At the urging of my friend Cal Neff, K4JSR, I am writing an article on green military radios. If you don't like this article, I would encourage you to complain to him! First, lets preface this discussion with a little personal history.

I have been an amateur radio operator since I was 16 years old. Like many of my fellow hams, I grew interested in radios at a tender age. When I was 11, my Dad had bought me one of those Rat Shack CB walkie talkie base stations that had a VFO receiver, but was rocked up on Channel 14. The radio would pick up the standard AM broadcast band. The unit had an integral Morse key that would send modulated CW, or A2, if memory serves. Anyway, the base station worked good for a couple of blocks. Frustrated by this lack of performance, antenna building commenced in an instinctive urge to increase range so I could communicate with the neighborhood boys at night. One aerial consisted of aluminum tent poles inserted end-to-end for a 25' long aerial leaned up against the house. A wire was snaked up this aerial, and it DID improve reception, but alas, not transmitted range.

Funny thing, I hadn't heard of resonant frequency at this age, but this didn't stop me. The piece-de-resistance consisted of one of those cane fishing poles you can still buy today at any quality tackle shop. My older brother Eric and I wrapped wire helical fashion around that cane fishing pole. My Dad, being a Southern Bell pay station repairman, always had these big spools of wire in the back of his repair truck. Anyway, we put that big cane pole up at the top of a 70' sweet gum tree in our backyard and brought the wire down. We then clipped the wire to the telescoping antenna of the 100 milliwatt Rat Shack base station. It actually worked!!! The sucker was heard by another Cb'er at a range of about 5 miles. WOW!!!! Anyway, the cane pole antenna and the sweet gum tree soon fell victim to one of those famous southeast Georgia summer thunderstorms. Nothing was left of the aerial after a tremendous lightning stroke as it was totally vaporized. The innards of the tree were fried as well. It took that sweet gum only 6 months to lose it leaves and die. All I remember was being in the kitchen and seeing a blinding flash out the window and hearing the instantaneous “BANG!”

I progressed to bona fide Citizens Band with a real radio at age 13, and by 15 ½ I was bored out of my skull. At age 16, I passed my Novice exam and was assigned the callsign KA4KOE, which is my call to this very day. Like many of my radio brethren, I have sampled from many of the sub-interests in the hobby, with the notable exceptions being moonbounce and amateur satellites. I wed and became the father to two wonderful children. My six year old son Jordan loves all things camouflage and army. The devious inner workings of my mind began to churn….“What could be more exciting than running around in the woods with my son with a real green army radio”, I thought to myself? We could have some real fun together. The idea germinated, and I decided I had to have a green radio for myself. Further justification, at least to me, came in the guise of several strong hurricanes smashing into Florida last fall. I told the bride, KG4KTW, that if we had to bug out and evacuate this season, we needed a portable HF radio that would survive the storm surge and be self-contained. I have never enjoyed being out of touch with the outside world. If we had to evacuate, I wanted to remain connected. The last major hurricane to hit Savannah, Georgia was David in 1979, which was barely a Category 1 when it rumbled ashore at Tybee Island. True, I could have purchased a portable radio from the Big Three, but the coolness factor was simply not there. Cool is very important in this household. Every radio in the house has a pet name given to it by my two younguns.

Jordan in his BDU's

Now, getting a green military radio (or greenie) requires a certain mindset, as I kindly reminded Cal in an earlier post. To reiterate what I stated, you can't go half way and get a Yaesu FT-897, or an Icom IC-703, or whatever. You gotta get a real radio. A heavy radio. A milspec waterproof radio. A radio that will survive the storm surge when you won't. A radio that can kill as you swing it pendulum style in self-defense. A radio that triple underlines your entry into the elite geekdom of ham radio packsters. A radio that reminds you what its like to be mortal as your body aches as you trudge down the forlorn path with it strapped to your middle-aged carcass, breathing heavily into the handset as you struggle to bark out a CQ, wondering if the ole' cardiac pump is up to the task.

Isn't it great? Or am I, like most of my ham brethren, consigned to a certain corner of the insane asylum, right next to the QRP section? Finding that radio is going to be tough if you have to start from scratch. Here are some pointers and rigs to look out for. The list is by no means complete, as I am sure there are some radios that are personal favorites. I will only cover those rigs capable of HF, and those I am familiar with. I'll include some links at the end so you can explore on your own, if you're so inclined after reading this verbose diatribe.

PRC-47

This is a Vietnam era radio manufactured by Collins. These are still available from Fair Radio Sales for under a grand. Be advised, however, that the radio only does USB and CW unmodified. It's a little heavy to be characterized as a manpack. Be careful tuning it up into an antenna, as its vacuum tube finals are not protected by any special circuitry. If you fry the finals, be advised they are almost impossible to replace. The rig is rated at 100 watts maximum output. A '47 will occasionally come available on eBay or in the classifieds on this site or QRZ.com. I decided against a PRC-47....too much of an antique, in my opinion.

PRC-70

This radio will work HF into the low VHF band (yes, it will do 6 meters). If you're in good shape, you might be able to heft one of these on your back. The radio was designed to bridge the gap between the frequency ranges covered by the classic PRC-25/77 and the PRC-47; in other words, two radios in one box. Again, I have seen a couple of these on Ebay in recent months for under two grand. The PRC-70 was too big, so I decided against one of these.

PRC-104

Manufactured by Hughes and various other contractors, the PRC-104 may still be in limited use by the U.S. military. This is a simple, no frills radio. Its like a Timex....takes a licking and keeps on ticking. A friend of mine, K6ERO, collects these and swears by them. I may get one eventually. Average power output is between 20-30 watts. Good examples can be had from about $1500 to $2500 dollars. The radio runs on 24 VDC.

PRC-1099 and 1099a

The PRC-1099a is still being manufactured by Datron/Transworld. Brand new, these radios go for around 6K from the manufacturer….too expensive. As a very good incentive, Datron still services these radios. Many accessories designed for the PRC-25/77 will work with these radios, as they utilize standard US connectors. Used examples can go from between $1500 and $2500, depending on condition and the user, if you can find one. I looked high and low for one for several months but gave up when another radio came available.

PRC-2000

A late 80's rig manufactured by the now non-existent Philips-MEL. Examples of these rigs were used by British forces during the Falklands war. The radio is relatively simple to use, and is approximately 25 pounds with the battery box full of D cell NiMH batteries (13 total). The PRC-2000 will output 20 watts high / 4 watts low, USB, LSB, CW, or digital modes. The transmit audio is very distinctive and has the classic military sound to it. Some may find the transmit audio objectionable. Combat Radio in the UK has these from time to time, but they are getting increasingly hard to find. From all reports, it appears to be a reliable radio. Prices range from $1800 to $2250.

If you decide to acquire a greenie, be advised that they are becoming increasingly hard to find due to the world terror situation. Military surplus radios are becoming VERY rare, as they are usually categorized as munitions, per what I have been told. Sadly, many PRC-104s are going to the crusher instead of the dealers when they are demilled. I love my PRC-2000. It's a neat way to turn a normally sedentary hobby into good exercise with one of these babies strapped to your back.

See the following excellent links if you'd like to get yourself a greenie....

American Milspec http://www.american-milspec.com

Combat Radio, UK http://www.combatradio.org.uk

Fair Radio Sales http://www.fairradio.com/backpa.htm

MilRadio, http://www.milradio.com/

Army Radio Sales, http://www.armyradio.com

Surplus Radios for Amateur Use, http://www.co.missoula.mt.us/acs/radios/Radios.htm

HF Pack Yahoo Group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hfpack

Mil Pack Yahoo Group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/milpack/

Army Radios Yahoo Group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/armyradios

Green Machine Surplus, http://www.greenmachinesurplus.com/

John Cook K6ERO, http://www.muttmotorpool.com/k6ero/Milpack.html

Thank you for giving me another opportunity to visit with you for awhile.

73

Philip Neidlinger, PE

KA4KOE