So I thought I'd seen & used some pretty cool radios, until today when I got to see a few Harris Falcon III's up close. I won't go into who was using them, but let's just say it wasn't during a police ride along. Dear lord, that is an amazing radio. I'm pretty sure one of them had multiple VFO's, with 2 antenna connectors. Front panel programming of tons of settings, direct frequency entry, networking features, multiple protocols, and much more. Wow. All I have to say is, just, wow. Sure would be nice if a ham/civilian radio product existed like that, they apparently have as much if not more bandwidth range than my scanners.
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I used them for about 10 years of my military career. Far more capabilities than anything that I'd had experience with prior. Granted, some of my units were still using Vietnam-era VRC-47s when I joined.
I might be mistaken, but I think you have the Falcon III confused with the Falcon II (e.g. AN/PRC-150)? The Falcon III includes the PRC-117G/PRC-152 series.
So yeah the Falcon III's I saw were 5 watt portables, I didn't notice model numbers but in looking at some photos, I"m pretty sure they were AN/PRC-152A.
If they were portables, they were AN/PRC-152s.
I remember when we first got the PRC-117F's in the USAF. We had Harris techs working with us doing testing, so imagine laptops and wires running everywhere. It's a 30-512MHz radio with no gaps. They originally wanted it to do HF as well, but they couldn't jam it all in there. 
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Beware of the Chinese knock off radios sold on ebay and Amazon. They are identical on the outside but are BaoFenShuii on the inside.
Harris Falcon series radios are awesome, and made my work in the Air Force a whole lot easier. This began with the AN/PRC-117F in Afghanistan in 2004, and followed with the AN/PRC-152 a few years later, concluding with the AN/PRC117G as I was retiring. Of course they make me carry the "F" version with two batteries and almost twice the weight, then come out with something lighter for the next generation of Air Force ground pounders.
Excellent radios, and when grouped with a HF AN/PRC-150, they replaced the entire radio pallet used for close air support operations that were used for a couple of decades, a requirement due to military contracts. Now, if only Harris offered AM in their XG-100P/M Unity lineup.....for those of us now in the private sector. If I am wishing, a metal cased civilian XG-200 would be nice too. For those die hard Motorola types, Harris released a quad band radio with GPS years before Motorola brought the same technology to the field in the APX line. However, add 50-300% on the price tag.
True Harris military radios are considered CCI, and only export versions should be sold to the public. So, as mentioned above, beware stolen equipment and the possibility of it being an airsoft knockoff, with a cheap radio inside, sold for looks only.
Excellent radios, and when grouped with a HF AN/PRC-150, they replaced the entire radio pallet used for close air support operations that were used for a couple of decades, a requirement due to military contracts. Now, if only Harris offered AM in their XG-100P/M Unity lineup.....for those of us now in the private sector. If I am wishing, a metal cased civilian XG-200 would be nice too. For those die hard Motorola types, Harris released a quad band radio with GPS years before Motorola brought the same technology to the field in the APX line. However, add 50-300% on the price tag.
True Harris military radios are considered CCI, and only export versions should be sold to the public. So, as mentioned above, beware stolen equipment and the possibility of it being an airsoft knockoff, with a cheap radio inside, sold for looks only.
Thought I would add a picture. Left to right: Harris Unity XG-100P, Harris AN/PRC-152 non-GPS version, Motorola Astro Saber Model 3, and a Thales ANPRC-148 MBITR. The PRC-152 and PRC-148 are true 30-512 MHz radios, while the Motorola is only VHF, and the Harris Unity is VHF/UHF(full range)/700-800 MHz with GPS. This picture represents about 22 years of radio technology evolution.
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Yea, "falcon III" is a bit ambiguous as they came in all sorts of configurations. The PRC portables, The MP man-packs.
The one I saw was a rapid deployment field station with the fundamental radio and a load of attachments like wideband antenna tuner, Amplifiers, GPS, Crypto module. interface module. and more. A second box took these to 2500 Mhz with no break from 30 Mhz up. Another with satellite configuration.
A couple shots of Falcon IIIs:
The one I saw was a rapid deployment field station with the fundamental radio and a load of attachments like wideband antenna tuner, Amplifiers, GPS, Crypto module. interface module. and more. A second box took these to 2500 Mhz with no break from 30 Mhz up. Another with satellite configuration.
A couple shots of Falcon IIIs:
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Yes, I used many backpack versions, and even the kit in the Pelican case with amplifier AC/DC power supply and other options. Tactical Operation Centers (TOC's) often had a row of them in their Pelican cases, with the Keypad Display Unit (KDU) remoted to the operators desks. The Falcon series of radios has become my favorite, as they pack a great deal of function into a small package, albeit at a high cost. When they AN/PRC-117F first came out, it was common to cargo strap one, along with a Harris AN/PRC-150 HF, stacked onto the "doghouse" radio rack mount in a HMMWV. With appropriate antennas mounted, the vehicle now had DC to 512MHz and UHF Satcom capability. I recall getting frustrated sending a picture to a neighbor from Afghanistan and it took 2 minutes. It was a lot like slow scan TV via amateur radio. This was using High Performance Waveform (HPW) and the UHF Follow-On (UFO) satellite constellation. Now, you can hear many pirate stations using this same satcom constellation at times, and it is a great hobby for some to listen to.
Nice! That's an early version PRC-148, if that volume knob is original to the radio.
Yes, both the PRC-148 and PRC-152 are very early versions. I had some dealing with Thales, and a lot more with Harris over the years. Still have both (export versions) but the Thales mic connector broke at some point....I tend to be hard on equipment.
Would have never been able to tell from looking at that picture. Both the PRC-148 and PRC-152 look mint!
Hey on the topic of military Harris and Thales radios… what are those courtesy tones you hear in videos of aircraft and/or land vehicles tracking enemy forces on infrared or low light television… my favorite part is the the whole screen flashing white for a brief second and u see a big gigantic crater… then “BEEP BEEP”… target destroyed… are those some type of tone patches??
IR and low light television, that is the "bloom" from the increased light of an explosion, lights of vehicles, stars, or some other light or heat source. Infra-red will bloom for heat and image intensification will bloom from increased light, which could even be from a laser designator or beacon. As for the beep, being a military comms guy turned JTAC, I never used any type of "Roger Beep" or "Talk Permit" tone, but many people do. Depends on how the radio is programmed. Many operations types are the end user, and may not even know how to turn beeps and tones on or off.
Just like Motorola…. The Clear TX tone… I guess the reason it’s heard over the video recording is because it’s coming from the user’s radio that’s also watching the feed haha
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