Inexpensive 800 MHz portable?

[TomSlick]

I've given up on hopes of being issued a portable for our county's 800 MHz P25 trunked system, but I could solve some of my comm needs for use on our simplex channels (850-853 MHz). What's a good portable to look for on the used market? Ideally I would like to have a display for channel labeling. FPP would be ideal, but I'm guessing that's not likely in a cheap enough find. (I'm hoping for sub-$200 range.)

[N4DES]

Do you need P25? Do you need encryption? All of those will affect the pricing of the radio.
Also are you an employee that would be covered under the simplex license with written permission? Bootlegging on simplex can also be classified as an FCC violation if you don't have authorization.

[TomSlick]

No to P25 and encryption, and yes, I would be authorized.

[FireCpt809]

there are a ton of XTS3000 MII's in 800mhz out there and cheap.. Not FPP but durable and the batteries and accessories are plentyful.

[TomSlick]

How about something even older - would an MTS2000 be appropriate?

[FireCpt809]

even cheaper..but it has to be rebanded i believe.

[TomSlick]

Maybe I'm not understanding rebanding. Would it impact purely simplex operations? As long as the portable covers 850-853, wouldn't that be enough?

[tdats]

My guess is that they meant narrowbanded, not rebanded. If the radio is narrow band, and covers the range you want, you should be good.

[FireCpt809]

narrowbanding does not apply in 800 mhz the two sound simular but are apples and oranges. ...Before rebanding, Public Safety, Business/Industrial, SMR and ESMR's both operate in the 851-861 MHz range. ESMR has exclusive use of the 861-866 MHz range, and Public Safety has exclusive use of the 866-869 MHz range.

During rebanding the following did occur:

All licensees with channels between 866-869 MHz (NPSPAC) must relocate to equivalent channels between 851-854.
All licensees other than ESMRs with channels between 851-854 MHz must relocate to equivalent channels between 854-862.
Nextel ( now a dead issue) and other ESMR operators must relinquish all channels below 862 MHz. The FCC has required Nextel to vacate all its channels in the band from 854-854.5 nationwide as soon as possible to provide additional spectrum for Public Safety needs.
Public Safety has exclusive access to all vacated Nextel channels for 3 years, after which they are open to all eligible users.
After rebanding, Public Safety and Critical Infrastructure will have exclusive use of 851-854 MHz. ESMR systems (primarily Nextel) will have exclusive use of 862-869 MHz range, and public safety, business/industrial users, and low-power SMR's will share the 854-862 MHz spectrum. 860-861 MHz is designated as an "Expansion Band", and 861-862 MHz is designated as a "Guard Band". No licensees other than ESMR are required to relocate to channels above 860 MHz.

So you would need an MTS2000 that has had the radio upgraded to accept the rebanded frequencies Ie: 850-853mhz

[RadioSouth]

If it's 800 analog conventional you require I've seen HT1000's in 800 MHz under $40. on the Bay lately.

[N4DES]

Maybe I'm not understanding rebanding. Would it impact purely simplex operations? As long as the portable covers 850-853, wouldn't that be enough?

If it needs to do 851-853 it would need to be NPSPAC compliant and be able to do 4KHz deviation. I would be pretty sure that anything pre-MTS2000 or doesn't have pretty recent firmware will not be capable of the correct emission.

[MTS2000des]

MTS2000's are cheap and plentiful, since all you need is conventional operation, just about ANY MTS2000 (regardless of firmware and flashcode) will do.

I've bought a lot of 10 model II's from some agency in Texas (most were 1997-1999 vintage) in various physical shape but all worked. Key is finding ones with GOOD displays. All of mine were. I ended up parting most out, selling the good ones cheap, and giving the rest away.

[TomSlick]

A couple of days later, the Chief pulls me aside and tells me to take an XTS2500 home since I've been responding to calls so often. Problem solved.

[FireCpt809]

Even better.. now you hear everything