PRT-4's

[Rainman]

Hey Guys,
I've been on a mission to put together some talking radios for whatever reason, and picked up
a couple of PRT-4's fairly reasonable on ebay. They are very low power and will talk to
RT-524's and all other VRC radios. For some reason when on display someone always comes up
and says, "does the radio work?" With the touch of a button/PTT switch, the 524 receiver
picks up the transmitted signal and the little yellow light comes on, and most are impressed.
That being the case, these PRT-4 transmitters come in handy. They are easy to set up with
9v batteries from your mother-in-law's smoke detector too. I just bought some 1968 NOS
batteries from Canada to use for the plug adapter, and they all seem to still have a charge on
them. I swear they are dated 12/68 and they have a full or almost full charge on them. besides,
without another transmitter in 2009, you won't even be able to impress folks with the audio
feed from TV channels 2-4 any longer. In process of setting up a mock speaker with radio
traffic from Nam to appear to be coming out of my 524. Bought a $75 set of CD's with lots of
activity and radio traffic, so if someone is in need, I may be able to burn off a few dupes for
your cause. Just FYI, the PRT-4's work with a PRR-9 receiver as a set. I'm more interested
in the PRT-4's, but will consider buying PRR-9's if someone has any for sale working on 51.0
If your interested in original working batteries, let me know and I'll hook you up with the
contact for them. 73's Rainman out

[kb0jyl]

Did you get the gunship cd's ? LOL I bought the whole set a couple of years ago. Some pretty good audio on some of them, though not for young ears when they are chasing vc. I also got the Armed Forces Radio Vietnam cd's complete with Cpl Pat Sajack of wheel of fortune fame. Pretty good stuff for displays, really gets folks attention. Though it makes you feel old when they are giving the news of the day, and folks standing around want to know who Henry Kissenger is, or what the Paris peace talks were all about.

Have a good evening

[k8icu]

How well does your PRT-4 receive the 524? Not to good I bet.... You do know that the PRT4 is a transmitter only and that it needs the receiver radio which was designed to hook to the soldiers helmet. A very bizar design if you ask me specially by the time the PRT24 and reciever R???? I forget the number was designed this country had working handi-talkies (HT) that were small and portable. The Motorola HT-220 comes to my mind...why the army designed this abortion of a radio system is beyond me.

[Rainman]

Hey K8!CU,

Well Joe, you got me there, this PRT-4 doesn't receive worth a damn! The other component is the PRR-9 helmet receiver. I honestly
feel the design had to do with a stealth factor, or lack of there of, that got the radio operator taken out by the first sniper's bullet. These
were squad radios with low power, 2 channel crystal control. duel power. I don't believe the 220 had been put into service yet, but would
have soon after based on the loss factor of these little separate receivers and transmitters. Seems the majority have 51.0 crystals
installed, I have one that has both channels at 51.0. Only reason could be the low and high power difference between channel 1 and channel
2. In the manual it describes the "artic kit" as an extension cable for the battery, so you can keep it warm in your inside pocket. How high
tech is that? They are easy to modify for civilian batteries, even working they cost less than $40 on ebay, and they can
communicate with RT-524's Practical for combat, heII no, but they're neat little pieces of history, and like I said, makes the little yellow
light on my 524 come on, and that's worth $40!

Rainman

PS: Radio operators of PRC-25's and 77's often mounted and carried the radio upside down to conceal the antenna. It limited the range at
times, but was safer for Sparky!