HMMWV M1151 SINCGARS Conversion

[alwayskaos]

So I have what seems to be a complete radio rack minus the 2 SINCGARS radios. From my research, the SINCGARS are hard to find and only the export version is legal for civilians because it lacks the encryption function.
I found these FCS units and wonder 2 things. Are they basically the same as the military units without the encryption and maybe some other non essential functions, and can I get this to work in my radio stack?
Any information would be apprecited. Thank you

 

[CallMeColt]

China replica radios will not work in any, real VRC mounts. At most, you will get power. That is also not a SINCGARS replica, it is a PRC117G replica. SINCGARS is very old, like the PRC-119 family. Those are now two generations old. There are "export" models of the US military radios that you can get & it's all legal. Encryption is not what makes it illegal, it is the level of encryption. NSA level encryption is not authorized, they are usually clearly marked CCI. These types of radios will be prefixed with PRC-. Legal ones will be RT- or RF- as they are exports, like RF-7850M-V511.

 

[alwayskaos]

Thank you for the info. Do you know if the radio rack I have is for the SINCGARS?

 

[CallMeColt]

Yes, looks like it.

 

[NDT]

It is.

Colt: “Sincgars is very old”. : (

 

[CallMeColt]

It is.

Colt: “Sincgars is very old”. : (

In technology terms it is anyways!

 

[sigo]

Thank you for the info. Do you know if the radio rack I have is for the SINCGARS?

Yes, that is a Vehicular Amplifier Adapter (VAA) for SINCGARS radios. Export model SINCGARS are a thing, but they are super uncommon. I’ve never seen one. However, you can find radios with encryption cards removed and otherwise functional. You can also find pre-integrated encryption models that never had on-board COMSEC modules. RT-1523 SINCGARS have integrated COMSEC. RT-1439 models do not and are more commonly available. RT-1423 SINCGARS have been out of service for quite a few years now and may not work with your later model VAA. 1523 radios are still in service and will be for awhile longer.

 

[CallMeColt]

There are also many radios that have legacy waveforms as an option for SINCGARS. I had a few RF-7850M and RF-7800V with it installed. Seems to have been mostly abandoned as an option with later firmware though.