[MRCA] Re: [Milsurplus] PE-237...Collector whims!

[ersmar at comcast.net]

Gents:

     Regarding the VN gear, I put on a demo of HF and VHF Ham radio for the 
local Scout troops for JOTA in late October.  In addition to a very modern 
IC-746 PRO and NVIS antennas (I finally got to use my crossed inverted Vs), 
I brought along my PRC-25 and its harness to let the kids tire themselves 
out carrying it around while talking with my 746 base station on 51 Mc (we 
used my callsign and the special event K2BSA/3 callsign.)  I had several 
middle-aged gents come up to me and ask about the -25, telling me they had 
used one like it in VN or Guard duty.  But one gent originally from Ecuador 
was so excited to see the rig that he insisted both his young boys try it on 
for size.  He told me he used to carry one of those while he was in the 
Ecuadoran army and was very familiar with its operation.  The guy couldn't 
have been more than in his mid-30's.

     So I would suspect that Mike is right - these old radios are still in 
use somewhere on the planet to this very day.

73 de
Gene Smar  AD3F


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Morrow" <kk5f at earthlink.net>
To: <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 3:38 PM
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] PE-237...Collector whims!


> Robert wrote:

>> Vietnam War gear seems to have come out of that stage a little more
>> quickly
>
> What series of US military communications gear had the long active service 
> life of the Vietnam-era AN/VRC-12 and AN/PRC-25/77 series?  It was about 
> 30 years in the US military alone, and doubtless some foreign outfits are 
> still using this gear.  Certainly a AN/PRC-77 is much easier to use than a 
> AN/PRC-119 if frequency hopping isn't required.  This is pretty important 
> gear in the history of US military communications technology.  Apparently 
> the US government tries to de-militarize the stuff prior to release 
> nowadays.
>
>
> Mike / KK5F
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