Batboard

Good afternoon all,

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate forum for this query, so please feel free to let me know if there's a more logical board. I'm not a radio guy.

I have a mobile Astro Spectra which I had removed from my vehicle several months ago when I was buying a new one. I've since decided that I'd prefer to have the radio set up in my home office where I can monitor railroad frequencies. The challenge however is I'm not sure how to set it up to use house power instead of vehicle power.

Is there a special cable I'd need to buy to enable it to be plugged into a wall socket? Or maybe a power conditioner/transformer?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Best,
Sean

xnavyguy17 wrote:Good afternoon all,

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate forum for this query, so please feel free to let me know if there's a more logical board. I'm not a radio guy.

I have a mobile Astro Spectra which I had removed from my vehicle several months ago when I was buying a new one. I've since decided that I'd prefer to have the radio set up in my home office where I can monitor railroad frequencies. The challenge however is I'm not sure how to set it up to use house power instead of vehicle power.

Is there a special cable I'd need to buy to enable it to be plugged into a wall socket? Or maybe a power conditioner/transformer?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Best,
Sean

You will need a 12 volt DC power supply to match the power level of the transmitter of the unit you have. Typically a medium power transmitter should use between a 12 amp and an 18 amp power supply. If you have a high power radio, then your in the order of 22 to 25 amps required in transmit.

Hope this is enough to get you going.

Jim

Thank you sir, will most power supplies have the appropriate plug for the radio's power cable, or will I need to have a special cable made?

xnavyguy17 wrote:Thank you sir, will most power supplies have the appropriate plug for the radio's power cable, or will I need to have a special cable made?

Use the same power cable that the radio uses in the mobile. There are two different cables, mid power uses a 2 pin "trailer'' connector, high power uses a much larger two female pin molded connector.

Will wrote:

xnavyguy17 wrote:Thank you sir, will most power supplies have the appropriate plug for the radio's power cable, or will I need to have a special cable made?

Use the same power cable that the radio uses in the mobile. There are two different cables, mid power uses a 2 pin "trailer'' connector, high power uses a much larger two female pin molded connector.

The trailer 2 pin connector that Will is talking about is available at most auto supply places, even Walmart. They are used to provide power or directional wiring to a small trailer. They will have a white and maybe a green wire, not red and black.

You didn't tell ups if this is a med. or high power radio. The older Spectra power cables from the 100 watt high power radios will fit the Astro Spectra radios. It will have heavy black and red wires coming out of the special connector. These you will have to scrounge up from Ebay or even some of the older two way radio shops. Good luck finding them.

Jim

The "trailer" connectors are called SAE connectors.