Batboard

HI all

New guy here, so my apologies if this was asked before.

I have a high power VHF ASTRO SPECTRA in the ham bands. It has a hand held controller. It is working just fine.

My questions are these:
1) I am TRYING to easily interface a Vertex VXR1000U (uhf) to this radio using J6 without a lot of mods to the radio, can this be done? I have a J6 pinout, and cannot seem to find a COR on it. What am I missing?
2) IF I were to decide I preferred a different head other than the hand held, do I need anything more than a) the head, b) the CORRECT cable from head to radio, c) reprogram the radio for the head?

Again, being new, I may have missed the answers to these questions.

Thank you.

Howard, N9KTW

I believe there is no COR output on the Astro Spectra/Spectra radios. Search around there is a way of getting a semi COR output, I am thinking the audio switch to the audio PA might work. I used that line on a MX portable CC console to switch an external PA amp.

Pyramid's application notes are an invaluable resource for interfacing external devices: http://www.pyramidcomm.com/application-notes-svr/

The hi-power Astro Spectra document should have everything you need to connect a Vertex vehicle repeater.

I believe the only way to get a COR pin on that J6 connector is with some crafty modifying. I also read about using the audio trigger as a COR output.

As far as changing the head goes, and I'm assuming you have the W3 HHCH, you would need the head you want to use, and the interface board for it. The W3 uses a special interface board that is specific to that head. As well, you would need to stuff a different S-record into it that matches the desired head, bandsplit, features, etc, but not before saving the tuning data so you can later set it back where it was.

On the low and mid power spectras at least, the W3 interconnect board will work with other heads just fine. The standard interconnect board will also work fine with the W3 head. The only difference is the circuitry in the W3 board for supporting the soft power switch on the W3 head.

I would imagine it's the same way for the high power but you never know.