OT-90 Radio Resurrection

[Timberwolf22]

Today we fired up the recently painted OT-90.

She has been receiving a good amount of external attention - sand blasting and painting.



So I was asked to spend some time on the radio equipment-to see what worked or might need to be replaced.We were able to get power to the R-123 radio = good place to start. After acquiring the right cables and comm helmets we were able to get speaker/microphone established with the R-123.



There is no internal speaker on the R-123. You must use the headset for any radio functionality in the OT-90.

 

[Timberwolf22]

So the goal for today........ see if we could receive on the R-123

This would help us verify a good number of communications components.

For the testing we plugged our helmets into the driver and TC intercom stations. Powered up the R-123 and then we broke out the manual.



Since we needed a transmission source to receive I broke out some of my "test" gear I use to verify the SINCGARS is receiving....

I have a Radio Shack headset kit that transmits on 49.9Mhz... set this transmitter and plugged into iPhone for a source and set some music on a loop. Verified that I could listen on the Radio Shack provided headphones.



After some trial and error I was able to configure the R-123 for 49.9Mhz and sure enough there was the music rom the iPad.

The 49.9Mhz is right below the 6 Meter HAM band in FM and while I am not allowed to transmit in this spectrum I can still monitor it...... looked like a good test for the day.

 

[Timberwolf22]

Test one - receiving on the R-123 = a success. That was big for us since it verified that the helmets, cables, intercom boxes and the R-123 were all able to be re-used.

Next step is to get all the intercom stations operational - that will be the next test of the system.



Finally I will bring my 6 Meter HAM radios and SINCGARS radio and we will see if we can transmit in the lower range of the 6 Meter HAM band.

We are already looking for antenna elements - looks like we have just the base component of the antenna.

 

[MadCat2]

No internal comms yet but the radio powering up and receiving was really exciting!

 

[Timberwolf22]

Doing a bunch of research on the drivers station.



This is the Radio Unit in the Drivers Station



All you other OT-90 / BMP owners throw info my way.............was still unable to get the intercom between driver and TC working and I also believe that this unit may be involve when transmitting with the R-123.

 

[CommoChief]

Kyle....Nice job on the sandblasting and painting.

 

[Timberwolf22]

You guys did a fantastic job on her.



The OT-90 looks good in her new coat of paint. We took her out for a spin today.

Plan to spend a few hours working on the radios tomorrow.

 

[muthkw25]

It looks great. The photos I have are when I finished painting it. I didn't have the right lighting. It def came out looking great.

 

[CommoChief]

muthkw25...I do believe your new Avatar is minus the radio antenna.