Communications and a New Project.

Greetings!
Soooo
ANOTHER reader sent me a ‘care package’. In this case I got me a Big Ole Cardboard Box, with a note: “BCE: Found this cleaning out my recently deceased Father-in-Laws house. He was a Marine radioman in The Nam. I have ZERO use for it, and I have no idea if it works. It’s ‘dead weight’ and I thought it would make a nice addition to your collection (or a good doorstop.)”

No signature, nor return addy.

My most humble thanks for the gift Fren.
It will have a good home here.

It was a heavy sumbitch. Turns out, it was a rather worn but in good shape for it’s age PRC-77!

Now the fascinating part is the front plate?

It’s a Brazilian Issue PRC-77.

The only thing I can think of is that his FIL was part of both the Nam, and the Marine’s intervention in the Dominican Republic back in 1964? Maybe his FIL took this as a souvenir? Brazil and the US had some ‘issues’ during that timeframe, and his FIL -might- have been in the D.R. prior to a tour in the Nam…

Either way, this thing is awesome.

Not sure if it works however. The battery case has/had this weird “D-Cell” made at home adapter, which as you can see, I have id’d the issues:

It takes like 10-12 D Cells…
Sheesh…
If I had to make and educated guess or even a WAG?

The Brazilian Army probably didn’t have either the access to, or ability to manufacture the standard ‘brick’ magnesium battery that the Prick 77 used:

Hell we don’t even make those things anymore… last run according to sources was back in 2008. That pic came from eBay, and they want $60 buxs for it!!! That’s going to be a hard pass thank you very much…

So, my guess is that since the Brazilians couldn’t source ‘traditional US DotMil Batteries’, someone put on the “thinking cap” and came up with a way to power this thing without the need for the standard US DotMil issue battery.

Overall, the thing is pretty beat on. No extreme damage outside of a freq knob being fucked up, and it missing like ALL of the rubber covers and fiddly bits. Turns out there is a ton of those out there for rather short $$$.

I’m going to do my best to see if I can repair it, and see if it works. If it does? Well, yeah sure it’s non-secure. Granted it’s ‘OldTech’.

HOWEVER it is MilSpec and I have a more-than-passing familiarity with the ole Prick 77. My reserve unit I was in after Gulf One used them almost exclusively. Adding on a manpack radio to the preps, never mind a Brazilian manpack?

I can only imagine using it as say a distraction for the OPFOR.

As in placing it in a good ambush spot… and turning it on, and leaving the mike button taped on ‘transmit’…

Even if to only distract the ‘bad guys’ with their RDFs (radio direction finders)… And when they do find it, man, the looks on their faces… “WTF are the fucking Brazilians doing supporting these guys!?!”

Sort of like my eating, washing then saving them Chinese PLA rations to be ‘left behind’ as a distraction. My reasoning for things like this is that well, the Intel Squirrels?

Stuff like that throws them for a loop… literally. If done properly you can completely ruin their day. It gets inside and completely fucks up their OODA loop. For those unfamiliar, the ‘OODA loop’ is “Observe, Orient, Decide and Act”

Now, that’s for banking/investment, but it still is absolutely applicable in a military scenario. By leaving behind a bunch of PLA (People’s Liberation Army) field ration wrappers, the Intel Squirrels, as is their nature, are going to run down every. single. possible. aspect of them before ultimately discarding the idea that the REDFOR has PLA support.

By having, oh say an Italian handheld VHF DotMil radio ‘dropped accidently/left behind’ they’re going to be scouring ALLLL sorts of intel (eBay and the like, never mind private sales, which since I got this thing, there’s a WHOLE HUGE Community of DotMil Radio enthusiasts) and thereby utilizing other resources to track down the ‘who-how-where-when-why’ of it all.

Krainian Rations right now, as well as Russian Rations would be great. Any anti-Leviathan Action could be credibly dropped on the doorstep of a vengeful Krainian, pissed off at the US for needlessly causing the slaughter/destruction of the Modern Day Krain or a SVR team of Russians, doing ‘sabotage’… thereby distracting the REDFOR (Leviathan if I didn’t make that clear) intel assets, as well as actual Hunter/Seeker Kill Teams.

Hell…
Talking tradecraft like this alone….
If I go to jail, I did not kill myself aight?

But yeah.
Things like that are the ‘sand being poured into in the intel gearbox’ as let me tell you… the Intel Squirrels? There’s some serious autism going on there. I personally dealt with them professionally for a number of years. And God help someone IF one of the ‘squirrels’ gets it in their heads that “Yes, those PLA rations means there must be a connection to the bad guys and being supported by the PLA”… well, from experience, it’s almost impossible to get them to ‘switch tracks’ so to speak.

They’ll ‘run that nut down’ until they hit a brick wall.

And even then they’ll still have misgivings that its a possible false track. That it’s still valid, and that they missed something.

In the meantime, you can keep fucking with them.

It’s a wonderful thing.
Call it “The BCE Intel Mobius Loop”
Once you set them on the track, it’s really fucking hard for them to alter course, OR even worse admit that they were wrong.

They’ll keep going, round and round and round and round and round and round and round ad infinitum

Hubris in the Intel World is a Pure Dee Motherfucker.

Them Intel Squirrels? Because the DotMil trained them and told them for years that they were/are the bestest, brightest, and smartest, they don’t have the ability to realize they might be wrong. I lost count of how many times I saw this…

Hubris like I said… anyways… your thoughts and suggestions always welcome.

So More Later
Big Country

Jes’ Sayin’

27 thoughts on “Communications and a New Project.”

  1. Pingback: Tuesday Edition – Western Rifle Shooters Association

  2. The Chinks would most likely just git their rats at the local Dollarama, those intel Atists would know this and move on, unless they found hunnerts of empty and stinking freddy chef packs laying about! Hehe!

    1. How bout a 110 power supply spitting the proper voltage and current spliced in at the +\- battery terminals??

      Everything old is new again.

      🥃🥃🥃

      1. 110 is AC, radio battery is DC. Why would you want to adapt a wall plugged power cord into a back pack radio?

          1. Agree Wendy but I don’t know what odd DC voltage the original GI battery was.

            Might be 15 volts? Still your running a cord on a back pack radio.

            I’d be inclined to try the kludge currently in it with some D cells for fun.

          2. I was wondering/thinking…. Track down the juice required 3d print some li-po holders and use the li-pi equivalent to run it… Rechargeable, cheapish, and readily available… Likely long lasting.

    1. great to know yer still out there T fat. i was asking about you on the alt rally point at Gab the other day. i love that just mentioning your name put some a these assholes in orbit. all the best to you . hope all is good on the island. JPT from wrsa.

  4. I didn’t even get past the knobs and connectors to know it was a Pric-77! I used and abused a lot of those in my day. Fucking things either worked or most of the times they never worked. Out in the field humping those and the extra battery packs was a bitch! You were lucky to understand half of what was being said and if you had cross talk or freq crossing nothing was getting out. Quite I few I drove over with my M-151 fucking Mutt because they pissed me off!

    1. The PRC-77 is why I asked for, and got, the M60 GPMG at all my duty stations. If I was going to hump that kind of weight, I wanted to at least be able to have fun with it.

  5. 10-12 D cells is around 15-18 volts DC. A smallish tool battery will give ya that or a powerpack from an emergency light would work. The issue is amp draw. Shouldn’t be much in listening mode but xmit will probably be a power hog. I’m bettin ya could solder in a temu chineseium solar panel to a couple cheap lightweight rechargable 6 volts and run the beast off that.

  6. Uncle Adi arrested a Red Shield bankster and confiscated his bank.
    Incomplete hats declared war long before any UK style concentration camps.
    Always throw them off Josey Wales style and wait in ambush to make good commies.
    Even if das Radio doesn’t work it is a good piece for your museum.
    The extra most bestest intel that always gets caught flat footed?
    Fake and GAE just like everything else

  7. About 25 years ago, I bought an old WW2 radio in a surplus store in Ontario. The owner wanted too much for the tech manual, but he xeroxed a few pages for me, particularly what voltages went to what pins on the power cable plug. I was able to cobble together a cheap power supply for it and got it working. There is probably a tech manual online that would help you figure out what voltage goes where if the 10-12 D cell thing does not work, at least to get it running.

  8. The issue with intel weenies of all types is they fall for the sunk cost fallacy. They’ve researched it, therefore it must be true because they’ve researched it.

    I’ve seen it in business, in local government, in the po-po and the way they do things.

    Sooo….

    Got any friends in low places who can get some furrin identity cards or letters or such? Also a great thing to salt the area with, strategically.

    Most police investigators, whether civil or military, don’t wanna work too hard and will easily take the easiest explanation even if it doesn’t fit deeper looking into.

  10. Geez, haven’t seen one of those since, well, the Nam era. BUT…….. let me check the freezer as I had a batch of matching era PRC6 transceiver battery packs plus some other types in there and I forget if they were compatible. I do have a new in box battery tester for the era, have had it up on e-bay for years, no one works with this stuff any more. 😉

  12. Get you some “pocket litter” in the form of receipts from various ethnic restaurants. It’s well known in certain counter-Intel circles that Chinese restaurants, especially those near strategic military bases, research centers, major economic financial & industrial sites, are cut outs and FOBs for the MSS(Chinese cia). A lot of Mexican restaurants, especially the ones that never seem busy but seem to stay in business forever, are rumored to be cartel money laundering and drug/human trafficking hubs. Might want to include some accidentally left behind notes or business cards for ‘grad students” and professors with funny sounding names and backgrounds. Write suspicious things on the back of said notes and cards referencing interesting places and interesting things that go boom, bang, and brrrrttt. Copy down shipping container numbers you see stacked up at local distribution warehouses. Make it easy for the little darling to know that you’re referencing shipping containers and make enticingly vague references as to their contents and final destinations. Remember, have fun.

    Fischer Scientific sells a product that destroys DNA by the gallon jug. No children, bleach doesn’t destroy DNA. I strongly suggest using the DNA CLEANSER on any drop litter you deposit. They can and will swab it all for DNA and the technology is good enough now to get plenty of it from a single fingerprint. Don’t go borrow any hair from any ethnic barber shops dumpsters. That would just be mean. 😉

  13. Turns out I have qty 4 BA-53 – Manufacture date 1984.
    Dry, multi-tap, 22.5, 45 Volt. They have 3 knurled post taps on top side. Suspect they might be test batteries for use on the bench.

    Found some smaller battery packs which I think went in the handhelds, well wrapped so I did not open the sealed package. They are about the size of a single cigarette pack.

    Pity no one makes the ones for the tube Zenith Transoceanics, I have several models on the shelf. That battery had a 4 pin connector in center top and was about the size of a cigarette carton.

    1. Those are the ones… the Prick-77 batteries didn’t last all that long either as I recall. We usually ended up doing a vehicle mount.

  14. BCE – be careful with Batteries/Power Supply for that rig – The correct Battery puts out 2 Voltages – 14.5 AND 1.5 Volts. The 1.5 is the one D-cell alone, it powers the Pin that feeds the Vacuum Tube Heaters. Any higher Voltage on that Circuit DESTROYS the Tubes. and they are Unobtanium, fr the most part. That Improvised D-Cell Box IS usable, you just have to make sure (Using the PRC-77 TM) that its Wires mate with the correct Pins on the Base of the Radio. I have seen (in the Past, at Hamfests) American Made D-cell Adapters. They were $60 at the Time, so I made one myself. Haven’t used that Rig in half of Forever, don’t know if it still Works.

  15. I can’t tell you how many of those I repaired in the early years of my career. Them, and a few of their older VietNam era siblings the PRC-25.
    The differences?
    The PRC-77 was fully transistorized.
    The PRC-25 was hybrid transistorized with a mini vacuum tube final amp module.

    I have a story that I can tell you about the 25th D, an FTX on the Big Island, a PRC-25, and and KYK-13. But later, if you’re interested.

  16. That’s an awesome thing to get in the mail. Hopefully you can get it back to working order. I love all the gear prior to the 2000s. If it turns out to be too far gone to do anything with and/or you get tired of tinkering with it. I’d be willing to pay a fair amount for the shell. I’ve been trying to find one for a prop. Only one one found on eBay for said purchase was a repainted demill (no internals) for airsoft. Couple hundred IIRC. You’ve got my email.

Comments are closed.

Verified by MonsterInsights