Great for Amateur Radio experimentation
This radio equipment is dated, the series being released in 1989 but they have a great reputation and MANY amateurs have experimented with these PRM80 series transceivers for all sorts of purposes including setting up repeaters.
HISTORY:
I used to have time for Amateur Radio activies and collected a lot of wonderful radio equipment ranging from MF through to Microwave equipment but these days I am busy in the world of professional audio and there has been no time for my 'hobby' Amateur Radio (ex VK2DWF and now relinquished for some years)
I still have some RF power devices, PA modules and other bits and pieces plus today I found one of my last boxes of radio gear that I am slowly taking out "this and that', giving them some rudimentary tests and then advertising them in the hope that some enterprising operator will see some potential or just like to pull them apart for that 'elusive component"
PHILIPS RADIO TRANSCEIVER
Format: Mobile
Dimensions: 210mm length x 160mm wide x 45mm height
Weight: 1.2Kg
DC Supply: 10.8 ~ 16.2V DC (usually 13.6V Vehicle supply)
Type: PRM80 V TM
Although not on the ID label, I have been informed this is actually a PRM8020
Mode of operation: Analog Simplex
I have been informed that the bandwidth is designed to be 25Khz ONLY and changing this may be a challenge as the hardware filters are 25Khz
RF Output power: 25W
I believe this PRM80 has a design frequency range of 400Mhz ~ 440Mhz (although I have seen some experimenters state that with some small hardware & programming changes, the range can be expanded from 392Mhz ~ 492Mhz with only a slight performance dropoff - take this information with a 'grain of salt' and I have also been informed that a more likely upper limit is around 450Mhz and even then could be troublesome.
I won't go into all the technical specifications as those interested will know this equipment well, suffice to say - many love their little PRM80 series transceivers! Interfacing between the microphone port to a PC via a dedicated serial or USB port and access//reprogramming of many features are available to the user, oodles of information online about this aspect of the PRM80 series.
The other code numbers on the identification label are:
9525 001 10319
01 VTM12 1232 111 000100
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Very clean
LCD display panel is only lightly scratched, nothing bad and certainly no "black spots" on the liquid crystal
Case is unscratched and uncracked (the slide on/off case is plastic not metal as you might expect)
Rear panel is clean and undamaged
Microphone socket (RJ45 8 fingers) cover panel is missing
TESTING:
Very basic testing has been performed, I do not wish to spend a lot of time playing around with this radio equipment but I can tell you these things:
First off, before powering up, I slid off the cover (be very careful with the ribbon cable between the front panel and the main unit) and looked for signs of previous modding - non spotted. There appears to have been no-one playing around inside previously.
Refitted the cover, attached 12V DC for testing and an external 8 Ohm speaker for audio.
Pushed the left side ON/OFF button and the LCD jumps to life but then I notice, no backlight. I think these are supposed to be backlit so there's a problem, the lamp has failed.
Next I noticed in the centre of the display is a right pointing arrow with a cross through it and according to the manual this indicates the Receiver is 'Busy'. On this equipment the front panel knob is pulled out and the user can then adjust the Squelch "gate", I wound this control clockwise and now the 'Receiver Busy' Arrow with a cross through it has gone off the display.
NOTE: Here I noticed a cosmetic issue. The knob is a slot fit onto the control shaft and it is not quite tight enough - pull the knob too much and it comes off the shaft! This makes adjusting the Squelch just a bit fiddly! A sleeve to tighten that grip will fix this problem.
At the same time as doing the above, I had low level audio (white noise hiss) which I could vary in volume and I can hear it change in level when the Squelch gate is 'opened' however no 'on air traffic' heard.
Actually because there is no arrow indicating receive, I believe the channels are not programmed - it is currently listening to 'nothing'
By using the UP and DOWN buttons on the right side of the display I can move from Channel 1 to 2 (Wow!) so it appears only two channels are programmed, although as mentioned above, the programmed settings currently seem to be in doubt - it would be best to connect to the transceiver and take a look at exactly how it has been setup and make the necessary changes to suit the new owners purposes. Information has been provided to me that these PRM2080's can actually be programmed with 100 channels.
I am sure most 'technically informed' users of the PRM80 series will already have the information they need, but in case you wish to find out more HERE is a link to a very informative page.
If I push any other front panel button e.g SEND, AUX etc I just get a series of beeps through the connected external speaker - which I think is telling me "not permitted or programmed"
I was monitoring the supply current during these tests and nothing strange here (no funny smells either!) sitting at around 150mA in 'RX' Of course I cannot tell you the 'TX' current (can be up to 6.5A) as the transmit side appears disabled at the moment.
I have made no attempts at playing around with the rear data connector, or accessing programming via the microphone/data RX/TX port - I just wanted to make a quick, 'let's take a look test' and the rest is up to the new owner.
