[Milsurplus] Chinese 6M- packset, the 884

[Mike Morrow]

>here's a web ref.  http://membres.lycos.fr/carm1940/photoalbum2.html
>Web site sez it's 45-50mhz

Some web sites confuse the VHF-FM Type 884 with another set that operates on HF.  These are probably the most commonly found PRC radio sets in the US and elsewhere.  They show up on ebay often, sometimes rather cheap.  They have an adapter that fits in the battery box to allow the use of eleven D-cells.  It is very easy to put on the air, but it doesn't get very far above the low end of the six meter band.

>Manual dated 1977 hence it's sorta post-cold-war.

That date, and these radios, are definitely NOT "post-cold-war" in any sense.  The Cold War was hotly prosecuted until, and even past, the Soviet breakup in late 1991.  The first Trident ballistic missile submarine system (the *ultimate* weapons system of the entire Cold War era) didn't even begin deployment until 1983.

Apparently, most of the Type 884 sets were made in the mid-1970s.  The first two digits of the rather long serial number indicate the year of manufacture.  I have one set made in 1973, another in 1974.  The set is very late- or post-Vietnam War era, but I don't know of any reports of its use in Vietnam.

These are all-solid-state sets, so they are lighter than and superior to the R-105M (P-105M) set that was commonly used in most Eastern-Block countries at the time.  But it doesn't come close to being anything similar in capability to the AN/PRC-77.

Mike / KK5F