[MRCA] PRC-64 Event Monday Evening

[B. Smith]

/*Looks like Al and I will be on, anyone else?

Z*/*

from:*SpyRadios at yahoogroups.com [mailto:SpyRadios at yahoogroups.com] *On 
Behalf Of *w0rw
*Sent:* Saturday, August 10, 2013 10:27 AM
*To:* SpyRadios at yahoogroups.com
*Subject:* [SpyRadios] PRC64 50th Anniv. Event ,12 August 2013, Monday, 
at 2100EDT.

The PRC64 50th Anniversary Operating Event will be on*12 August 2013, 
Monday, at 2100 EDT.*

I will be operating as 'W5O' on *7030 kHz.*
This is the 50th Anniversary of the PRC64 build.
They awarded the PRC64 contract on 3 Jan 1963 and the First Article 
units were delivered in July 1963.
They sent a few to Australia in July 1964 and made 500 in Australia for 
the VK Army.

The PRC64 is a 1965 Vietnam spy radio that is 5" x 5" x 10".
It has a crystal controlled transmitter and receiver (w/Collins 
mechanical filter).
It has 18 transistors, with 2 TRW 2N2782's in the final, running 5 watts.

My power source: LiIon battery (7 - 18650 cells).
It weighs about 3 pounds without the battery.

(The Delco 5300A is the same radio that was made for the CIA. It has an 
adjustable key on the top panel).

You can see pictures of mine in its little green carrying bag in QRP 
Quarterly, Spring 2009, p52.
You can read more technical details about it in KI0PF's, book..."MIL 
SPEC RADIO GEAR", p59.
or in Richard Arland's (K7SZ) "Low Power Communications" Book, 3rd Ed., 
page '11-21'.

There is a field report of actual PRC64 tests done in Vietnam (Report 
#AD464299) that is posted on the PRC-64 Yahoogroup.
See <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PRC-64/> .

It tests the operational reliability but not the environmental and 
physical reliability.
This radio had bumps and bruises from operational handling that would 
damage most equipment.

I wonder what MIL-HDBK-217 would say about the MTBF.

The Hughes PRC74 was built a few years later and the Heathkit HW7 came 9 
years later.

This unit has successfully passed it's Longevity test..
It has many high failure rate components, such as: Crystals, Switches, Pots,
Capacitors, Inductors, a Mechanical filter, and Germanium PNP Transistors
(2N2401,) and early Silicon Transistors with purple plague, Yikes.

If you have a PRC64 or a Delco 5300A you can operate in this event also.
No logs, no awards, just fun with an old spy radio.
Just call CQ and add /PRC64 or /5300 to your call sign.

You will have to post your own time and frequency.
Paul. w0rw,

Box 6069, Colorado Springs, CO 80934.

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