Which Radio fits the bill??

C17LVFD · Post by **C17LVFD** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:03 am

Good Morning All!

I am looking to put a mobile into my vehicle. Primarily for Rx, and occassional Tx, for ground missions. In the jurisdictions I run in, I need the entire 30-50Mhz lowband and the VHF 136-174Mhz band... I remember seeing a Motorola mobile that did infact Rx and Tx on 33Mhz and 46Mhz without having two separate brains, but for the life of me I cannot remember the model.

So...

Is there a radio that can do the entire low band and VHF?? Additionally, operate it off a single remote head?? Channel wise, 16 on low band and 16 on VHF at the minimum would be great.

I know at work, in my aircraft, my low band radio is entirely FPP, and does the entire 30-50mhz split... but it's also a several thousand dollar aviation rated radio... I also seem to recall seeing low band and VHF brains piggy backed into a single remote head, but clarification and a little direction would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your time & thoughts!

Tom in D.C. · Post by **Tom in D.C.** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:07 am

Most, if not all, of us here will have a difficult time recalling any Motorola
dualband mobile radio. The only thing that comes to mind is a VHF/UHF
HT that Vertex made a few years ago. On lowband it's also hard to imagine
a mobile that covers the entire band. Years ago Motorola made various
types of special mobiles that would, for example, have an extra receiver
strip for listening to another band but those kinds of animals are long gone,
and compared to today's radios they required tons of power.

On the FPP question, you can use FPP freely if you have a ham license on the
ham frequencies, or if your public service radio's licensing is regulated by the
NTIA ("The Feds"), or if you're running an aviation radio. If you're running a Land Mobile FCC-licensed radio then FPP is usually not allowed. The ham radios are all FPP
but can not be used on the commercial frequencies because they are not FCC
type accepted for commercial use.

C17LVFD · Post by **C17LVFD** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:02 pm

Tom in D.C. wrote:Most, if not all, of us here will have a difficult time recalling any Motorola
dualband mobile radio. The only thing that comes to mind is a VHF/UHF
HT that Vertex made a few years ago. On lowband it's also hard to imagine
a mobile that covers the entire band. Years ago Motorola made various
types of special mobiles that would, for example, have an extra receiver
strip for listening to another band but those kinds of animals are long gone,
and compared to today's radios they required tons of power.

On the FPP question, you can use FPP freely if you have a ham license on the
ham frequencies, or if your public service radio's licensing is regulated by the
NTIA ("The Feds"), or if you're running an aviation radio. If you're running a Land Mobile FCC-licensed radio then FPP is usually not allowed. The ham radios are all FPP
but can not be used on the commercial frequencies because they are not FCC
type accepted for commercial use.

Tom,

Thank you for your response. Well, so much for my crazy idea... I have looked around a bit for the lowband radio without luck... I figured if anyone would know, it would be people here on the board... With my FPP radio at work... in my aircraft, it does make it quite nice, flying into different jurisdictions to quickly punch in a rx, tx, frequency and a PL tone and be able to communicate, but I can understand the FCC not liking that for land mobile operations. I guess I'll just have to come up with another idea.

Thanks Again!

Will · Post by **Will** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 2:58 pm

The Motorola Syntor 9000 was made in the 29.5 to 50 mhz band in one radio. These are still available on the used market.

The Spectra VHF radio covers 136 to 162 or 146 to 174 depending on the internals, AKA Range.

Some of the later radios do the full 136 to 174 range, CDM, MCS .

resqguy911 · Post by **resqguy911** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:29 pm

It's not FPP, its not full-coverage lowband, but its darn close and can use one head: the Vertex VX-5500. You could have either 29.7-37 or 37-50 and 148-174. Not bad.

Tom in D.C. · Post by **Tom in D.C.** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:08 pm

Seth,

He's right. Take a look at this site:

http://www.vertexstandard.com/indexVS.c ... Archived=0

Regards,

Jim202 · Post by **Jim202** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:05 am

Your probably a few years too early to find a radio like your looking for.

Biggest problem in the low band radio is not so much finding a radio that will do the frequency spread, but finding
an antenna system that will let you TX without some serious SWR problems. Some years back I had a fire chief
want both 33 and 46 MHz in the same radio. Managed to make him happy, but had to install 2 antennas on the
car to get the radio TX to be happy. Had one antenna for 33 MHz and the other for 46 MHz. Had to cut the
feedline to an exact length to match the frequencies in use. Put the cable for 46 MHz on the 33 antenna and
the cable for 33 on the 46 MHz antenna. Put a T connector at the radio and connected both antenna cables
to the T.

I guess by now you have figured out that there are some limits. Your aircraft radio probably has an antenna tuner
tied into the cable between the radio and the antenna. You would need something like that in order to get full
coverage on the low band radio antenna.

If you wait until late summer, you will probably be able to buy a tri band portable from Tait. They are coming out
with a portable that will do VHF, UHF and 700/800 all in the same package. Should go for about $3500. The DHS
has been working with the company to get this radio developed.

Jim

C17LVFD wrote:Good Morning All!

I am looking to put a mobile into my vehicle. Primarily for Rx, and occassional Tx, for ground missions. In the jurisdictions I run in, I need the entire 30-50Mhz lowband and the VHF 136-174Mhz band... I remember seeing a Motorola mobile that did infact Rx and Tx on 33Mhz and 46Mhz without having two separate brains, but for the life of me I cannot remember the model.

I know at work, in my aircraft, my low band radio is entirely FPP, and does the entire 30-50mhz split... but it's also a several thousand dollar aviation rated radio... I also seem to recall seeing low band and VHF brains piggy backed into a single remote head, but clarification and a little direction would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your time & thoughts!

C17LVFD · Post by **C17LVFD** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:30 am

Good Morning All,

Thank you all for your replies!!

Well, it looks like there are options... This isn't something that has to be done today or tomorrow, or even next month... just in the thinking and planning phase... The VX5500 looks like it might be a possibility... The triband portable sounds interesting... I understand the issues with the antennas... and that could def. pose a challenge, especially since I would like to keep things low profile... All great things to ponder... I appreciate everyone's input!

Thanks & Have a Wonderful Day!

resqguy911 · Post by **resqguy911** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:37 pm

Jim202 wrote: If you wait until late summer, you will probably be able to buy a tri band portable from Tait. They are coming out
with a portable that will do VHF, UHF and 700/800 all in the same package. Should go for about $3500. The DHS
has been working with the company to get this radio developed.

Jim

Its THALES, not TAIT.

Which Radio fits the bill??

Which Radio fits the bill??

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