PRC-104B
Yet another military pack set. This one made in the US of A!
Sometimes the great US military / industrial complex really gets it right. The PRC-104 radio is one example of that. These are kick-ass little radio sets.
These little rigs put out 20+ watts PEP over the 2.000 to 29.9999 frequency range in USB, LSB, Data and CW. The receivers are really hot, they're designed to hear with the AT-271 10 foot whip antenna.
One thing I really like about the PRC-104 is that you can use the internal antenna coupler even on a coax fed antenna. The PRC-2000 only gives you the choice of using the coupler on the whip (or a random wire) or using the 50 Ω output to feed a resonant antenna. So, the coupler is not an option on a coax fed antenna.
The PRC-104 is a great man-pack rig and does really well as PACTOR / MARS rigs whether at the home QTH or forward deployed.
Anyway, here's mine:
BTW, the PRC-104b variant allows for six channels to be programmed into memory and scanned. Here's how to use the memory and scanning features:
To program a channel:
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First set up the frequency and mode in the normal way. For example, punch the buttons until you are on 18157.5 in USB VTR mode.
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Press both MODE buttons simultaneously to bring up the SCAN menu.
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Press the "STO" (store) soft key.
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Press the button corresponding to the memory slot you want to use for this frequency. For example, press the button below the "5" for the fifth channel. At this point you are returned to the normal display screen.
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Program up to six channels, as you see fit. The HF Pack frequencies are good choices.
To enter scan mode:
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Press both MODE buttons simultaneously to bring up the SCAN menu.
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Press the SCAN soft key; the radio goes into SCAN mode with a default of 10 seconds of dwell on each channel. (See below to change the dwell time.)
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If you hear something on a channel you want to listen to, press the ENTR (enter) soft key, the radio will drop out of SCAN mode on the current channel.
To change the default 10 second scan rate:
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Press both MODE buttons simultaneously to bring up the SCAN menu.
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Press the DWL (dwell) soft key. Notice that the display shows "10" -- the 10 second default dwell value.
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Use the buttons to select whatever channel dwell time you would like from 01 to 99 seconds. (I use 01 for one second per channel.)
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Press the ENTR soft key once you've selected your preferred dwell time.
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You are now at the SCAN menu and you can press the SCAN button to commence scanning.
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You will have to re-do this every time you power up the radio -- it does NOT store this setting.
To jump to a channel in your scan set:
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Press both MODE buttons simultaneously to bring up the SCAN menu.
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Press the RCL (recall) soft key.
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Press the button corresponding to the channel you want to jump to.
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Press the ENTR (enter) soft key.
Another web site that has tons of good info on the PRC-104 series belongs to Brooke Clarke.
The PRC-104 is a solid radio and, unlike many man-pack rigs, spare parts are available via the web!