Dual Head VHF Radio INfo

[JD]

Needing 3 dual head vhf 50 watt radios. CDM with after market control unit is not an option.

Kenwood TK790 or Motorola PM1500 appear to be in the price range customer requests.

Any sugestions ?

Thanks.

[akardam]

Needing 3 dual head vhf 50 watt radios. CDM with after market control unit is not an option.

Kenwood TK790 or Motorola PM1500 appear to be in the price range customer requests.

Any sugestions ?

Thanks.

Well, the PM1500 is a 110w radio (though I suppose you could tune it down to 50w, but that's kind of overkill), and as far as I know they don't support dual heads (though perhaps that's an option with newer firmware that I'm not aware of).

[n7maq]

I like the TK790's.

You can also go with an XTL2500, or XTL5000 but the price would be a bit more than the Kenwood.


Jim

[escomm]

PM1500 definitely supports dual head

[FireCpt809]

Is 50W a necessity? If not I would go with the Pm1500. If its an option you can go with 2 CDM1250s. We did that for our ambulances It was cheaper.

[JD]

This ia a volunteer fire department, they do not want 2 radios, they like the current setup of the GE dual head s825's, but have to have narrow band capability in the next few months, hence looking for updates.

Thanks for all the info.

[john9912]

I just pulled out 2 dual head VHF A9 Spectras about a week and a half ago. I replaced them with dual head PM1500. Nice radio. Dual heads work fine. Cost wasn't too bad. I got the enhanced microphone w/DTMF for HEAR in the rear. I am happy with them. The one thing I didn't like was on one ambulance the control head trunion stuck up a little high and I didn't like how it sat on that particular ambulance dog house. I didn't see any low profile CH mounting trunion, so I am going to chop it and weld it so it will sit lower.

Kenwood has TK-790 with dual head option. I have had a few odd audio problems over the years with the dual head interface board on the radio. I have installed and used several of these and would still recommend this also. This can be ordered with the standard (instead of deluxe) control head and in a low power (instead of 100W) version to keep costs down.

You can also get Motorola XTL2500 and XTL 5000 with dual head.

From Vertex the VX5500 or VX6000 are available with dual head also. Other than installing a few of these, I have had very little experience with them.