What are these "GP" radios all about?

[bedforddawg]

Can someone tell me what these GP series radios I see from Hong Kong on eBay are all about? Why so cheap?
What the heck does 98% new mean?

Thanks!!

[MT2000 man]

Care to be more specific ?

Do you mean the GP68's that are going on "That auction site" for like $50 a pop ?

[N4KVE]

I think he means the Chinese knock offs of the HT 1250. GP388 etc. I don't know if they are accelerated life test radios, or just counterfeit radios, but they are not approved for sale here unless they are on Ham freq's. However, since they are not approved for sale in the US, they have no warranty in this country, & the factory will not even look at them. Like going on a cruise & buying a Nikon camera in some foreign port of call for a great price. Since the US distributor didn't make any money off that camera, he won't touch it. Has to go back to the distributor in that foreign country where it was purchased for any warranty work. GARY N4KVE

[bedforddawg]

Yes that's what I meant NK. Those radios.

[bedforddawg]

Are they junk then?

[N4KVE]

Well for one thing, they require software that's not available in this country. I just feel leery about purchasing a product from half way around the world that has no factory support. GARY N4KVE

[RadioSouth]

Like Gary said could be complete knockoffs, have seen knockoff GP300 housings, even HT1000 knockoff knobs on EBay. Could also be a AP region 'M' dealer that is unable to sell new due to marketing restrictions and is being a bit creative on his listings. Motorola sells stuff to overseas markets a lot cheaper than US customers. There was a LA region dealer operating in Miami about 12 years back that was supposed to be exporting to the intended market but was selling domestically that wound up in legal hot water. Export stuff back then mostly carried the same model #'s as domestic stuff and had US FCC ID's so they were hard to restrict, Since then 'M' has created unique model designations for the different regions and eliminated US FCC ID #'s on them making them contraband in the US and subject to seizure at the ports of entry.

[bedforddawg]

What software would program these? I got most CPS versions?
Some crazy foreign software?

[Jim1348]

I have a couple of the Motorola GP2000 for amateur use and I just program them from the keyboard. Even though they aren't as well built as say a Motorola XTS5000, the flip side is they probably are better built than many Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu amateur radios. However, I will be selling mine, since I am not very active on amateur radio any longer.

[MTS2000des]

What software would program these? I got most CPS versions?
Some crazy foreign software?

Which GP radios? the GP338 use Euro Waris CPS. The radios are also very different with what signaling they support, don't do narrowband, and have different controllers.

They won't work with US Pro Series Waris, or opened up Waris, as the radios are physically different internally.

Might help if you told us which radios are in question.

I would not use ANY Ebay radio in a life safety application- without a certified person doing a once over on it. Certainly not one that is not FCC approved for part 90. Now use as a scanner, ham- different story. If the price is right...

[MTS2000des]

FWIW, there was a US seller who was selling brand new VHF GP338's. These all came from the USA, from a seller in NJ. They had some weird encryption board in them. I took a chance and won the auction for 60 bucks plus shipping.

What I got was brand new true blue Motorola in fact made in 2011. New battery and charger (which was worth the auction price). Once I "located" the correct CPS, I programmed it up as a ham radio. does NOT do QCII, MDC or 7.5KHz channel steps- so no narrowband.

Great 2m radio.

[N6LAU]

I think he means the Chinese knock offs of the HT 1250. GP388 etc. I don't know if they are accelerated life test radios, or just counterfeit radios, but they are not approved for sale here unless they are on Ham freq's. However, since they are not approved for sale in the US, they have no warranty in this country, & the factory will not even look at them. Like going on a cruise & buying a Nikon camera in some foreign port of call for a great price. Since the US distributor didn't make any money off that camera, he won't touch it. Has to go back to the distributor in that foreign country where it was purchased for any warranty work. GARY N4KVE

I would lean more towards knockoff or possibly parts substituted radios. I bought on of the GP68s from "that auction site" once upon a time and it just "didn't seem right". RF performance seemed to be poor as well as build quality and the battery seemed really shoddy. Definitely not what I would have expected for a Moto.

[RadioSouth]

I would lean more towards knockoff or possibly parts substituted radios. I bought on of the GP68s from "that auction site" once upon a time and it just "didn't seem right". RF performance seemed to be poor as well as build quality and the battery seemed really shoddy. Definitely not what I would have expected for a Moto.[/quote]


Was this one of the 98% New or from someone else ?

[N6LAU]

It was the 98% new ones I believe, from Honk Kong or China IIRC.

[RadioSouth]

Thanks, good to know.

[kato56]

I purchased a 403-470 GP-340 (like a HT-750) for $5.00 that had a broken volume control and a beater case. Replaced the case and volume pot and radio works fine. I also bought a 403-470 GP-380 (like a HT1250) which works fine also.

Personal Observations:
Both radios are programmed on the ham band, but also found they will program past 470 to at least 490. The GP-380 is 255 channels, but in one zone with a continuous rotary knob. You can have multiple scan lists, but you're limited to one zone.
Signalling: No MDC encode or decode, but has dtmf, and select-5 which I'm not familiar with.
The keypad does not allow for "hot" encoding, but rather enabling the dtmf, then pressing the sequence then the radio will keyup and tranmit.
If you want talkaround option, don't assign it on a side or front button because on those channels with TA enabled, the radio will default to TA mode when selected and you have to manually disable it to access the repeater each time.
The drop in charger although looks identical to a US one, (different part #) acts differently whereas when the charge is complete the charge light does not turn green to trickle charge, it just shuts off.