Motorola high power Spectra mobile value

[Jim202]

Having always been a strong supporter of the Motorola Spectra family of radios for ham use, I have a number of them.

I recently had one of the PA boards decide to have black smoke come out of the holes in the cover. Didn't know it went up in smoke until one day I went to key the radio and nothing came back from the local repeater. Opened it up and was surprised by the amount of black all over the input area of the PA board.

So decided to go see what flee bay might have available. Boy was I surprised to see that people think these radios are still worth a pile of money. They must think a sucker is born every minute for these radios and some of the parts that go in them.

Most of the radio shops I know just toss them in the dumpster. It isn't even worth trying to advertise that they have them and then go through the effort of packaging them for shipment. They weigh too much to even be bothered. Plus it would cost too much in labor to strip them down just for the cast aluminum case they have for the junkie to take them.

Jim

__________________

[fineshot1]

Most of the radio shops I know just toss them in the dumpster.

yes - this is what we do eventually. The stacks of them also take up too much space in our storage room.
As soon as we get them for a vehicle removal i make a note of the serial numbers and asset tags and trash
them.

All the storaged syntorX's we had were thrown out long ago.

[crazyboy]

Just sold a few on ebay for next to nothing, took a few relistings too. Hardly worth the effort.

[Bill_G]

I think the value depends on the band. VHF and UHF more valuable because they can be pressed into amateur service. But, even amoung Hams, Spectras are becoming more like chicken teeth.

[MTS2000des]

Turdbay is loaded with greedy fools who think a 25 year old wideband radio is worth it's weight in gold. Then there is reality.

[motorola_otaku]

I sold a complete 110W A9 VHF kit at a hamfest for $50 recently, and was glad to get it.

I also sold the complete dual Spectra/SIU kit I built for this thread for $50... and I was still glad to get it. What do you think a complete dual Spectra/HHCH kit would have sold for 15 or even 10 years ago?

[Jim202]

I sold a complete 110W A9 VHF kit at a hamfest for $50 recently, and was glad to get it.

I also sold the complete dual Spectra/SIU kit I built for this thread for $50... and I was still glad to get it. What do you think a complete dual Spectra/HHCH kit would have sold for 15 or even 10 years ago?

These prices are probably a good deal as they are complete with radios, control heads and cables. Haven't heard or seen anyone even mention a SIU working with a Spectra in many years. It does take another program to set up how the HHCH displays the channels.

Some years back, I found a way to bring back to life a SIU that refused to power up the radios. There is a voltage comparitor that seems to go bad and kills the power up. The solution is simple. You only have to cut one pin off the large IC inside the SIU and your back in operation. There should be a PDF on the "repeater Builder" site with the information.

Problem with sellers on fleacebay is that they want this same kind of price for just the radio. Good luck to them trying to get it.

Jim