Well its been some time coming, but I finally today got around to making my PRC-351 into a -352!
The Clansman PRC-351 is a 30-76MHz VHF FM manpack radio, with a (nominal) 3W output. To make it a 352 requires the addition of a 20W amplifier brick. I'd been meaning to get one of these amps, and a GSA (Ground Spike Antenna) to go with it, for some considerable time.
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| Basic PRC-351 set-up |
After arranging to buy these 'at some point' when I was next in the area, today I happened to be close to the seller on another, considerably more expensive, shopping spree (I needed new walking boots!) and was able to go and pick them up. The seller in question goes by the ebay user name of 2012mdlradios and turned out to be a real nice chap. We ended up spending about an hour just nattering about radio kit. This was a much better experience than ive had from certain other ebay Clansman sellers I could mention! (I'll just add at this point that good experiences have been with LR-series surplus and PTS Norfolk, and a few others have been 'ok', I wont however name a particular Wakefield based seller I dealt with face to face whos a right miserable sod, though im sure most people who have dealt with him will recognise the description)
Mark was a great fella, showed every item, and in fact allowed me to select which I thought were the best bits. Quickly what was the purchase of an amp and GSA became that and a SURF, and an ancilliaries bag (which I couldnt name for the life of me!) and probably would have been more if I'd not made the decision to limit the amount of cash I had on me!
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| PRC-352. PRC-351, 4W SURF, 20W amplifier, GS carry frame, 1.2m whip antenna |
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So here it is in its PRC-352 format. The SURF is in great physical condition, so I added that for completeness of the system. The amp, whilst as aesthetically as scruffy as the rest of the radio, is a top performer! Rated at 20W, it gives me a good 21 and a bit at 70MHz, and a whopping 30W way down at 30MHz!
I need a coax cable to go between the 351 radio body (or the SURF) and the amp now, and this set is complete.
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