[MRCA] The PRC-104 Saga

[Al Klase]

Gang,

As some of you know I've been using an AN/PRC-104A HF back-pack 
transceiver for 3 or 4 years now.  I really like this radio, and it 
performs very well.  For instance, I ran the Moose & Squirrel 60-meter 
Net from the MTA meet in North Jersey the other Saturday, feeding a 
simple half-wave end-fed wire at about 10 feet, and easily worked 
stations from Dover, DE to northern NH.  These were the follow on to the 
Vietnam era PRC-74, and are quintessential 
long-range-reconnaissance-patrol radios with a proud history.



Now, you may have heard me mutter that radios like this are just a 
heartbeat away from being a wheel chock.  Unlike the earlier radios, 
like the PRC-47 and PRC-74, they are serviceable only by swapping out 
major components.  Hughes was building spacecraft at the time they 
designed this radio.  The circuit cards are multi-layer boards using 
custom hermetically-sealed surface-mount hybrid integrated circuits.  I 
have a fair amount of experience working on solid-state radios, and own 
the appropriate test equipment, but these modules are beyond my 
capabilities.

I actually own there of these sets. Two of them work, and I haven't 
delved into the third, as I have only one good A1A3 synthesizer module 
among them.

So, at the simplest level, I'm looking for an A1A3 board.  I have a 
quote from Columbia Electronics for $750.  Ouch!

It's pretty clear to me that PRC-104's are being cannibalized to keep 
the remaining sets running.  What I'd like to do is identify who's 
sitting on what, and see if we can help each other.

What do you have?
Al

-- 
Al Klase - N3FRQ
Jersey City, NJ
http://www.skywaves.ar88.net/

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