Astro Spectra W9 Annoyances

[kc7gr]

Fellow Astro users,

In the process of setting up a codeplug for my VHF W9 radio, I have come across a few small, but significant (to me, anyway) annoyances. I'm wondering if others have encountered these, and if there are any workarounds.

(1) No VIP input option for auto-dim. With the analog Spectras, at least the A9's, you could configure one of the VIP inputs to dim the display upon being grounded or having +12 applied. This option does not appear to be present at all with the Astro.

(2) (And this one's a real kicker for me) No one-touch zone name display. On the analog A9 side, you could set up the zone options such that, when you changed zones, the zone name would be briefly displayed by itself before the radio switched back automatically to the mode name.

With the Astro, I can't even enter a zone name without setting the zone name length option to something other than "None," thus decreasing the number of characters available for mode names. Does this mean that there will be no indication whatsoever of what zone one has selected if you're using all 11 spots for the mode names?

(3) Limitation of where the 'Home' and 'Zone Up/Zone Down' buttons can be programmed on the control head. The analog Spectras had no such limitation.

#2 is the real deal-breaker for me. If there's no workaround for it, I think I'll just hang on to my analog Spectras a bit longer, even though I could really use more than 128 available modes.

Thanks much.

[RKG]

Isn't #2 a result of the fact that the A, B and C-model Spectras use a Spectra programming metaphor, while the W-models use the MTSX model?

What I do, which I admit is less than elegant, is to set the zone name length at 2, and then name my zones 1 through F, with a space after the digit. This means I have to remember that Zone 1 is home, Zone 2 is down south, etc., but this is what I do with the XTS portables, so it isn't so bad.

I believe #3 is a function of the "9", not the "W", but I'm not sure.

[Pj]

#1 - Welcome to 1995 (Yup, ASTRO has been around for awhile, feel old yet?)

#1a - The best you can do is to program the option "Last dim state" or something like that. It will power up at whatever level you last left it. Depending on where you mounted it, the display isn't typically that bright to be annoying. Its only a press (or three) depending on how you like it. If its too bright at night, just don't enable the option so when you get back in your car in the morning you don't have to scroll thru the dim cycle to get it back to full brightness.

#2 One way that I use to do, though more with the portables with the 14 characters, was to incoroprate the first mode name as a zone name. This only works as well as you like to name your channels. Back in the day, I had one zone for the FD and one for the PD, so the first two letters became my zone name. Then you name your channels with the first character being a space, so you had FD ONE, FD TWO, FD M/A etc. Works better for the longer displays. These days, I just program both the portables and mobiles the same, and I just know what is in each zone and use all 11/12/14 characters display's to the fullest.

Not sure where you are going with that one, but I am 99% sure you can place the zone buttons anywhere, except for were the mode key is normally at. I find that the zone keys are pretty logical sitting at the 1 and 3 postions on the # keypad. I think having a "mode" key to put you into a mode selection mode is available. I am not at home, so i cannot reverify with software.

Are you using CPS or RSS?

I am pretty sure that the display zone feature on the spectra's only worked after a certain MLM revision (v6.xx)...as I remember a few that I owned did not work with it. IIRC, the spectras for that short time period where the only moto radios that could do that. It hasn't been used since. Though, I figure you may see in the "O" series XTL heads.

[kc7gr]

Hi, Pj,

Using CPS (current version). And I've already come to the conclusion that, at least for now, gaining P25 capability is NOT worth losing the way my analog Spectras handle zone display and auto-dim. Call me picky if you like, but I'm really surprised that Motorola didn't do a better job of transferring those features.

Ya know... If I can just find a way to raise the limit on conventional modes in my analog A9 to more than 128, I'll be good to go. The main reason I was looking at the Astro is because I needed more mode space.

Happy tweaking.