Rib Recomendations

[David Farr]

Somehow I have managed to loose my original Flashport Motorola Rib, therefore I'm in the market for another.

I was looking at ebay this morning and of course there are no original's available, so Im wondering about aftermarket Ribs.

Any of you running aftermarket ribs? Anyone care to give there thoughts on specific ribs to buy or stay away from?

As allways, your input is very much appreciated.

[Rayjk110]

I've had a couple aftermarkets and they've always ran fine.

However the best bet is to usually go Motorola OEM, if you can. Especially when it comes to programming $1k+ radios.

[Einstein]

Send groundrat99 a PM. He had a almost new OEM SmartRib for sale on another BB. Excellent to deal with.

[Al]

The Sandy Ganz ribs are about as close to OEM as you can get, and a little more flexible. I've got three of them plus OEM ribs and Sandy's [re]design of the RLN4008_ works well.

[DJP126]

The Sandy Ganz ribs are about as close to OEM as you can get, and a little more flexible. I've got three of them plus OEM ribs and Sandy's [re]design of the RLN4008_ works well.

Although I have not seen Sandy's box, I have seen many good reports on them. Keep in mind though that his model is a copy of the RIB not the SmartRIB. His won't do any flash upgrades.

[motorola_otaku]

I used a Polaris PA-II RIB for many years, until one day for no explicable reason it stopped working with M1225s and only M1225s. After that I bought a RLN4008 RIB and aside from a flaky 9V battery connector it has never given me a hint of a problem.

FYI, Futurlec carries all of the ICs and transistors used in an actual RLN4008 RIB, so if you're not adverse to building you can buy parts from there and build your own.

[john9912]

I have gone through a variety of aftermarket RIBS for many years. I have had inconsistent results with them. Work on some model radios not others. I had two identical aftermarket RIBS one would work on spectras but not 1225's and the other would work on 1225s but not spectras. I had to keep both with me at all times. Recently I have had the most issues with aftermarket ribless cables for Motorola and Kenwood. I believe the price industries is pretty good quality and the Hong Kong ones are the poorest quality. My suggestion is to use genuine brand RIB or ribless cables whenever possible. If you are in the radio business, your time and reputation may rely on your ability to program your customer's equipment in a timely professional manner.