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Reviews For: PRC 174 Tadiran

Category: Transmitters: non-amateur adaptable for ham use

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Review Summary For : PRC 174 Tadiran
Reviews: 3MSRP: 3,800.00
Description:
Transceiver 2 to 30 Mhz modes LSB/USB/FSK/AM/CW 20 watts output ATU built in 20 - 32 VDC 100 hz tuning steps.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0035
ZL1CVD Rating: 2015-11-29
Solid performer, ideal HF go kit Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Over the years I have owned & used a few PRC-174s. A very rugged and durable transceiver with a built-in tuner that is fast and matches a good range of antennas. Construction is up there with Collins in that its modular, only the best parts are used and PCB's are lacquered with gold plated intermodule connectors. All parts used are though hole mounted on fibre glass PCB's or point-to-point. Very easy to service. There is some unobtaium in the ATU but even so, there is enough circuit data to replicate these sealed units. Audio is typically military – sharp and punchy. 20W may be enough in the larger continents but it struggles to make more than a few hops from down this end of the globe. Front panel controls are all well labelled and typically military with no bells or whistles. As you'd expect, no provision for RIT or HAM type 'VFO' tuning. The push button tuning is effective and takes little time to get accustomed to. If procuring direct from Israel, expect well used kit, probably repainted with more than a few chips and dings. Upon receipt you'd be wise to remove all covers, unplug all modules and give it a good blow out / clean. I had one with bad motherboard surface corrosion which cleaned up easily and now gets daily use. Battery pack and antenna mount are hard to find with many amateurs making home brew alternatives. Mods to deactivate custom tone squelch & expand TX down to 160m are worth doing. All in all a fine example and well sought after rig that will continue to give solid performance so years.
KJ5GT Rating: 2011-07-27
Nice radio. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The PRC-174 has some nice features for a military radio.Indicator light system shows signal strength, tx power, battery voltage, has wide/narrow CW, double sideband AM, ATU automatically bypassed if antenna SWR is under 1.5:1.One missing feature is a low power setting.Most military manpack sets have a 5 watt setting availiable.That said, I haven't really missed it.I have mostly used the 174 as a travel/portable set, usually with an 88 ft doublet, fed with 30 ft of ladderline and a w2du balun.While a 1/2 wave dipole would be more efficient, the coupler loads this antenna well, and I have made many contacts with it, usually on the 40-75M bands.I normally use a 20 C cell nimh battery pack, has enough capacity for a weekend of casual operating.Overall, this has been a reliable, good performing set.With some reasonable propagation, and a good antenna, 20 watts will do surprisingly well.
KD7HVL Rating: 2011-06-29
Very nice Time Owned: more than 12 months.
PRC 174 is a full featured military designed combat radio. Very rugged construction will take a lot of abuse. 2-30 MHz in 100 cycle steps USB/LSB AM CW wide and CW narrow 500 hz. 20 watts output or better, built in full time speach processor CPU/ATU tunes anything. 50 ohm output or long wire whip auto selctable. Very good sensitivity >.25 uV Lots of aftermarket info and unit has a user group on Yahoo. Weight 11 pounds for radio only, figure with man pac configuration you are going to have 20 to 25 pounds on your back. Makes for a wonderful military R/T for a higher power base operation. These rigs do sound good on the air with a nice punchy audio that gets the job done. The receiver hears very well to.