Welcome You de VR2BB, Military Radio Collector

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VR2BB Tom Cheng Welcome All

This is Hong Kong Calling

Hi, dear all, My name is Tom Cheng. I am a radio amateur since 1962 and became licensed in 1975. I am a military radio collector since the late of 1960. Some equipments purchased from UK, Japan, USA and some from Hong Kong . To maintenance the Military Radio is not a easy job because of their ages and the parts sometime is difficult to find. I like the construction of the military radio, they designed for the extremely worst operating condition, the radio equipment is completely sealed, waterproof and dustproof design, and used the conservatively-rated components ensure extremely reliable performance. Hence military radio becomes the Top Gun in the telecommunication equipment. Different of years manufactured military radio is based on the government budget and conditions, the products finally comes out to meet the military operation requirement.

I am operating mobile with PRC-25 on back pack. Location is in a small park in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong. The another unit near my leg side is the Racal TRA-967, VHF FM Radio with power output 3 watt. The TRA-967 I purchased from Japan offered in a used-repairable condition. I used 1 year of time to repair it. The main problem is difficult to find the parts, e.g. varicap diodes. The TRA-967 is made in the mid of 1970. It is a low cost military products. The radio employed 4000 series CMOS ICs in synthesizer circuit. It is very compact and light in weight. It is a completely sealed unit and is dustproof and waterproof. The Radio designed in use under extremely worst condition. The weight is about 7 lbs including battery pack. The RF power output is 3 watt.

Above photo is the C42 inside view, more information see next page

PRC74 is a HF USB Radio, the manufacture date is in mid 1960. All solid state and uses all crystals control synthesizer circuit. Frequency Range is from 1.6MHZ to 18 MHz. 1 KHz step and with continuously tuning control for receiving. RF power output is 15 watt and using 12V DC power supply. My PRC74 purchased from US in 1993. It is a late model PRC74C. PRC74 is very hard to find now.

The Philippine URC773 is a VHF radio. Circuit design is similar as TRA967, but with more up-dated and better design. The receive front end has added one high Q tuned circuit to improve the front end selectivity. Squelch is also improved, the RF power output is 5 watt. The radio supplied by BM company in Japan a few year ago, but no more can be ordered nowadays.

The Drake MSR2 receiver is a commercial grade communications receiver, manufactured dated is in late 1970. It is a very good receiver especially the band switches is using Gold Plated band selectors, hence although it is near 26 years of age but still working in good order. The frequency display uses Nixie Tube with orange color, it looks beautiful in darkness. All frequency injections of the receiver are controlled by a phase locked digital synthesizer which allows incremental frequency selection in 10, 1 and 0.1 MHz steps. The remaining 0 to 0.1 MHz is continuously adjustable by a highly stable variable oscillator from the fine tuning knob on the front panel.

The Racal RT351 radio is part of the UK Clansman tactical communication system. This picture I took in 1996 in a British Barrack Open Day in Hong Kong. RT351 is a VHF FM Tactical Radio, frequency range is from 30 to 76 MHz with channel spacing 25 KHz. RF power output is 4 watt. But can be carry a RF power amplifier increaseing power output to 20Watt (Model RT-352). This radio sometimes can be available in UK. The Clansman Radio will be completely replaced by a new system soon.

Please Click Photo for Super Size


PRC74 HF SSB Radio, 2 to 18 MHz	Bottom side view of PRC74C	Philippine URC733 VHF FM Radio, 30 to 76 MHz	Drake MSR2 Receiver, Tono9000E RTTY Modem	UK Racal RT351 VHF FM Radio


Modular Construction of the UK Clansman RT351 VHF Radio	Inside view of the PRC2000 HF SSB Manpack Radio.	Scimitar V VHF frequency hopping Transceiver.	Vehicular Version of Scimitar V Radio.	UK Racal RT351 VHF FM Radio