price. The basic PRC 320/L model in Condition A with basic ancilleries was to be delivered to me for 425 GBP which was a little steep, but I was willing to pay extra for two things; it was the USB model and it was in un-issued condition. While I was digging I found a Clansman hand battery charger for a song near my workplace and got the OK to go and pick it up figureing I could sell it for about what I paid for it if the sale fell through. The basic ancilleries are a handset, charged battery, 2.5 meter whip antenna and adapter which is enough to go on the air with immediately. I immediately asked about a few other items, the morse key, a headset with pressel box, an RF cable, a remote battery cable, a charger with cables and a wire antenna. He offered me a deal on this stuff, another 40 GBP, about $66. It was a Thursday if I recall, and I agreed to send him 465 GBP, and in a few minutes I did. About a half-hour later, I got an email confirming reciept. I didn't hear from him the following day, though and it made me a little edgy. I emailed him for a shipping date and got no answer. Saturday, no answer, nor Sunday and I admit I started digging. The website and presumably his business have been on line for 13 years and when I dug through several ham sites his name came up a few times and the general consensus is that he was basically honest but had lousy communications skills. It was also reported that he also had a habit of going out of town on business with little or no warning. I relaxed a bit and sometime on Monday I got an email apologizing for not getting back to me as his computer had crashed. I relaxed. He gave me a ship date which would coincide with my being home to recieve the package. It arrived right on schedule and I opened it and examined it.The radio was pristine, the ancilleries were all servicable, in condition B or better with the exception of an antenna wire which was a little shabby. The ancilleries were packed neatly in an ancilleries bag that I did not order. I surmised it was a freebie as it seemed like a good way to pack the ancilleries. I also noticed that the battery charger was not in the package and immediatly emailed him. It was late and you have to remember the time differential so it got to him after usual business hours. The following morning I woke up and found he had returned my email admitting his mistake and offering to ship it to me immediately. There was also a credible explaination as I just mentioned. Loss of a computer to a small business can mean errors in orders may well be made. I told him to hold off on sending the charger until we came to another deal because I wanted a couple more odds and ends. I went on the air the following night and my first QSO was over 200 miles away and I was only using the whip antenna. Meanwhile, back on eBay I spotted a small plug I wanted that was cheap. I bought it. I also found a pretty good 24 volt power supply and snagged that so I could use the unit on AC power. The following day I sat down an inventoried and made my choice. I wanted another antenna wire, a spare remote battery cable, a balun, a counterpoise, a 20 meter coax cable for the balun. I also wanted the 5.4 meter antenna mast kit. Then I emailed him with my list. He didn't have the 5.4 meter antenna mast kit, but for the rest of the stuff we agreed on the price of 30 GBP. I knew he had given me a pretty good shake on the stuff I had ordered partly because he was a little embarrassed on making a mistake on the original order and partly because he knew I was trying to be helpful and by purchasing these other ancilleries and combining shipping it would make things easier for him. It was a win/win deal. I had originally wanted a 24 volt charger, figuring I could run it off of my power supply, but he emailed me and asked if I would accept a 12 volt unit as he realized the 24 volt unit he had was not in all that good of a shape. I agreed. The order was shipped and arrived in a few days but I was back at sea when it got to my home. My neighbor snagged it. I had spent almost $820 on the rig and ancilleries plus another $60 for the hand charger and the power supply ran me about $40 off of eBay. I wanted the 5.4 meter antenna kit and luck hit me again. I had been to the scrap yard selling off some scrap when another customer offered me a deal for a measly $5. He gave me 3/4 of a roll of aluminum flashing because the scrap value was about $4.50 and he figured I could use it. I jumped on the deal. As we were grabbing it out of his pickup I spotted an old outboard and asked him about it. He simply told me to take it, which I did. A fellow employee of mine later offered me $200 for the outboard but I refused because I felt it was too much money but instead I offered to trade him if he could conjure up a 5.4 antenna mast kit from eBay. Ten minutes later he had himself an outboard and a little over 48 hours I got a call from home telling me that a package had arrived for me from the UK. I assumed it was the charger, but that arrived the following day. It was the mast kit. All the while I was at sea so my homecoming was another Christmas as I opened my packages. When I opened the package from the radio dealer I found out I had gotten more than I had bargained for. The charger was unissued. All in all I wound up with a little over $1000 tied up in this project and I am glad I did this. Going outside the budget you can tack on a few more bucks as I nabbed 24 each 4-foot fiberglass mast sections, 500 feet of 550 paracord and another 500 feet of 14 gauge wire. The latter two items were to make permanant longwire antennas at home and the masts were purchased before I snagged the deal on the 15.4 mask kit. I had planned on either making my own or using them for field use, but these are extras. For my mobile use of the set all I need is what I bought from the UK dealers. I would do business again with my UK dealer again because I now know what to expect, but I will only say that this is what happened to me. Your mileage may vary. If you decide to go this route, then good luck. Before you do, though, remember that this is NOT like the ham radios you buy at Ham Outlet. This set is a dead simple unit designed to be able to be used and set up anywhere by a semi-trained infantryman. It is NOT polished, the antenna kits, etc are basic and primitive by today's ham standards. Still, it is a fun set to use. As for the dealer I bought the rig off of, I would do business with him again. He's been honest with me. =============================== On doing business overseas. Think before you say anything in reference to money. You are dealing with a different currency and your natural tendency is to think of your own currency which in my case is US Dollars. Here in the States you may simply say 'fifty' and everyone knows you are talking about fifty bucks. When you say it to, for example, a Brit he thinks fifty POUNDS. Offering a grand for something worth about $1000 USD is an offer that would most certainly be accepted by a Brit because in his mind you have just offered him about $1650 for the item. Keep a calculator handy and use it before you make any offer and slow down and think first. While it is fun doing business overseas, you do have to be careful in communicating. If you put your brain in gear before putting your mouth into drive you ought to be OK. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ancilleries for the PRC 320. Unless specified, when you buy one of these overseas you are buying the radio only. By and in itself it is nothing more than a conversation piece or a boat anchor. Even then as a boat anchor you have to get yourself a piece of rope for it. I will go over the list of common ancilleries and how they fit in. 1. Obviously you need the radio itself. 2. Some way of carrying it is nice, but not needed. A backpack or carrying frame is useful. Be advised that what we call a backpack the Brits call a Bergen. It's a pretty generic term for backpacks that gets the name from its UKmanufacturer. 3. Ancilleries haversack. A bag to cram a lot of this stuff into. Nice to have, but not needed. 4. Adapter, antenna. Sometimes called a 'goose neck'. If you plan on any mobile use you need one. It plugs into the set and the whip (see 5) plugs into it. 5. Whip, 2.5 meter. Don't discount this little jewel. I have gotten a number of QSOs with it, between New York and Virginia. It's handy and fast to set up. 6. Counterpoise antenna. Get one. Use it. It makes a difference. 7.Antenna, wire type w/reel. Get two. You need two to make field dipoles with. 8.Cable assembly, power. While I am not sure if this is the proper name for the part I am thinking about because I generally hear them called 'remote battery cables, get two, or even three so you have one as a spare. One can be used to put the battery aside instead of leaving it attached to the set. The other can be cut in half and used to power the set with a 24 volt power supply and the other end used on a battery charger. The ends are priceless as they are needed if you want to power the set from an external power supply. 9. Cable assembly, RF. This is used for dipole antennas. Be very careful and specify that you want the 20 meter one as there are several RF cables of varying lengths. You don't want to suspend the entire set twenty feet off the ground because the one you order arrived and was too short. Make sure you specify. 10. Center junction dipole. Get one. It is the balum used for dipoles. 11. Handset. You need either one of these or the next two items. This is what you think it is. 12. Headset with microphone. You know what that is. This one plugs into the Pressel box (13) which plugs into the set. The headset can also work as a small speaker of sorts. Take the headset off and turn the gain up and you can hear the set. For me this is more useful than the handset, but that is just me. 13. Pressel Box. This is the unit the headset plugs into and it contains the push to talk button. 14. Telegraph key. CW anyone? 15. Solar shield. A sun cover for outside use. Easy to make your own. 16. Battery. Gotta have one. It might be a good idea to get both sizes as the hand charger has a hard time recharging the larger of the two. It depends on what your plans are with the set. 17. Hand battery charger. Allows the set to be taken anywhere with no power. 18. Battery charger. I got one of the surplus one that runs off of 12 volts. It was somewhat of a mistake. After I got it, one of the Brits steered me to one that runs about 40 GBP or about $66. The military one charges batteries up FAST, which is a pretty good deal in combat, but it is pretty hard on them. Best to get one of the civvie ones and use THE OTHER end of the remote battery cable (the one you just cut in half to use as a power cord from your power supply to the set) as a cable to attach to the battery to charge it from the nice, gentle civvie charger. 19. Power supply, 24 volt, civvie type. For running the unit from 110 volt household juice. Get one that is a little heavy for the job. Mine is a 350 watt unit. The Brits on Yahoo groups recommended the one I got. Mine is an eBay item. It ran me about $40 if I recall. It wasn't too bad. 20. Microphone, respirator. This is a mike you use with a gas mask. Unless you wear a gas mask you do not need one. 21. Manual. Get one free off the internet and if you must, simply print it out. Kinkos charges about $5 to bind it up nicely for you. 22. 5.4 meter antenna kit. This is a nice thing to have if you go mobile. See the manual for it's many uses. I have set mine up alone. Be careful doing so, though. If you are not an experienced rigger you can break the mast. |
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When I was younger I was really into military rigs. I have an RT-70A with AM-65, AN/PRC-10 with AM-598 and of course the classic PRC-6 HT with the alignment meter for proper crystal tuning. I also have an ARC-44 that I never got working that still sits in a cabinet. Maybe when I retire I might get back into the classic radios but other than working on getting my FCC GROL, I have been mostly an operator of late. |
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Excellent post. Unfortunately, this has renewed my thirst for mil-com stuff. 'Tis life.
Can you take pictures of what the ancillary gear looks like? Perhaps common failure points of it as well? How would you rate the sensitivity and ease of finding sub s9+ signals? |