AN/PRC-77?

[VogonFord]

As a number of you probably already know, I'm a big fan of carrying around a lot of weight. Currently as I posted before I'm setting up a late 1980's/early 1990's US loadout, and now I am thinking about adding a AN/PRC-77 to it for the look and for ability to have a radio that every bastard on the field can hear.

So, being not really much of a radio nut, I have a few questions about it:

-Is there anywhere selling a working set with accessory bag for under or around 300 dollars?
-Can the GMRS/FRS radios in use by most airsofters communicate with it?
-If not, how hard would it be to convert an PRC-77 shell to a more modern set? And would the modern set be able to take the old style phone thing?

Thanks for any help.

[danneskjold]

They wont work with GMRS/FRS.

[LiberalPacifist]

I believe they're UHF, or at least VHF, so FRS/GMRS is out of the question. I have thought in the past about making a replica of one of these, and putting a standard walkie talkie for guts with one of these hung outside.

The problem is I don't know quite how to make a reasonably good approximation of the shell...

EDIT: It is VHF.

[Jester316]

Here is what I would do if I really wanted to:

-Obtain a shell that looks like what you are trying to copy.
-Obtain a mobile dual band radio
-Using a motor cycle battery, or other high capacity battery wire everything into the shell

[Eyes On]

What Jester said.

Assuming you could simply replace the frequency "cards" from VHF to UHF... and you can't... the antennas would not work and you'd have to shunt the wiring harness/buss for the handset. While 90% of this is outside of my experience, I remember our radio techs having fits because the harness can switch functions depending on input power and function of the handset (some kind of built in redundancy thing).

You're better off building a replica with aircraft plywood and fiberglass cloth/resin, and burying a GMRS radio inside the body under a removable face plate. There are plenty of pictures of the 77 on the web.

[Catch22]

A while back there was talk of replicas being made for Vietnam War reenactors.

[Eyes On]

Or you can read THIS THREAD. Apparently you might be able to track down one via Battlesim.

[Nox]

You can buy the handset via ebairsoft as an H-250 handset that comes with different connectors for different style radios (Element H-250) I had one of these before I changed radio types - this thing is effing LOUD, I had to leave my motorola on 1/3 volume and had this thing hanging on the D ring to my vest at shoulder level and I heard everything perfectly. The price is right for that unit, and it's damn near indestructible. I fell on mine, rolled on it, ran it through tangly brush..all with only the plastic clip on the back holding it on and it took abuse and kept asking for more.
I made the mistake of turning it all the way up, and had it to my ear when someone keyed up - I was fuggin deaf for 5 minutes in that ear, no lie.

As for the radio body - I'm with Gunny and suggest you build your own with either a motorola or similar radio inside of it. The shell would be relatively simple to build,(probably as an ammo box as a starter?) the dimensions of the case via google being 4x11x14 high - so what, a cut down 81mm mortar box as a base? (14.5x5.5x22.5) Thats damn close.. Just a little thicker in the can lol
A little creativity and ingenuity and you'd have it it no time I'm sure.
Worse comes to worse - you could have a sheet metal place or an HVAC place cut some sheet for you and brake it into the proper sizes. Whenever I need to build a boxy-type item, I just go to the local heating and air place here in town and they have all the sheet stock sizes I could ever need - and its cheap.

Just some helpful input from an occasional kludger

Edit - I see ebairsoft's product listing is 'in soon' so I found other links to the Element H250:
http://www.massive.hk/eshop/index.php?m ... cts_id=631

http://www.gunnerairsoft.com/catalog/pr ... ts_id=1824

(2 brands of H-250)
http://www.rsov.com/index.php?target=pr ... 50&x=0&y=0

[Nox]

Also - have you thought about going with the SINCGARS instead? It was also available in the 90's and was rolled out in 93 according to the wiki - it might be easier to replicate, had the telephonic handset, and is pretty visually appealing..
Just an idea.

[pulsipher]

I have the h250 headset. Its ok. Its not.a prc77 handset so it would be off

[VogonFord]

So I was thinking like 1.5-2 watts of power on the radio to throw in there. What options do I have?

And I'll just get a real shell. Those are available for about 60-80 dollars.

[danneskjold]

The H-250 was used with the PRC077...

[Jester316]

So I was thinking like 1.5-2 watts of power on the radio to throw in there. What options do I have?

And I'll just get a real shell. Those are available for about 60-80 dollars.

Why not up it to 4-5 watts for the radio*? This will allow you to use a higher end radio, and have better transmission quality.







*Keep in mind though that it is technically illegal to run more than .5w on the FRS channels.

[Nox]

There are alot of options for a 2+ watt radio on ebay for fairly cheap, it might just take some nosing around.
I recently decided to take the plunge to a 'real' radio and bought a wouxun kg-699e radio - it has 1 watt at low power, and 5 watts at high power. Hand programmable or you can hook it to a computer with some software thats available free and program it from there.
So far I'm far from disappointed with the performance the radio has given. It's dual band and dual frequency, so I can monitor 2 channels at once and recieve from either - I can also transmit to either with a push of a button. I have yet to see the battery drop one 'bar marker' to let me know its using juice, even after using it all day and dinking with the FM radio on it. (yes, I can listen to radio while comming lol)
The damn thing has more bells and whistles than I know what to do with so far, even with the booklet telling me what it can do.
It cost the same as a low end AEG, but it was damn well worth the money.
You might try looking at some of the Wouxun or Yaesu type radios to see what would be an option for you - I've seen them as low as 50 bucks for a really nice radio on ebay.