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Harris RF-301A with antenna coupler RF-302A
Tranceiver equal to AN/GRC165 2-15 MHz USB LSB CW AM Output power 100 Watt Military army set.
Harris RF-301 with antenna coupler RF-302A
Tranceiver equal to AN/URC58 2-15 MHz USB LSB CW AM Output power 100 Watt Military marine set
Manual RF-301 in PDF Download
Manual RF-307 remote control Download
RF302 Manual Download
Manual RF-302RA Download (Thanks Steve WD4GYN)
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I bought this Harris RF-301A in the 80's from a friend of mine, Frans de Feeber PA2RNI (now silent key). I then used the set for some years, mainly on 80 meters. At some time it started to malfunction; a reason for me to put it aside in storage, where it remained up till 2006. In that year I became a
member of the SRS (Surplus Radio Society), and my interest for green radio gear revived.
At that time Helmutt Singer in Germany was selling Harris RF-301's, originating from the IDF (Israelian Defence Force). Having been in operation in the desert, they contained " Holy sand", just as advertized. Singer had some of these in stock, most of them in bad shape though.
I ended up having bought two RF301A's and one RF-302A antenna coupler. The RF301A's were in a bad condition, which to me was not a major issue since my intention was to use them to restore my existing RF301A and one of the "new" ones. The above photograph shows one of these former IDF-
sets, entirely functional and in a very reasonable state.
As I found out, these sets are fairly rare in the Netherlands. Accessories proved hard to find, even on the major surplus-sales, meaning a lot of searching around was necessary for me wanting these
sets to be as original as possible. Internet however nowadays is a helpful medium tracing down any hard-to-find item anywhere in the world!
I eventually was lucky getting myself an original microphone. I bought this Shure MK/0009 on Ebay, as it turned out with a non-original connector however. Email contact with the seller led to a friendly contact, and the conversation ended up us talking about the Harris RF-301A. I told him I was restoring a ex-IDF Harris RF301A and that this microphone connector was hard to find. He then told me he would look for this connector in his junkbox. Lucky me: he found one and sent it over for free! Can't tell You how pleased I was with this sort of help from abroad! I then homebrewed some type of mounting for both the set and the antenna coupler. Today, I found the original shockmount, this item however proves to be hard to find. Accessories as the remote control and an automatic coupler are still on my wish-list too. All in all this set is a joy to operate in HAM en SRS related communications.
Thanks to Matthieu ON8PO I do have now the original schockmount RF-305A and B
Microphone plug info: Harris Part# P-0400 Manufacturer: The Deutsch Co. Manufacturer Part# DM9728-7P Cage code: 11139 (Thanks Paul)
(Thanks Ray)
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