Do Canadian soldiers use the PRC 117 radio?

[Canadian Sig]

I have been packing around a 117 and a 148 for the last 9+ months. Both are outstanding pieces of kit. A huge improvment over the 522/521 combo. The only problem I had at this end was finding a decent load carrying system for the 117. Finally got a Mystery Ranch bag and was good to go.

 

[GDawg]

I have been packing around a 117 and a 148 for the last 9+ months. Both are outstanding pieces of kit. A huge improvment over the 522/521 combo. The only problem I had at this end was finding a decent load carrying system for the 117. Finally got a Mystery Ranch bag and was good to go.

Overseas I used the small pack at first, and then a "Bug out gear" bag from the AAFES at KAF. I'll never use the standard radio harness again.

 

[Fusaki]

I have been packing around a 117 and a 148 for the last 9+ months. Both are outstanding pieces of kit. A huge improvment over the 522/521 combo. The only problem I had at this end was finding a decent load carrying system for the 117. Finally got a Mystery Ranch bag and was good to go.

Which mystery ranch bag did you get? The NICE Comm system seems excessive, but the DA pack looks about right. Did you get the BVS option? If you did, was it a significant improvement in over armour comfort?

Did you use the headset or handset? The lack of a second port on the 117 was something we had to overcome:

SOP in my sigs cage is a knotted bungie loop through the shoulder strap of the pack, placed around head height with the handset through it.  This keeps handset by the signaller's ear so he can hear if someone's trying to talk with him, but also allows him to pull the handset down through the bungie so the boss can talk in it.  A big knot in the bungie gives the sig something to grab onto while wearing gloves so he can stretch the loop open and get the handset back in.

This gives a couple advantages over the headset:

-The handset isn't touching the sig's ear, and is therefore more comfortable

-The sig doesn't need to remove his helmet to get the headset on.  He can wear the veh headset when rolling in the LAV, then just throw the pack on as he dismounts.

-He can hear when someone's trying to get a hold of him, but can also quickly pass the handset off to the boss.

 

[Recon 3690]

same old gripes nothing works right and someone else has something better. Back in the day we had the same probs, we all called our radios 25 sets and some griped that the US was using PRC 77s not realizing that if you opened them up they were 77s.

Point 2 the prob with the 521s is DND tried to make it an everything radio its a squad radio and does not need a long range if your section is spread out over 1/2 a klick you're in deep shit troop, also it only needs about 10 preprogrammed freqs for section use ie. PRC 68 (still in use as PRC 126) your sect. does not need freq hopping just encryption. Range on a manpack VHF is about 5 Km on a good day & if you are that far ahead of your next higher HQ & support you are ahead of me and you're in deep shit troop, (Recce 1st to die) high power usage gives away your position to direction finding & eats batteries like crazy the weaker the battery the lower your tx/rx power, you do not need all those extra bands are you a FAC that needs to talk to zoomies, are your Recce that sometimes needs HF, are you Spec-Ops that needs a Satcom no not your job. You need to keep in mind the KISS principle the more complicated the kit the easier it breaks, the easier it is for someone to screw up under stress, and it sounds like that's the prob with the 522s, overly complicated, at least partly. Check & maintain your gear, I used to carry a small tube of dialectic grease for use on antenna, audio, & battery connections, it does wonders for stopping corrosion & keeping out moisture, use a tester to check your batteries, keep them fresh. Check & recheck your gear, make sure it works before you leave on the mission, if it doesn't work once you're across the FEBA its to late & your in deep shit troop. Fancy kit with features you don't need is not the answer, using what you have the way it was meant to be used is.

 

[daftandbarmy]

same old gripes nothing works right and someone else has something better. Back in the day we had the same probs, we all called our radios 25 sets and some griped that the US was using PRC 77s not realizing that if you opened them up they were 77s.

Point 2 the prob with the 521s is DND tried to make it an everything radio its a squad radio and does not need a long range if your section is spread out over 1/2 a klick you're in deep crap troop, also it only needs about 10 preprogrammed freqs for section use ie. PRC 68 (still in use as PRC 126) your sect. does not need freq hopping just encryption. Range on a manpack VHF is about 5 Km on a good day & if you are that far ahead of your next higher HQ & support you are ahead of me and you're in deep crap troop, (Recce 1st to die) high power usage gives away your position to direction finding & eats batteries like crazy the weaker the battery the lower your tx/rx power, you do not need all those extra bands are you a FAC that needs to talk to zoomies, are your Recce that sometimes needs HF, are you Spec-Ops that needs a Satcom no not your job. You need to keep in mind the KISS principle the more complicated the kit the easier it breaks, the easier it is for someone to screw up under stress, and it sounds like that's the prob with the 522s, overly complicated, at least partly. Check & maintain your gear, I used to carry a small tube of dialectic grease for use on antenna, audio, & battery connections, it does wonders for stopping corrosion & keeping out moisture, use a tester to check your batteries, keep them fresh. Check & recheck your gear, make sure it works before you leave on the mission, if it doesn't work once you're across the FEBA its to late & your in deep crap troop. Fancy kit with features you don't need is not the answer, using what you have the way it was meant to be used is.

You forgot the most important piece of kit - a signaller as keen as you are about keeping your equipment operating!

Moving location now to get better comms....

 

[Fusaki]

same old gripes nothing works right and someone else has something better. Back in the day we had the same probs, we all called our radios 25 sets and some griped that the US was using PRC 77s not realizing that if you opened them up they were 77s.

Point 2 the prob with the 521s is DND tried to make it an everything radio its a squad radio and does not need a long range if your section is spread out over 1/2 a klick you're in deep crap troop, also it only needs about 10 preprogrammed freqs for section use ie. PRC 68 (still in use as PRC 126) your sect. does not need freq hopping just encryption. Range on a manpack VHF is about 5 Km on a good day & if you are that far ahead of your next higher HQ & support you are ahead of me and you're in deep crap troop, (Recce 1st to die) high power usage gives away your position to direction finding & eats batteries like crazy the weaker the battery the lower your tx/rx power, you do not need all those extra bands are you a FAC that needs to talk to zoomies, are your Recce that sometimes needs HF, are you Spec-Ops that needs a Satcom no not your job. You need to keep in mind the KISS principle the more complicated the kit the easier it breaks, the easier it is for someone to screw up under stress, and it sounds like that's the prob with the 522s, overly complicated, at least partly. Check & maintain your gear, I used to carry a small tube of dialectic grease for use on antenna, audio, & battery connections, it does wonders for stopping corrosion & keeping out moisture, use a tester to check your batteries, keep them fresh. Check & recheck your gear, make sure it works before you leave on the mission, if it doesn't work once you're across the FEBA its to late & your in deep crap troop. Fancy kit with features you don't need is not the answer, using what you have the way it was meant to be used is.

Wrong.

First off, those features increase our capability.  The capability to tx longer distances and switch to a SATCOM net in an emergency are REAL advantages.  The 117 is not a piece of LCF kit and it is not a piece of comfort kit.  It is a state of the art piece of equipment that helps us to do our job more efficiently.  And we're not going to war in scarlets just because the troops in the Boer war "got by just fine".

Second off, phrases like "using what you have the way it was meant to be used" is the polar opposite of the mindset I expect of keen signalers.  I expect signalers to try new things, be aware of new technology, and push the equipment further. When the OC asks a signaler for a solution to a comms problem, he should get more then shrugged shoulders.  I've personally recommended that 117s and Iridium phones be TSRed. We did get them and they did help our situation.  Later, we realized that HF would have been perfect for that environment.  When everyone else said HF was dead, we trained on it.  A few months later, we employed it successfully in a tactical situation giving my coy a real and useful capability that other coys on ex didn't have.  Signalers all the way down to the platoon and section level are expected to be problem solvers, full stop.

 

[Recon 3690]

Thats the difference there I was recce I want a radio that works when the crap hits 1 good VHF or HF set so I can call next higher for to rain hellfire on the bag guys so I want something that works, not a fancy POS that takes 15 min to operate. I don't need to talk with Ottawa I need to talk to arty for my fire mission or to the FAC to get my airstrike.

over

 

[Recon 3690]

second in all my time in I can't recall sigs ever being on my side of the FEBA

 

[George Wallace]

second in all my time in I can't recall sigs ever being on my side of the FEBA

Now you have pic'd my interest.  Your time in?  Recon?  Squad?  Perhaps you could enlighten us from whence you come.  Your recollection of the 25 and 77 Sets, has me wondering.

 

[aesop081]

we all called our radios 25 sets and some griped that the US was using PRC 77s not realizing that if you opened them up they were 77s.

I have been out of the Army for a bit now but i seem to recall the radio being the 25 set and when combined with the manpack, it became a 77 set.

 

[Good2Golf]

And FACs were using the PRC-66 UHF slab...could listen to Capt Glen Quagmire's buds "ummm" and "ahhhhh" until the battery ran down...

 

[Sig_Des]

second in all my time in I can't recall sigs ever being on my side of the FEBA

Well, first off, we don't really have a FEBA anymore.

Second...... well, here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/casualties/list.html?appSession=45374409005756&RecordID=119&PageID=3&PrevPageID=2&cpipage=1&CPIsortType=&CPIorderBy=

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/casualties/list.html?appSession=45374409005756&RecordID=47&PageID=3&PrevPageID=2&cpipage=1&CPIsortType=&CPIorderBy=

 

[Blackadder1916]

I have been out of the Army for a bit now but i seem to recall the radio being the 25 set and when combined with the manpack, it became a 77 set.

The 25 set and the 77 set were (externally at least) the same radio; the difference being that the '25' used vacuum tubes and the '77' was solid state.  However, the designations were often used interchangeably (at least to my recollection) even after the 25s were replaced in the CF.  A glance through an old aide memoire from CFOCS (sitting on my shelf of old issued pams) has the comms section describing the "AN/PRC 25" though the 77 was actually used when I went through.

 

[Fusaki]

Thats the difference there I was recce I want a radio that works when the crap hits 1 good VHF or HF set so I can call next higher for to rain hellfire on the bag guys so I want something that works, not a fancy POS that takes 15 min to operate.

The crap has hit and the 117 has been there, doing a better job then what we had before.

 

[Recon 3690]

1970s into 1980s RCDs & LdSH the last was a job as a civilian consultant with 163 Battalion MNG US Army

 

[Recon 3690]

The 1st radio I used was the C42 set and surplus US 77 sets & we thought we were in high cotton when we got 524 sets (VRC 12)

 

[Recon 3690]

our FACs were Air Command guys usually back in the cp

 

[dangerboy]

our FACs were Air Command guys usually back in the cp

Times have changed, now the FAC's(majority being Arty FOO's) are up front in the thick of things calling in the aircraft with the bullets flying over their head.

 

[Recon 3690]

unless things have changed totally Recce is still trained to call there own fire missions & airstrikes so their FACs & FOOs are prob still in the CP my perspective is from recce sqn in an armoured unit.
the guys that are in the coyotes now

 

[Cleared Hot]

Rest assured... times have changed!