Harris RF-3200ET Portable Transceiver

© Brooke Clarke 2008

Radio Behind the blank panel to the right of the knob is the keypad	Antenna Coupler & Accessories

This half contains the RT-3200E radio.  The connectors at the top are the rear panel connectors on the RF-3200 brought out on a seperate panel.
There are two levels of password for the radio, one for user options and one for how the radio works.  A prior owner taped them to the inside of the door over the keypad.

Low Mike Gain

After putting up an H.F. antenna I tried to use the RF3200ET and could hear stations, but not work them.
This may be due to a problem with the microphone, how it's wired or one or two resistors on the A2 Audio PCB.

Pin Function 1 Carbon Mike Input 2 Filtered Supply Voltage 3 Ground for Handset or Headset 4 Earphone 5 PTT (gnd to talk) 6 PTT Ground 7 Mike Ground 8 Mike Input

Provision is made in the mike connector wiring to accommodate either an electrect-condenser or air-condenser mike (pin 8) or a carbon mike (pin 1).
The A2 audio PCB has an optional resistor (R30 - 10K) to be installed when a condenser mike is to be used.

The acid test is to transmit and pay attention to the output power on the bar graph in the lower left of the LCD.
The upper scale is in Watts with a max of 150 Watts.  When the trap door is opened on the right (slide up the open) and the RFL button is pressed the bar graph displays reflected power.

In my case it's 150W transmit and 0 Watts reflected when I whistle.
But, I've heard that these mikes work fine for whistling, but not for voice, so . . .
Using a GR 1307 Transistor Oscillator driving the 1552-B Sound-Level Calibrator held touching the mide at 400 and 1000 Hz gives the following transmit power:

Freq Hzs	Tx Power Watts
400	30+
1000	150-

So the next thing is to try some different mikes.  But first need to get some of the 8 socket Foster mike connectors (aka: Radio Shack 274-025 or274-025b, Philmore 61-608B or T700B).

The Mike is a Sure Prologue Model: 6L-B 500 Ohm Dynamic.

Shure 444D Desk Microphone

"Factory Use Only" RS232 commands

The other half suitcase has the antenna coupler built into it and also has the accessories.  By seperating the two half suitcases the antenna coupler can be located close to the antenna which is a much better thing to do than using coax between the coupler and antenna proper.

Note that many antenna couplers take some time to tune up on a new frequency and so when they are used for ALE operation the whole process gets slowed down or does not work at all.  This antenna coupler is made for use in an ALE system and so is fast.  Note that the antenna coupler is not operative in receive mode.

Accessory Bag

Missing from my set.  The DC power cord that's normally in the bag is in the lid of this set.

ALE

The 3200 uses the "Old" ALE, not the current version.  So for some applications it will not work.

The 3000 system has been out of production for more than 10 years as of 2008 so  the items listed are NOT AVAILABLE from Harris.

Origional version with blue vaccum florscent display.

RF-3200 in Transportable suitcase.

The E version has a two row by sixteen character dot matrix LCD display.  The first five characters in the bottom row are used as a signal strength bar graph.
The 10228-2100 Antenna Coupler Interface board as standard
Input 13.6 VDC (no AC supply)

Rx 0.1 to 30 MHz, SSB 0.5 uV for 10 dB SINAD, AM 3 uV for 10 dB SINAD

Tx 1.6 to 30 Mhz Tx, 10 Hz steps, 125 Watts USB/LSB, 35 Watts AM compatible
The antenna jack should be connected to a 50 Ohm antenna, like a dipole.  There's a reflected power measurement button next to the keypad to check the match.  When using non matched antennas the antenna coupler in the lid should be used.

Similar to the RF-3200 except has 60 Watts out.  Used to drive a 1 kW amplifier.  Requires 12 VDC for the radio and 48 VDC for the power amp.

A prototype version modified to minimize the Tx/Rx and Rx/Tx switchover times.

Rack Panel weather proof 24 VDC military version.
No E or ET version.

RF-3228E Internal Analog Voice Security
RF-3234E Channalized Remote Control (aimed at vehicle use)
RF-3272E   Internal Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) - not available for RF-3200ET
RF-3272ET Internal Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) - for use in the Transportable version
RF-3234E-02 ALE Remote Control - telephone type remote, 1000 foot max
RF-3234ALE-E VIP Remote Contgrol System - two parts: RF-3272E Controler & RF-3234E-02 Control
RF-3246 Narrow Band Filter - 300 Hz
RF-3247 Wide Band Filter - 300 to 3100 Hz  used for voice security or digital modes
RF-3238 Continuous Duty Blower Kit - for RT-3200E
?? - Two-tone Alarm for front panel
?? - 125 Watt SS T/R Switch
?? - External Reference Oscillator

Antenna Couplers & Accessories

RF-3281 Voice Duty Digital Automatic Coupler -
RF-3282-12 Ruggedized Automatic Digital Antenna Coupler (EMP) no seperate control cable needed-
10228-2100 RF-3281/RF-3282 Interface Board -
RF-3220 RF-3280 Interface Kit - for RF-3230 1 kW amplifier
RF-3288 Coupler Mounting Bracket - needed for installing Sun Shield 10330-9250 on RF-3281 Ant Coupler
10330-9250 Antenna Coupler Sun Shield - for use with RF-382, RF-3281 or RF-3282 Ant Couplers
RF-2601 1 kW HF Fast-Tune Ant Coupler  75 ms when using a memorized frequency
RF-2601/AC 1 kW HF Fast-Tune Ant Coupler - no RFsatus monitor and uses control cable
10221-0603 RF-2601 1 kW Antenna Coupler Installation Kit -
10228-2110 Coupler Interface board - combines RF, DC and coupler control ASK 8N1 76.8 kHz tone (57.39 kHz back to tranceiver)  on coax

RF-382 (not listed for use with RF-3200 radio - KF-382 Coupler Controller (only works with the Harris Military Transceivers like the RF-350K)

RF-3200EV - Vehicular HF Radio System - Includes:
RF-3200EB - Base Station HF Radio System - Includes:
RF-3200ET - HF-SSB Transportable Communication System - Includes:
RF-3257E - 125 Watt High-Speed Data System
RF-3200E-10 - Solid-State Fast-Tuning 1 kW System (230 VAC only)

Power Supply Options

RF-3236 Continuous Duty Base Unit P.S. - 12 VDC output
RF-3206 Float Battery Charger - 12 Amps to external battery
RF-3259 24 VDC to 12 VDC Power Converter -
RF-3200TBP Portable Battery Pack/Charger for the RF-3299ET - Suitcase with 93 AH battery and charger

Mounting Options

RF-3241 Shock Mount
RF-3240 Desk-Top Rack for Tranceiver and AC Power Supply + 3" free rack
RF-3240-01 Desk-Top Rack for Tranceiver and AC Power Supply + 10" free rack
RF-3260 Mounting Cradle - comes with Tranceiver
RF-3244 Heavy Duty Rack Kit
10212-4020 Heavy Duty PS Rack Mount Kit
10212-4030 Heavy Duty Tranceiver Rack Mount Kit
10212-4040 Rack Slides for Heavy Duty Rack Mounts

Audio and Data Accessories

RF-3560B Telephone Interface Unit - Tranceiver needs RF-3272E.  Can call from any phone
RF-3003 Headset
RF-3204 Remote Speaker
RF-3207 CW Key
RF-3249 Desk Mike
RF-3250 Wall-Mount Telelphone Handset - mutes speaker when handset is off hook
RF-3251 Desk-Mount Telephone Handset - mutes speaker when handset is off hook
RF-3252 Dynamic Mike (Supplied with Tranceiver)
RF-3290 Radio/Telephone Interface Unit - Rack Panel wire line interface

Cable & Wire

DC Power Cable p/n _____?_____ or commercial equivalent ______?______

RF-3200E    HF-SSB Transceiver User's Guide, p/n 10212-0050-20
RF-3200ET HF-SSB  Transportable Communications System, Service Manual Supplement, p/n 10262-0310-20
RF-3200E Tranceiver, Service Manual, p/n 10212-0300-20
RF-3281 Voice-Duty Antenna Coupler, Service Manual, p/n 10288-0300
Radio Communications in the Digital Age: Volume One, HF Technology
Radio Communications in the Digital Age: Volume Two, VHF/UHF Technololgy

Passwords

The factory password is: 427748

Memory Battery

U6 is a nonvolatile (NV) SRAM that has an internal Lithium battery which gets used when no power is applied to the radio.  After 10 (+?) years the battery may be dead and the DS1225AD needs to be replaced.
This is a 28 pin package with the same footprint as the 2764 and 2864 EPROMs.

On the surplus market that have been some Harris 5000 series military radios.  Some of them I've seen have the first generation Harris type ALE but not the MIL-188-141 type ALE.  Although there is a Harris p/n for a plug in card for MIL-188-141 ALE it is no longer available.

The Harris RT-1446 Receiver/Exciter can be coupled with an RF Power Amplifier (500 or 1000 Watts) and the RF-7210A Adaptive Controller to make up an ALE HF radio (RF-350) known as the Pacer Bounce system.

RF-3565 Telephone Access Unit (TAU)

Connects between a radio and handset. 

It allows a remote radio like prc-138 to connect to a base station and then dial a phone number. Also in reverse it allows a phone number to be called from a landline and then call an ale station. It is only one part of the system. Another part "TIU" (Roger: Telephone Interface Unit)is required to make it work. Doug

Compatible Radios

AN/PRC-117
RF-2301 (w/ RF-2370 or F-2380)
RF-5020
RF-5022
RF-350
RF-3201
RF-3200 (see Aux connector above)

Telephone over Radio

When a telephone call is passed over a simplex radio link there needs to be a way to handle the PTT signal to the radio since normal telephones are full duplex.
The GRA-39 uses a 3900 Hz tone (above the 300 - 3000 Hz audio passband) for this purpose.  Maybe the RF-3565 follows the same convention?  Note since the person on the other end of the phone call is most likley at a regular phone they have no way of pressing PTT, so maybe that's handled for both sides of the conversation by the RF-3565.  That would require something like the 3900 Hz tone in the GRA-39 to control the radio at the far end of the link. 

So why the 14-pin connector rather than just a U-229 type audio connector? ans. there is 2-way digital coms between the RF-3565 and the field radio.

Technical Description

Although there are some similarities with the PRC-77 the radio pin out is it's own thing.

Pin Note 1	Radio PRC-138 J2 Data Connector:	RF-3565 J1 Guess 30 Aug 2011
A	Fixed level receive audio out	D
B	Fixed level transmit audio in	F
C	Data Out	K?
D	Data In	H?
E	Battery Out or Remote Power On (jumper setting)	N
F	TX Keyline (PTT)	B
H	RLSD (Output, RS-232C or MIL-STD-188-114A levels)
J	Ground	A & L
K	Remote async data in	H?
L	Clear to Send (CTS)
M	Sync Clock In
N	Remote async data out	K?
P	RTS	J
R	Sync clk out	P

Note 1: the PCK 14-pin connector has the same pin lettering