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Which VHF's Easily Programmable?
Just joined Public Safety organization. Looking for inexpensive
($150) VHF (156.xxx). Have been watching Ebay and see some Kenwoods, Yaesu/Vertex and Motorolas that might work, but I'm not sure which models are easily field programmable without sending them off for additional expense. Looks like many Motorola models require a rather difficult interface (something other than a cable and PC software). Can anyone suggest a FAQ or give recommendations as to which older radios might be a good choice and relatively easily programmed? |
On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 08:39:08 -0600, ned wrote:
Just joined Public Safety organization. Looking for inexpensive ($150) VHF (156.xxx). Have been watching Ebay and see some Kenwoods, Yaesu/Vertex and Motorolas that might work, but I'm not sure which models are easily field programmable without sending them off for additional expense. Looks like many Motorola models require a rather difficult interface (something other than a cable and PC software). Can anyone suggest a FAQ or give recommendations as to which older radios might be a good choice and relatively easily programmed? Why don't you ask the people at your public safety organization? bob k5qwg |
On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 08:39:08 -0600, ned wrote:
Just joined Public Safety organization. Looking for inexpensive ($150) VHF (156.xxx). Have been watching Ebay and see some Kenwoods, Yaesu/Vertex and Motorolas that might work, but I'm not sure which models are easily field programmable without sending them off for additional expense. Looks like many Motorola models require a rather difficult interface (something other than a cable and PC software). Can anyone suggest a FAQ or give recommendations as to which older radios might be a good choice and relatively easily programmed? Why don't you ask the people at your public safety organization? bob k5qwg |
On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 07:56:07 -0600, Bob Miller
wrote: On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 08:39:08 -0600, ned wrote: Just joined Public Safety organization. Looking for inexpensive ($150) VHF (156.xxx). Have been watching Ebay and see some Kenwoods, Yaesu/Vertex and Motorolas that might work, but I'm not sure which models are easily field programmable without sending them off for additional expense. Looks like many Motorola models require a rather difficult interface (something other than a cable and PC software). Can anyone suggest a FAQ or give recommendations as to which older radios might be a good choice and relatively easily programmed? Why don't you ask the people at your public safety organization? As Bob implies, standardizing with the people you are working with is very helpful. Because of legalities from the FCC, any unit working in the commercial range cannot be easily programmed in the field. A licensee is only authorized for specific frequencies, and this includes public safety organizations. Most ham HTs do not need to be sent away for programming, very much unlike the commercial rigs you seem to be familiar with. If you have two of the same model, you can cable them together and "clone" the memory from one to the other. Alternately, you can get software for a PC (not Mac) which emulates the other radio, and you can process a file on your PC to load into the radio. Typical pricing is about $20 for the cable, $20 for the software, no matter how many times you use them. Generally, you will need a different set of S/W for each model you are dealing with. If you really mean 156.xxx, that is well outside the ham bands, and would require a commercial solution. There is no legal way to put any ham HT into that frequency range. Happy trails, Gary (net.yogi.bear) ------------------------------------------------ at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom |
On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 07:56:07 -0600, Bob Miller
wrote: On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 08:39:08 -0600, ned wrote: Just joined Public Safety organization. Looking for inexpensive ($150) VHF (156.xxx). Have been watching Ebay and see some Kenwoods, Yaesu/Vertex and Motorolas that might work, but I'm not sure which models are easily field programmable without sending them off for additional expense. Looks like many Motorola models require a rather difficult interface (something other than a cable and PC software). Can anyone suggest a FAQ or give recommendations as to which older radios might be a good choice and relatively easily programmed? Why don't you ask the people at your public safety organization? As Bob implies, standardizing with the people you are working with is very helpful. Because of legalities from the FCC, any unit working in the commercial range cannot be easily programmed in the field. A licensee is only authorized for specific frequencies, and this includes public safety organizations. Most ham HTs do not need to be sent away for programming, very much unlike the commercial rigs you seem to be familiar with. If you have two of the same model, you can cable them together and "clone" the memory from one to the other. Alternately, you can get software for a PC (not Mac) which emulates the other radio, and you can process a file on your PC to load into the radio. Typical pricing is about $20 for the cable, $20 for the software, no matter how many times you use them. Generally, you will need a different set of S/W for each model you are dealing with. If you really mean 156.xxx, that is well outside the ham bands, and would require a commercial solution. There is no legal way to put any ham HT into that frequency range. Happy trails, Gary (net.yogi.bear) ------------------------------------------------ at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom |
On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 20:35:48 GMT, Gary S. Idontwantspam@net wrote:
On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 07:56:07 -0600, Bob Miller wrote: On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 08:39:08 -0600, ned wrote: Just joined Public Safety organization. Looking for inexpensive ($150) VHF (156.xxx). Have been watching Ebay and see some Kenwoods, Yaesu/Vertex and Motorolas that might work, but I'm not sure which models are easily field programmable without sending them off for additional expense. Looks like many Motorola models require a rather difficult interface (something other than a cable and PC software). Can anyone suggest a FAQ or give recommendations as to which older radios might be a good choice and relatively easily programmed? Why don't you ask the people at your public safety organization? As Bob implies, standardizing with the people you are working with is very helpful. Because of legalities from the FCC, any unit working in the commercial range cannot be easily programmed in the field. A licensee is only authorized for specific frequencies, and this includes public safety organizations. Most ham HTs do not need to be sent away for programming, very much unlike the commercial rigs you seem to be familiar with. If you have two of the same model, you can cable them together and "clone" the memory from one to the other. Alternately, you can get software for a PC (not Mac) which emulates the other radio, and you can process a file on your PC to load into the radio. Typical pricing is about $20 for the cable, $20 for the software, no matter how many times you use them. Generally, you will need a different set of S/W for each model you are dealing with. If you really mean 156.xxx, that is well outside the ham bands, and would require a commercial solution. There is no legal way to put any ham HT into that frequency range. Happy trails, Gary (net.yogi.bear) Thanks Gary for the informative reply. As should be obvious, I am unfamiliar with radio frequency band allocations and exactly where they split. I probably picked the wrong newsgroup for asking this question. My situation is, I need a radio that transmits on 153.xx and receives on 156.xx as mentioned above. I ASSUME any 2 or more channel radio capable of opereating in the 148-174MHZ range will work. There is no "standard" radio for the organization I'm with. I tried asking the local radio shop about changing a Motorola HT220 to the required frequencies (had this one from a previous job), but was told it would be a waste of money. So...I started looking on Ebay for reasonably priced used radios. Quickly discovered that some older radios are more easily programmed than others. It occurs to me that, over time, I may want to add or delete a frequency to monitor other nearby organizations, etc., and that at $20-40 a shot to have someone program it, doing it myself would be advantageous. I thought there would be some reviews, faq's, etc., that would state which radios were more "user friendly", but apparently it's not that simple. I don't believe there is anything unethical or illegal about re-programming as long as you only transmit on the licensed frequency, but if I'm wrong please let me know. Thanks. Ned |
On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 20:35:48 GMT, Gary S. Idontwantspam@net wrote:
On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 07:56:07 -0600, Bob Miller wrote: On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 08:39:08 -0600, ned wrote: Just joined Public Safety organization. Looking for inexpensive ($150) VHF (156.xxx). Have been watching Ebay and see some Kenwoods, Yaesu/Vertex and Motorolas that might work, but I'm not sure which models are easily field programmable without sending them off for additional expense. Looks like many Motorola models require a rather difficult interface (something other than a cable and PC software). Can anyone suggest a FAQ or give recommendations as to which older radios might be a good choice and relatively easily programmed? Why don't you ask the people at your public safety organization? As Bob implies, standardizing with the people you are working with is very helpful. Because of legalities from the FCC, any unit working in the commercial range cannot be easily programmed in the field. A licensee is only authorized for specific frequencies, and this includes public safety organizations. Most ham HTs do not need to be sent away for programming, very much unlike the commercial rigs you seem to be familiar with. If you have two of the same model, you can cable them together and "clone" the memory from one to the other. Alternately, you can get software for a PC (not Mac) which emulates the other radio, and you can process a file on your PC to load into the radio. Typical pricing is about $20 for the cable, $20 for the software, no matter how many times you use them. Generally, you will need a different set of S/W for each model you are dealing with. If you really mean 156.xxx, that is well outside the ham bands, and would require a commercial solution. There is no legal way to put any ham HT into that frequency range. Happy trails, Gary (net.yogi.bear) Thanks Gary for the informative reply. As should be obvious, I am unfamiliar with radio frequency band allocations and exactly where they split. I probably picked the wrong newsgroup for asking this question. My situation is, I need a radio that transmits on 153.xx and receives on 156.xx as mentioned above. I ASSUME any 2 or more channel radio capable of opereating in the 148-174MHZ range will work. There is no "standard" radio for the organization I'm with. I tried asking the local radio shop about changing a Motorola HT220 to the required frequencies (had this one from a previous job), but was told it would be a waste of money. So...I started looking on Ebay for reasonably priced used radios. Quickly discovered that some older radios are more easily programmed than others. It occurs to me that, over time, I may want to add or delete a frequency to monitor other nearby organizations, etc., and that at $20-40 a shot to have someone program it, doing it myself would be advantageous. I thought there would be some reviews, faq's, etc., that would state which radios were more "user friendly", but apparently it's not that simple. I don't believe there is anything unethical or illegal about re-programming as long as you only transmit on the licensed frequency, but if I'm wrong please let me know. Thanks. Ned |
In article ,
ned wrote: I thought there would be some reviews, faq's, etc., that would state which radios were more "user friendly", but apparently it's not that simple. I don't believe there is anything unethical or illegal about re-programming as long as you only transmit on the licensed frequency, but if I'm wrong please let me know. In most cases, in order to transmit legally on a frequency band of the sort you're discussing, you must be licensed for that frequency _and_ you must use a radio which is "certificated" (formerly "type accepted") for use on that frequency band. The certification is, in effect, a statement by the radio's manufacturer that it is compliant with the FCC regulations for that band - maximum power output, frequency accuracy, spurious emissions, and so forth. Amateur radio transmitters are an exception to the rule. They don't have to be certificated, because the amateur radio service is intended to support experimental and home-brew use, and because the (licensed) operator has accepted legal responsibility for not transmitting in ways which break the regulations. So... if you reprogram a commercial or public-safety radio onto a frequency band outside of what it was originally certificated for, or if you physically modify it, you're likely to void its certification, and it might not be legal to use it either on the original frequencies or on the new ones. You could reprogram it for amateur-radio use, though, and that'd be legal as long as its emissions met the standards. -- Dave Platt AE6EO Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads! |
In article ,
ned wrote: I thought there would be some reviews, faq's, etc., that would state which radios were more "user friendly", but apparently it's not that simple. I don't believe there is anything unethical or illegal about re-programming as long as you only transmit on the licensed frequency, but if I'm wrong please let me know. In most cases, in order to transmit legally on a frequency band of the sort you're discussing, you must be licensed for that frequency _and_ you must use a radio which is "certificated" (formerly "type accepted") for use on that frequency band. The certification is, in effect, a statement by the radio's manufacturer that it is compliant with the FCC regulations for that band - maximum power output, frequency accuracy, spurious emissions, and so forth. Amateur radio transmitters are an exception to the rule. They don't have to be certificated, because the amateur radio service is intended to support experimental and home-brew use, and because the (licensed) operator has accepted legal responsibility for not transmitting in ways which break the regulations. So... if you reprogram a commercial or public-safety radio onto a frequency band outside of what it was originally certificated for, or if you physically modify it, you're likely to void its certification, and it might not be legal to use it either on the original frequencies or on the new ones. You could reprogram it for amateur-radio use, though, and that'd be legal as long as its emissions met the standards. -- Dave Platt AE6EO Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads! |
In most cases, in order to transmit legally on a frequency band of the sort you're discussing, you must be licensed for that frequency _and_ you must use a radio which is "certificated" (formerly "type accepted") for use on that frequency band. The certification is, in effect, a statement by the radio's manufacturer that it is compliant with the FCC regulations for that band - maximum power output, frequency accuracy, spurious emissions, and so forth. Amateur radio transmitters are an exception to the rule. They don't have to be certificated, because the amateur radio service is intended to support experimental and home-brew use, and because the (licensed) operator has accepted legal responsibility for not transmitting in ways which break the regulations. So... if you reprogram a commercial or public-safety radio onto a frequency band outside of what it was originally certificated for, or if you physically modify it, you're likely to void its certification, and it might not be legal to use it either on the original frequencies or on the new ones. You could reprogram it for amateur-radio use, though, and that'd be legal as long as its emissions met the standards. Thanks for the info. That's something I wasn't aware of. No wonder I wasn't seeing a lot of 'answers'! |
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