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Armor/AFV: Modern - USA
Modern Armor, AFVs, and Support vehicles.
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US Commo Equipment Installation Tutorial
Epi
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Joined: December 22, 2001
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Posted: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 - 01:44 AM UTC
As promised, here is the US Communication Equipment Installation tutorial. In the tutorial, I will cover the FBCB2, AN/VRC-110, AN/VRC-89. AN/VIC-5 Intercom System, DUKE Anti-IED Electronic System, and DVE)Drivers Viewer Enhance System.

****NOTE: THE INFORMATION I HAVE PROVIDED DOES NOT VIOLATE OPSEC AND CAN BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET IF YOU WHERE AND/OR WHAT TO LOOK FOR.

****NOTE: PICTURES PROVIDED WAS FOUND ON THE INTERNET. PICTURES THAT ARE MINE WILL BE NOTED AS SUCH.

Both the AN/VRC-110, AN/VRC-89, AN/VIC-5 and PLGR are from Mike's MS Productions By Michael Goldberg via Shapeways. The DUKE control box is from Pro Arts along with the CPU for the FBCB2. The FBCB2 monitor and keyboard along with the DVE monitor are from the spares box left over from another MRAP kit.





I made up some generic slides of each piece of equipment that show the equipment with descriptions. NOTE: the equipment is the same but differs how it is mounted and where the cables are routed in each different vehicle.

First up is the FBCB2. As of right now, I only have the CPU wired up and will return later to show the rest of the components.







Here is the CPU with its cables added:





Here is a real example of the CPU in a US Marine Cougar 4x4:



Next post will be on the AN/VRC-110 Harris Radio set up, till then>>>>>>>>>
jesmith
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Posted: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 - 02:49 AM UTC
Don't forget to include the AN/PRC E-7 installation in the commo shack
Epi
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Posted: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 - 03:25 AM UTC
In my case John, it was a AN/PRC E-5. I was the Commo SGT at my last unit. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
terminators
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France
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Posted: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 - 11:27 PM UTC
Inscriptions on blue background are blurry, can't read them at all, it's a pity.
WXerock
#450
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Posted: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 - 11:58 PM UTC
Pete, I am following this with great interest. Like Alex I can't read some of the text in the slides. There is distortion on the third slide possibly caused by image compression? Otherwise, great thread.

Regards,

Eric
Epi
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Posted: Wednesday, February 21, 2018 - 06:03 AM UTC
I will re do that slide later tonight and post the next update as well guys.
Removed by original poster on 03/13/18 - 05:43:56 (GMT).
Removed by original poster on 02/24/18 - 04:46:05 (GMT).
Removed by original poster on 02/24/18 - 04:47:38 (GMT).
Epi
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Posted: Friday, February 23, 2018 - 11:07 AM UTC
Did some more wiring of the communication gear. Finished the rest of the FBCB2 and now just need to mount it.

This first slide shows the monitor in a Maxxpro and in a Hummer:



Transceiver and PLGR antenna on top of a Maxxpro:



And here are the 1/35 versions:

PLGR



Monitor and keyboard. Still need to paint a little bit more on this:



Transceiver and PLGR antenna's:



Next update will be the Harris radio's set up.
Removed by original poster on 02/28/18 - 03:22:57 (GMT).
Epi
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Posted: Tuesday, February 27, 2018 - 09:32 AM UTC
I am so sorry everyone, I forgot to show you all what I use for the "cables" on these radio's and stuff. Most. if not all fishing shops will carry these two products. The assortment pictures is from Bass Pro Shop and the individual spools are from a fishing supply web sight.

I did buy my assortment at my local hobby shop and i did see these individual spools there also.

Individual Lead Wire:



Lead Wire Assortment: Sizes: .010, .015, .020, .025, .030 and .035



Ok, now for the radios. What we have here is the Harris AN/VRC-110. The VRC-110 has two AN/PRC-152(C) handheld radio providing SINCGARS for the VRC. Unlike the SINCGARS RT-1523/B/C and RT-1523E ASIP, the Harris radio has both a VHF and UHF antenna post on back of each amplifier. Operators can switch between VHF and UHF, hence the AN/VRC-110 can go from ground, ground-to-air, or SATCOM communications. The AN/PRC-152(C)'s can be removed and stay powered on if need be. The amplifier has a built in battery charger.





ANTENNA COUPLER: Rather use a few different antennas for the variety of frequencies that the AN/PRC-152(C) can put out, an antenna coupler is used to lessen the amount of antennas to about one or two antennas. In this case, we are going to use one 16ft whip antenna.
***NOTE: I will cover antenna's last***



***NOTE: the yellow or white band you see around the cables have the NSN(National Stock Number) and/or cable connection number on it. You might see cables with just one of these bands on it at one end, or on both end.

Antenna cable:



Power cable:



Handset:



And now for the 1/35 counterpart:









Next update will be on the RT-1523 SINCGARS, so stay tuned.
Epi
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Posted: Monday, March 12, 2018 - 09:47 AM UTC
Sorry for the delay on a new update guys and gals. The Panda Models Maxxpro has me in stump. I'll explain that over in the Maxxpro build blog.

So on to the SINCGARS RT-1523 radio's. SINCGARS stands for Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System. There are 6 configurations, AN/VRC 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, and one man pack configuration, AN/PRC-119. The configurations are dependent on weather it is short range or long range or a combination of both.







COMPONENT BREAKDOWN:

The radio: RT-1523/B/C/D and RT-1523E ASIP





Amplifier Adapter AM-7239/VRC



Amplifier AM-7238/VRC



Speaker LS-671/VRC and Vehicle mount MT-6352/VRC



W-2 Cable



W-4 Cable



Hand Set



The following four pictures where taken while I was a Technician for the Texas Army National Guard. This was our test bench for RT-1523/B/C/D and RT-1523E ASIP's, hence knobs missing on the bottom RT-1523. The set up is the same in any vehicle. The difference would be where the radio would be located and length of antenna(W-2) cables and Power/Speaker cables.









An AN/VRC-92 (LR/LR) set up in a HMMWV



And the 1/35 version:









Next update will be the last update for the radio's. I will cover the antenna's for the SINCGARS and HARRIS radio's. After that I will move on to the DVE(Divers Vehicle Enhance) system and Anti-IED systems.
seanmcandrews
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Posted: Monday, March 12, 2018 - 06:29 PM UTC
Pete,
excellent information, thanks for sharing it with us !
I'm particularly glad to hear you're planning to cover Anti-IED systems.

Sean
Epi
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Posted: Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - 03:28 AM UTC
Thanks Sean!
Yes, I will cover just basic cables for the DUKE and Symphony units.

And a friendly reminder to all... all this info I am providing is UNCLASSIFIED. This stuff can be found on the inter net and their are surplus stores that sell surplus radios and parts. So please, don't ask how things work or anything like that, especially when it comes to the anti-IED systems.
seanmcandrews
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Posted: Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - 06:28 PM UTC
Sure, all I'm concerned about is visually representing them correctly. No need to know the nitty gritty details of how they operate. Haven't heard of the Symphony, only DUKE and Warlock.

Sean
Epi
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Posted: Wednesday, March 14, 2018 - 03:24 AM UTC
Sean, the Symphony system is the one that the flat looking antenna goes to. That antenna is the one on the left near the door if you look at the box art.

Epi
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Posted: Tuesday, May 08, 2018 - 11:14 PM UTC
Sorry for a very late update, been very busy with this project and others.

Here is the DUKE anti-IED system with remote control box. Notice the GPS antenna on top of the main box and in the picture that Robert Skipper provided me with. The picture from Robert shows the same set up as in the Panda Hobby Maxxpro DASH DXM kit.









Symphony Anti-IED System: This system was to new for me, so I had to search the internet for what ever information I could find.





You can see part of the control box in this picture:



This is a picture of another type of main system box that I found on the net for the Symphony:



AmTrac1833
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Posted: Wednesday, May 09, 2018 - 06:13 AM UTC
Very helpful - thanks! I did not know about the fishing wire, had been using solder and safety wire. One was easy to shape and one was to scale but the properties werent shared. That fishing wire will help immenseley.
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