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| Reviews Summary for PRC-320 |
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Reviews: 2
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Average rating: 4.0/5
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MSRP: $(missing—add MSRP)
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Description: HF 1.8 - 30 MHz radio with CW, USB, AM and after modification also LSB with 20W power, built-in manual tuner.
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More info: http://
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write your own review of the PRC-320.
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G7IDJ
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Rating: 3/5
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Apr 5, 2009 01:55
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Interesting radio but with drawbacks
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The PRC 320 is indeed an interesting radio. I bought it with a lot of accessories for about £500.
Good things:
- it is sturdy
- can catch a bullet without suffering any internal damage.
- easy to use and operate
- has an internal antenna tuner
- ideal for portable QRP work when you don't to have to worry about the weather
- these radios seem to be indestructable but I am sure with the right person even these radios will suffer a certain death
Downsides:
- audio quality is not too good
- very heavy for what it is but then it is made for the military for rugged conditions with 80ies technology
- no LSB for 10MHz and below
- 28V necessary to operate the radio hence you need two car batteries or use the batteries which come with the radio
- tuning is a nightmare if you want to scan the band, the buttons are very heavy to turn and you would have one for each range i.e. 100Hz, 1kHz, 10kHz, 100kHz, 1MHz steps
Conclusion:
I would not use them as a main radio and for the price you can get a a fully fletched HF radio with state of the art technology - still I did get it with all accessories i.e. backpack, antennas, hand generator, spare battery, 12V charging unit etc.
It certainly is a looker and it will generate more interest if you turn up with the radio on Field Day.
The technology is a bit obsolete and I would wished that they would have thumbwheels or a different method to select the frequency which is somewhat easier then again in a military context you would just choose the frequency and operate on it...you would normally not scan the band for random contacts.
The batteries last a reasonably long time and it doesn't look to be too difficult to re-cell them.
As a first or main radio - by something more conventional and modern
To have a bit of fun on the side and use something for the outside...bearing in mind that the weight of radio is not something you would lug about for long trecks easily...this radio is ideal but it comes at a price.
I only give it a 3 in the rating due to the obsolete technology, the way the frequency is chosen, poor audio and the lack of LSB for 40m and 80m operation. I am sure your fellow hams will not be too excited if you operate in USB on 40 and 80m.
Michael
G7IDJ
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PE1RLN
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 27, 2008 01:49
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This is what you want
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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If you are looking for a radio with good performance to carry on your back, continue reading.
This radio weighs about 10kg and can be mounted on a carrying frame or in a backpack, both original and commonly available. It is being powered by a NiCd battery or an external 24V powersupply. A hand crank generator is also available to charge the battery during receive. On top of it you can mount a whip antenna of about 3m or you can use the wire terminals for a dipole or end-fed antenna. The internal tuner works for these terminals. When using the BNC outlet, the tuner is disabled.
When I bought this radio (about € 600,-/ $ 700) I was looking for a portable HF radio that was really portable. The FT-817 requires an extra antenna, a tuner and also a battery. The FT-897 idem. The set-up time had to be short and it would have to be possible to use the radio while walking around. The PRC-320 seemed to be the only available radio to do all that.
What makes this radio so great?
1. unpack, power up, tune and go. When I got this radio, I took it out of the shippingbox, turned it on on 20m, looked for a QSO and made a contact over 1000km (PA-IE). Whenever you hear a station, you can work it.
2. works both as portable and base station. When you are walking around with the 3m whip, you can make contacts over 1500km. If you have a good antenna set up, you can work the whole world with only 20w. An external 24V supply is not necessary but it is quite handy
3. search the bands. It doesn't have a VFO knob to turn over the band. However, you can switch by 1 kHz or even 100Hz if you want and with a little practice, you can search the band just as easy as with a HAM rig.
4. long lasting battery. The battery is big but it also means that it lasts very long. The powerconsumption is low.
5. wide coverage. The PRC-320 goes from 80m to 10m so it covers the entire HF. Unfortunately it doesn't have 6m but then you'd better buy an IC-7200 for that.
The only complaint you may have is that LSB is not standard (unless you have the LSB version, then USB isn't in it) so you have to do the mod which is quite easy.
Changing frequency has to be done with rotaryswitches so you will have to practice to "scan" manually.
This radio is rugged, waterproof, stable and performs very good.
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