Ah, good catch, it is APX6000, not 4000. I typo'ed that who response (and deal with everything from Maxtrac to APX8000/8500's), I'll blame the lack of caffeine in my system for that. Thank you for the correction. 6000 not 4000.
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I own a THALES PRC-6809 to specifically monitor frequencies in the VHF/UHF air bands. I use it on an almost daily basis. I wanted something that was designed for the task and there really aren't any handhelds, that are built to mil-spec standards, that cover the VHF/UHF air band. I think the idea of owning an AN/PRC-163 is a pipe dream at best. It's not like it's going to be legal for unauthorized civilians to own one of those either and yes, I know someone who has access to one for inter-op. Unless something has changed, I've seen no indication "yet" of a non TYPE-1, exportable, variant of the AN/PRC-163. THALES has a non TYPE-1, exportable, variant of their MBITR2, though it's not likely you would be able to get THALES to sell you one.
There are already, non functional, replicas of the AN/PRC-163 being sold out of China for the mil-sim's/airsofters.
There are already, non functional, replicas of the AN/PRC-163 being sold out of China for the mil-sim's/airsofters.
surfacemount
Member
And I (and assuredly others) have pounded the Big 3 as well as baofeng trying to get them to drop a cheap SDR into an aluminum shelled version. No bites, I can't figure out why except they seem to want to make a MPU5 clone that completely misses the point of that ecosystem.
I haven't heard a lot about the 163 far as field reports, so to hear it gets hot on SAT is interesting.
I expect there to be a FMS version of the 163 if that is what they settle on. My limited understanding was that it was more a test-the-waters than a de facto this-is-the-son-of-152 kind of increment. I wish I knew a JTAC, that would be where a lot of the disruptive innovation in radio comms is going to come out of.
OP -
I saw this thread, and hoped he had really found a bunch for that price range. With what happened in AFG, I know there are a bunch in the wind now.
I fell in love with the 152 because they were widebanded, took multiple waveforms and were built to be in sand and mud. I was already used to pantsdragger 'hand held' radios like the MX360 or the SABER III with the Big Boy battery, so form factor wasn't a deal breaker. I would probably buy one of the export versions floating around now if I knew it wasn't going to fail out of lock in 20 days from receipt and setting it up.
The MPU5 clone where they have a picture of a masked individual using like a phone lol! I'm sure the airsofter crowd would love to think they have a military grade mesh networking replica! There are wealthy SHTF types who are actually purchasing and using the real Persistent Systems units for $30,000 each.
The full kit (Radio, PTT, Headset, HUD, etc) for the MPU5 is about 16k (each) and the basic unit is about 9k. The company is pretty good to deal with and they are getting popular with agencies that have lots of money to burn.
Sounds better than the $30K I saw thrown around. Although the $30K might have been for two units. Is that agency pricing? Just curious if they charge a higher premium for commercial sales of these. Similar to the way L3HARRIS charged considerably more for certain night vision goggles to make it worth their wild to make them available to the civilian market.
That was what their rep told us at a demo for a couple agencies.
swen_out_west
Member
Back to the OP those are not real Harris PRC-123s they are a big favorite of Mil Sim airsofters. Really nothing more than a glorified BaoFeng and the CT mode is nothing more than a Compander. There’s 2 main companies TRI (triumph) and TCA, the fact that it is marketed as a Replica Fake is why the Chinese companies justify leaving the logo as Harris although like another poster mentioned, they really don’t care.
Now with all that said the only reason I even saw this thread was I’m doing research on and thinking of purchasing either the TRI or TCA. Yes, they are an overpriced glorified BaoFeng but they are rugged aluminum housings with all the cool mil Sim gadgets to go with them, ie KDU (wrist mounted Keypad Displlay Unit) and fake peltor headsets.
Now with all that said the only reason I even saw this thread was I’m doing research on and thinking of purchasing either the TRI or TCA. Yes, they are an overpriced glorified BaoFeng but they are rugged aluminum housings with all the cool mil Sim gadgets to go with them, ie KDU (wrist mounted Keypad Displlay Unit) and fake peltor headsets.
surfacemount
Member
There are no 123's.
Scramble mode isn't a compander.
There are at least four companies including Falco.
There is a monster thread on these on ar15.com in the radio subforum, answer any questions you might have if you read it all. Short answer is google for a cat named Shi Qing. He's the best place to buy and would be able to get you the latest revision of whichever you choose (it matters.)(the revision, anyway).
swen_out_west
Member
I meant 152 and I also specified that it wasn’t true crypto Companding is not scrambling it’s only companding the audiio
Since I want to get into having the same radio as the MilSim guys I’m going with both. They both have their followings in the MilSim world depending on what the poster means by ‘the better radio’
surfacemount
Member
You stated:
There is no 'both', at least four manufacturers mass produce these things.
airsoft - (shrugs) if they aren't using commercial or legit mil radios... it's all a wash radiowise, anyway.
Cypher Text mode isn't a compander on any of them that I am aware of. The ones I have seen use audio frequency inversion.
There is no 'both', at least four manufacturers mass produce these things.
airsoft - (shrugs) if they aren't using commercial or legit mil radios... it's all a wash radiowise, anyway.
swen_out_west
Member
Correct me if I’m wrong but companding is nothing more than compressing and/or inversion, companding is not cypher. In fact when any of those radios are in companding mode you can still make it out if your hearing is good something mine isn’t most audio signals are garbled to me lol
For a guy who likes to correct me for specifics you’re conflating companding as CT
surfacemount
Member
I don't like to correct you. I don't even know you. I do know that people will find this thread researching those toys, read what you said because you said it like you knew it to be correct, and then later on I'll hear it again in other forums and places and eventually it will become 'fact'.
I'm just rebutting you coming in here with very little actual knowledge of these things.
Companding was pretty cool back in the day. You may have heard of 'Dolby', that's the most famous use of it. It only works when both sides have the capability, and have it activated. You are correct when you state companding is not 'cypher'. You can still understand a companded audio output, it will just sound very flat and narrow. (I think I have some dbx rack gear in storage)
The scramble mode of these radios is a simple circuit that inverts audio around a certain frequency. The radio on the other side does the same thing to recover the audio. Better versions use a shifting inversion point. There is no compression involved. There is no companding mode. I own several of these devices. Some of the best were made by a company called Midian.
Depending on where the fold point is, you can sort of even understand the inverted audio, especially using larger speakers.
comsec nerds like to argue whether or not inversion is 'encryption' or merely voice protection. That's probably a great topic to spin off in another thread, though.
prcguy
Member
Dolby, oh gawd. The recording industry calls it Dull bee because of what it does to a nice piece of music.
surfacemount
Member
Hey, I didn't say it was good...
(just the best example of companding I could think of off the cuff)
Anyway you may cut, slice, dice or puree it, it is a "wanna be" radio..like.."I wanna be an Airborne Ranger, I wanna live a life of danger....." but never made the cut...so the best that one can do is get this radio and have some make-believe fun.
I think we’re done here. The devices the OP was referencing are not real Harris radios.
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