What to look for ???

beaujo_fire · Post by **beaujo_fire** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 7:11 pm

I am attending a hamfest in Denver on Sunday and would like any suggestions on what radios to look for for use on 902 ham bands.

My hope is to someday build a repeater on this band, however, I would like to look for a radio to use in the meantime to communicate on 902 in the meantime while I continue to learn about the band and the equipment/modifications that are available for use on the 902 ham bands.

I would prefer a mobile rig however I would like suggestions on portables as well as you never know what you might run across at a hamfest.

I am primarily interested in a radio that would program right up and be usable without modifications to the hardware. I know this is asking a lot for this band.

So what radios should I look for and which ones should I stay away from?

I have seen radios from GE, Motorola and kenwood before at hamfest.

Thanks for any input.

Dave

d119 · Post by **d119** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 12:31 am

I would suggest starting out by reading what I consider to be the "900MHz Amateur Equipment Primer", written by r0f. It can be found at the following link:

http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?t=21222

I personally use the GTX and MCS 2000 mobile radios with excellent results. I've yet to purchase a 900MHz portable.

ExKa|iBuR · Post by **ExKa|iBuR** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 12:38 am

The GTX900 mobile is a pretty decent one to mod for ham use. It doesn't matter if you get an LTR or Type II, as you're only going to use it for conventional. I would imagine the portable would be just as good.

I've never tried this myself, although I have heard of it - and I think it kicks a$$ - a custom made JT9000...That is.. a JT1000 that's had it's RF board replaced with an MTX9000 900MHz board, and had the codeplug raped to think it's a 900MHz radio. Aparantly it works great...so you'd have a 900MHz front-programmable radio.

-Mike

d119 · Post by **d119** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 12:45 am

Wow... Now THAT I'd buy! Too bad there's nobody out there who cranks those out on a regular basis. There *IS* a gentleman who does the complete conversion on 2-channel 16-pin 800MHz MaxTracs, and creates 2-channel 900MHz amateur repeater receivers out of them. He sells them for under $100. I'm working on getting one for use as a control receiver. Says he gets .1 to .2 uV out of them... Perfect!

thehead7 · Post by **thehead7** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 9:31 pm

I recently converted a 900 mhz Maxtrac by replacing the front end filters, modifying the VCO, and changing the firmware. I get .15uv @ 12 dB SINAD. Nice and hot...

The spectra works okay on the ham band, and so does the MTS2000...

As far as the "JT9000", you can pretty much program all of the repeater pairs into an MTS2000 without any problem, and adding MPL, you can use it without ever having to reprogram it again, theoretically. I've thought about trying this with an HT1000 controller and body that I've got around, but just haven't felt up to it. How do they get the hearclear to work?

I certainly wouldn't mind taking a look at a JT1000 that is hacked in such a way. I'm sure, with enough fiddling, it can be done.

You can modify either the 800 or 900 maxtrac for ham use, actually, and I haven't personally seen anything to indicate that the 800 works any better than the 900 for either full band coveage or as a repeater RX. I haven't tried the 800, but the 900 works well enough for a repeater RX to keep me happy.

Anyhow, if you do get a spectra, I wouldn't count on having full band RX coverage. The front end rolls off around 926 or so, which is fine for most repeaters these days. I, and others, are working on making the spectra work accross the band, but I've currently got too many other projects going on...

The MTS2000 rolls off at about the same place. If you do pick one up at a HAM fest, make sure that the VCO will lock on HAM bands. A lot of times, a type I (top display) will give you problems there (at least 50% of the time, in my experience). I don't think I've ever had a type II that wouldn't lock, though.

Good Luck,
John

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Sun May 09, 2004 8:33 pm

d119 wrote:Wow... Now THAT I'd buy! Too bad there's nobody out there who cranks those out on a regular basis. There *IS* a gentleman who does the complete conversion on 2-channel 16-pin 800MHz MaxTracs, and creates 2-channel 900MHz amateur repeater receivers out of them. He sells them for under $100. I'm working on getting one for use as a control receiver. Says he gets .1 to .2 uV out of them... Perfect!

and just who is that??

d119 · Post by **d119** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:12 pm

His name is Richard Solomon, W1KSZ. w1ksz@earthlink.net. Sells the units for $75.00 + shipping. I'm mailing off a payment to him tomorrow for mine, we'll see how it works.

kb8gvq · Post by **kb8gvq** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 10:06 am

There are some of us who do them too who do not advertise, I have a couple 800 maxtracs converted for 900 rx as well same price and terms. The reason BTW for using 800's for rx is there are a limited number of radio's which can tx on 900 and 800 maxtracs are a dime a dozen, so giving one up for a rptr or link rx on 900 is a better fit, than a 900 mobile being put away at a site as an rx.. just cost effective in the big picture... When I say limited I mean in the scope of all used radio's... 900's are harder to find than 800's. The 800 rx is also 25khz wide good or bad, but it does allow for more slop in mobile freq stability than a 900 NB rx would... and many of these radios' on 900 ham have not seen a service monitor in a decade.
Doug KB8GVQ

d119 wrote:His name is Richard Solomon, W1KSZ. w1ksz@earthlink.net. Sells the units for $75.00 + shipping. I'm mailing off a payment to him tomorrow for mine, we'll see how it works.