Harris prc-152

[vin00011]

Hi all. I found a large bunch of Harris prs-152 devices on eBay for the ridiculous price of $300. Is it a joke for Harris to sell a military radio for that price?
prc 152 radio for sale | eBay

 

[BMDaug]

Hi all. I found a large bunch of Harris prs-152 devices on eBay for the ridiculous price of $300. Is it a joke for Harris to sell a military radio for that price?
prc 152 radio for sale | eBay

These aren’t real… if it says UV or TCA or comes in a nice kit that looks brand new, it’s basically a UV5R in a copied Harris chassis. Same CCR, different clothes. There is not a single genuine Harris part in that thing.

-B

 

[vin00011]

These aren’t real… if it says UV or TCA or comes in a nice kit that looks brand new, it’s basically a UV5R in a copied Harris chassis. Same CCR, different clothes. There is not a single genuine Harris part in that thing.

-B

It's sold under the Harris brand. What about their copyright? It doesn't work?

 

[BMDaug]

It’s not sold under the Harris brand. Look at the back of the radio or the manual in the pictures. It’s all Chinese or some other brand like TCA or TRI on the box and back of the unit.

As regards to copyright, in China, there is no copyright law that can really be enforced. They copy all sorts of stuff, including the designs for luxury cars and when someone takes them to court (in China), the judge just says “that doesn’t look anything like the Mercedes” and it’s case dismissed…

Also, only the front of the case has Harris branding and other copy that matches the real thing and I wonder if it’s being produced as a ‘replica’ or a ‘movie prop’.

Making its way to eBay is likely a grey area between the two above explanations. It also says ‘wideband networking’, which is a lie altogether…

The attached screenshot must be from a listing posted AFTER the C&D… notice the TRI sticker over the Harris screen print and the ‘multiband’ instead of ‘wideband networking’…

-B

 

[vin00011]

Он не продается под брендом Harris. Посмотрите на заднюю часть радиоприемника или руководство на картинках. На коробке и задней панели устройства все китайское или какое-то другое, например, TCA или TRI.

Что касается авторского права, в Китае нет закона об авторском праве, который можно было бы обеспечить соблюдением. Они копируют самые разные вещи, включая дизайн роскошных автомобилей, и когда кто-то подает на них в суд (в Китае), судья просто говорит: «Это совсем не похоже на Мерседес», и дело закрывается…

Кроме того, только на передней части футляра имеется логотип Harris и другая копия, соответствующая настоящей вещи, и мне интересно, производится ли она как «копия» или «реквизит для фильма».

Попадание на eBay, скорее всего, представляет собой серую зону между двумя приведенными выше объяснениями. Там также написано «широкополосная сеть», что является полной ложью…

Прилагаемый снимок экрана должен быть из списка, опубликованного ПОСЛЕ C&D… обратите внимание на наклейку TRI поверх трафаретной печати Харриса и надпись «многополосный» вместо «широкополосная сеть»…

-Б

You are right, I hope. See this picture: Harris Falcon III inscription. It isn't military radio, I hope, toy only.

 

[BMDaug]

Interesting… I didn’t write that in Russian…

-B

 

[KevinC]

Interesting… I didn’t write that in Russian…

-B

очень интересно

 

[TDR-94]

You are right, I hope. See this picture: Harris Falcon III inscription. It isn't military radio, I hope, toy only.

Yep, it's just a toy replica of an AN/PRC-152. Your going to have a hard time finding a fully intact and "working" AN/PRC-152. And anyone who did sell you one, especially if you are in Russia, is most likely going to get a visit from the FBI.

 

[merlin]

On very rare occaions, a genuine falcon III has turned up on feebay and you won't get it for less than $1K.
THEN, what are you going to do with it. You can't program it, documentation is unobtanium as is deployment software.
A whole lot of money for nothing but a shelf ornament.

 

[vin00011]

On very rare occaions, a genuine falcon III has turned up on feebay and you won't get it for less than $1K.
THEN, what are you going to do with it. You can't program it, documentation is unobtanium as is deployment software.
A whole lot of money for nothing but a shelf ornament.

Agree.

Yep, it's just a toy replica of an AN/PRC-152. Your going to have a hard time finding a fully intact and "working" AN/PRC-152. And anyone who did sell you one, especially if you are in Russia, is most likely going to get a visit from the FBI.

Thanks, I'm not looking for PRC-152 and FBI.

 

[TDR-94]

On very rare occaions, a genuine falcon III has turned up on feebay and you won't get it for less than $1K.
THEN, what are you going to do with it. You can't program it, documentation is unobtanium as is deployment software.
A whole lot of money for nothing but a shelf ornament.

The FALCON III handheld line comprises of the AN/PRC-152(CCI and highly restricted), the RF-310M-HH, the RF-7850M-HH(also the RF-7825M-HH custom requested variant) and the RF-7850V-HH. The last 4 are all export variants and you can legally own them as long as ITAR restrictions aren't violated. None of them you are likely to see sell for less than $3K let alone $1K. You will notice on the rare occasion, when an AN/PRC-152 does show up on ebay, that the listing is usually removed or ended by the seller. There is a reason for that. They are not legal to own, unless authorized. They can only be released into surplus if de-milled, which means they are no longer functional. The AN/PRC-152's also have traceable paperwork. All CCI equipment requires very particular handling and record keeping procedures.

You can find the operations manual, programming software and programming cables for the AN/PRC-152. Those have been available for quite awhile. You can also program most parameters using the keypad. What you won't likely find is a functional AN/PRC-152 and if you do get your hands on one, you most likely won't own it for long.

 

[vin00011]

Линейка FALCON III включает в себя AN/PRC-152 (CCI и строго ограниченный), RF-310M-HH, RF-7850M-HH (также вариант RF-7825M-HH, запрошенный по индивидуальному заказу) и RF-7850V- ХХ. Последние 4 являются экспортными вариантами, и вы можете легально владеть ими, если не нарушаются ограничения ITAR. Ни один из них вы, вероятно, не увидите, продается менее чем за 3 тысячи долларов, не говоря уже о 1 тысяче долларов. В тех редких случаях, когда AN/PRC-152 все-таки появляется на eBay, вы заметите, что объявление обычно удаляется или закрывается продавцом. Для этого есть причина. Их владение не является законным, если это не разрешено. Их можно выпустить в излишки только в том случае, если они размолоты, что означает, что они больше не функциональны. У самолетов AN/PRC-152 также есть отслеживаемые документы.

Вы можете найти руководство по эксплуатации, программное обеспечение для программирования и кабели для программирования для AN/PRC-152. Они доступны уже довольно давно. Чего вы, скорее всего, не найдете, так это работающего AN/PRC-152, и если вы все же получите его, вы, скорее всего, не будете владеть им долго.

Yes, thanks.

 

[BMDaug]

On very rare occaions, a genuine falcon III has turned up on feebay and you won't get it for less than $1K.
THEN, what are you going to do with it. You can't program it, documentation is unobtanium as is deployment software.
A whole lot of money for nothing but a shelf ornament.

This is my thing… even if you can program it and can find documentation, what real benefit would it give you over, say, a 200P? You get a bunch of uncommon waveforms and digital modes that are ecosystem specific, which is great if you have a dozen of them to pass out to all of your friends that live in your town and you have a commercial license that allows for all of those encrypted emissions… Am I missing something?

-B

 

[prcguy]

This is my thing… even if you can program it and can find documentation, what real benefit would it give you over, say, a 200P? You get a bunch of uncommon waveforms and digital modes that are ecosystem specific, which is great if you have a dozen of them to pass out to all of your friends that live in your town and you have a commercial license that allows for all of those encrypted emissions… Am I missing something?

-B

A PRC-152 or MBITR or similar is a lot of fun, it’s a lot like a front panel programmable police scanner that transmits. They work great on various amateur bands and for scanning. RF performance is high and on par with most any high end commercial/public service radio. For most owners it’s more of a status symbol due to their pricy nature but mostly among other mil radio collectors since regular folks just don’t understand what it is or what it represents.

Many years ago at the Dayton Hamvention I strapped a real Thales PRC-6809 MBITR to the front of my push cart turned on and working. Over a two day period exactally two strangers out of about 20,000 people I passed by recognized what it was. One was an ex military guy and he gave me a wink and thumbs up. The other guy went gaga over it and followed us around for awhile for no good reason with a big grin waving at us whenever we looked back to see if he was still following, which was a little odd.

I have a number of fellow mil radio collector’s I meet up with at Dayton and they were all enthusiastic about it but they also bring their own high end mil radios which I drool over. Bottom line is these types of radios have a certain following which is very limited to the few that can appreciate the technology and rarity.

 

[BMDaug]

A PRC-152 or MBITR or similar is a lot of fun, it’s a lot like a front panel programmable police scanner that transmits. They work great on various amateur bands and for scanning. RF performance is high and on par with most any high end commercial/public service radio. For most owners it’s more of a status symbol due to their pricy nature but mostly among other mil radio collectors since regular folks just don’t understand what it is or what it represents.

Many years ago at the Dayton Hamvention I strapped a real Thales PRC-6809 MBITR to the front of my push cart turned on and working. Over a two day period exactally two strangers out of about 20,000 people I passed by recognized what it was. One was an ex military guy and he gave me a wink and thumbs up. The other guy went gaga over it and followed us around for awhile for no good reason with a big grin waving at us whenever we looked back to see if he was still following, which was a little odd.

I have a number of fellow mil radio collector’s I meet up with at Dayton and they were all enthusiastic about it but they also bring their own high end radios which I drool over. Bottom line is these types of radios have a certain following which is very limited to the few that can appreciate the technology and rarity.

Thanks for this! I definitely understand the feat of engineering that is the PRC line!! I also get what you mean by ‘scanner that transmits’. It’s pretty nice to just have freetune on a CODAN NGT, so I can only imagine what you could do with a 152 for instance! Then take that and multiply it by two and get a PRC-163!!! I mean, holy crap, it’s dual transmit!

I’d definitely love to play with one, or better yet two!!! However, radios for me are a tool and if I can’t use that tool to its full potential, I lose interest rather quickly! So yes, having one would be a blast, but would I be able to leverage the amazing engineering for a practical purpose? No.

It’s like owning a hyper car that you can only drive in a school zone… but I totally respect the guys who collect the green paint. It’s amazing tech that should be cherished, because on its own, it’s amazing, but moreover, these radios gave and continue to give our troops robust, dependable, secure comms in the harshest of environments.

-B

 

[mmckenna]

I held a real PRC-152 once. It was impressive. I'd love one, but I don't need one. I'm a cheapskate first, radio fan second.

 

[BMDaug]

I held a real PRC-152 once. It was impressive. I'd love one, but I don't need one. I'm a cheapskate first, radio fan second.

I’d spend the money (I’m terrible with finances) if there was a robust community of users I could interface with!

Maybe it’s just me, but there’s a tremendous rush that comes with leveraging technology to actually DO STUFF! I’d be happy just transmitting the weather digitally, and encrypted, to a secondary location via a pair of AN/PRC-163s… but that would require a $30,000 budget and I’d just be scratching the iceberg’s surface… (My other hobby is poorly combining idioms).

-B

 

[W3AXL]

PRC-163s are nice because they can double as space heaters when running SATCOM WFs.

 

[PACNWDude]

The Harris AN/PRC-152 is a great radio, as is the AN/PRC-148 MBITR/JEM version. For what they are they work great, when they have the right network behind them, especially for close air support missions. My work with both Harris and Thales allowed me to purchase hardware that is great to show off, but as others have mentioned, really just a status symbol for actual use. I do not even use my Harris XG-100P very much, but it was nice carrying a multi-band radio before Motorola fielded their APX8000's.

Harris XG-100P radios became popular in my area before the 2010 Olympic Games, and was great for my work in emergency response efforts, as it was VHF, UHF (Motorola UHF1/2), and 7/800 MHz, with GPS. As for the AN/PRC-152, they are expensive, but a cool radio to play around with.

I know a few people that jumped onto the AN/PRC-153 bandwagon, a military contract Motorola XTS2500 mostly fielded with the Marine Corps, and now the SRX2200, the military variant of the APX4000. Still others glom over re-cased XTS2500's being sold as AN/PRC-153's. I carry an APX4000 for work now, but put a military SRX2200 accessory cover, as Motorola shipped on with all the APX4000 parts/radios. I sometimes get some attention for that desert tan piece, asking why it is different from all the other APX4000's out and about. Much of the Harris radio issues is flexing on others, or having bragging rights....and why so many cheap knock-offs are in the market now. I am amazed at what some of these are going for though.

 

[KevinC]

The Harris AN/PRC-152 is a great radio, as is the AN/PRC-148 MBITR/JEM version. For what they are they work great, when they have the right network behind them, especially for close air support missions. My work with both Harris and Thales allowed me to purchase hardware that is great to show off, but as others have mentioned, really just a status symbol for actual use. I do not even use my Harris XG-100P very much, but it was nice carrying a multi-band radio before Motorola fielded their APX8000's.

Harris XG-100P radios became popular in my area before the 2010 Olympic Games, and was great for my work in emergency response efforts, as it was VHF, UHF (Motorola UHF1/2), and 7/800 MHz, with GPS. As for the AN/PRC-152, they are expensive, but a cool radio to play around with.

I know a few people that jumped onto the AN/PRC-153 bandwagon, a military contract Motorola XTS2500 mostly fielded with the Marine Corps, and now the SRX2200, the military variant of the APX4000. Still others glom over re-cased XTS2500's being sold as AN/PRC-153's. I carry an APX4000 for work now, but put a military SRX2200 accessory cover, as Motorola shipped on with all the APX4000 parts/radios. I sometimes get some attention for that desert tan piece, asking why it is different from all the other APX4000's out and about. Much of the Harris radio issues is flexing on others, or having bragging rights....and why so many cheap knock-offs are in the market now. I am amazed at what some of these are going for though.

I thought the SRX2200 was a 6000, not a 4000.