Batboard

Hi Batboard

I just got hold of a couple of low-band Maratracs and a 50w power supply (not sure which split yet), so of course the first thing i had to do was hack it. I know next to nothing about radio comms but run a wireless mesh 18/4.9ghz for my company (go figure). Looks like a little money and work might let me use the maratrac for ham- once i get a license of course. My new toys have advanced heads- but i am only able to select one channel/mode. Am i correct in assuming ill need to make some changes with RSS?

besides the part 97 rules, is there anything i ought to find and read soonest?

Im still not clear on much of what ive been reading here- you guys/gals have a language all your own! Thanks for putting all this info somewhere a noob can find it.

We have a sister site from which the Board you're on right now grew. It's called batlabs.com. Over there you'll find a Maratrac site at
http://batlabs.com/maratrac.html. A better and much more comprehensive Maratrac listing can be found at http://www.repeater-builder.com/motorol ... atrac.html. eBay also carries lots of listings for Motorola manuals and a quick Maratrac search there may be helpful to you as well.

Welcome to the Board.

Thanks Tom!

i did find the stuff on batlabs, as well as radioreference. the scanned manual collection at repeater-builder is solid gold. the fcc rulebook is putting me to sleep.

The FCC regs, in formal form, WILL put you to sleep. Go to www.ARRL.org and arrange to get a copy or copies of the License Manuals. Their objective is to give you the information you need to pass the FCC exams, minus all the legal doubletalk, plus a lot more useful information about amateur radio in general. The exams are a mix of electronic theory and FCC regs and they're not all that difficult for a person with some electronic background as you appear to have.

Welcome. The easiest way to tell which low band split your radios are is to take the top cover off and pull off the cover at the rear of the radio. There's a part # on that board on the left side. these will tell you the split:
HLB 4117a 29-36 mhz
HLB 4118a 36-42 mhz
HLB 4115a 42-50 mhz