TBR-142 (I) Artillery VHF transceiver

The information about this TBR-142 (I), code name 865-1, is very limited. Here is what I got from the net: TBR-142 artillery communication system contains three major devices, TBR-142(I) VHF transceiver, TBR-142(II) control device and TBR-142(IIID) multi-function field telephone. It is designed to achieve communication between individual artillery squads and company HQ wired and/or wireless. The communication could be voice or date communicate.



Presented here is the TBR-142 (I) VHF FM transceiver:



The TBR-142 (I) works within 40.000 to 59.975MHz with output power of 1 Watt or 0.3 Watt selectable. It is powered by a 12 V DC battery or external 12V DC power source. It measures 220x130x57, and weight about 1.2 kg without battery. It has a three level voice volume control with squelch mode. It is stated that it uses a 1 meter antenna; however, I could not find one. I use the 1.3 meter rod type antenna borrowed from my TBR-115 set. The headset is the same one as that for BWT-133 and TBR-120 radios.



TBR-142 has two versions. My sample is a later version one with a serial number of 990203, which means it was made in 1999. The only difference I could tell between early and late versions is how the frequency is set. The early version use 4 set of buttons (2 buttons for each set, one for increasing the other one to for decreasing the number) to set frequency, its reading in a small window. The later version, as you could see, is controlled by four knobs. So far, I know only three occasions that TBR-142 became available. From this, I assume that it is still in active service with PLA artillery units.