10 Must-Know Facts about the PRC-77 Military Backpack Radio

This video covers 10 things you gotta know about the iconic PRC-77 military radio from the Vietnam war era: 1) PRC-77 was introduced in 1968 as an upgrade to prc-25; prc-25 had a vaccuum tube for the final stage of the RF amplifier. PRC-77 has all transisitor circuitry and battery life is 24-60 hours vs 8 hours for the PRC25 2) PRC-77 backpack weighs about 20 pounds vs 35 pounds for the BC-1000 man-pack radio from WW2 3). Output power is 1.5 to 2.0 Watts providing about 5 mile range on ideal conditions with line of sight separation (2 miles with normal coverage and terrain) 4) Don&change the channel while the transmitter is active (depressing the button on the handset) or else you can fry circuits 5) Various non-rechargeable batteries were originally used, now you can buy battery adapters that take 10 D-cell batteries or even ones that plug into cigarette lighters. 6) 3 different antenna options -- 3 foot "bush whip" antenna for use while on foot, a 10 foot "whip-a-way" antenna for stationary operation, and a coaxial antenna connection to utilize vehicle antennas and such 7) 920 possible channels with 50KHz spacing on channels between 30.00MHz and 75.95MHz 8) Two models out there -- original PRC25/77 model with 50KHz spacing between channels and the "PRC-1177" with a switch for special 25KHz spacing which provides for twice the number of channels (almost 2000). Not all the parts are interchangeable, so know what you&getting. 9). 150 Hz Squelch circuit to prevent...