I've been looking at Motorola Syntor X radios for awhile
for conversion to the 2 meter ham band. From what I've been
able to learn, that shouldn't be a problem.

Awhile back I purchased a radio that should do the trick.
My problem now is getting cables and a control head that
will work. The information I've been able to gather seems
to indicate a bewildering variety of control heads are
out there.

I would like to know if someone with experience with these
units would be willing to answer some questions off-line
about what combination of pieces I need to acquire to make
this work.

I have considered going with the Piexx "revival" hardware,
but my station computer is a Linux box and their control
software is not available for Linux.

--
Chris
kc0atc

In article ,
says...

I've been looking at Motorola Syntor X radios for awhile
for conversion to the 2 meter ham band. From what I've been
able to learn, that shouldn't be a problem.

snip

Yes and no. Your biggest problem with the Syntor X series is that,
if you get the more commone Range 2 VHF (150-174MHz) radio, the
receiver's front end (specifically, the preselector) will start to cut
off pretty sharply below about 149MHz.

To correctly tune the preselector (which is, in essence, a 24MHz-
wide bandpass filter) for the entire 2m amateur band requires a spectrum
analyzer/tracking generator combo, or a full-blown network analyzer, and
just under an hour's worth of tweaking.

If you do not have the required equipment and/or skill, I can do
it for you at my normal labor rates (web address in my signature block).

Awhile back I purchased a radio that should do the trick.
My problem now is getting cables and a control head that
will work. The information I've been able to gather seems
to indicate a bewildering variety of control heads are
out there.

snippety-two

You would do well to check out:

http://batboard.batlabs.com

...And ask this same question on the 'General Info' or 'Hardware
Info Wanted' sections. You will likely get many answers, and most of
them will probably be helpful. ;-)

Happy hunting.


--
Dr. Anton T. Squeegee, Director, Dutch Surrealist Plumbing Institute.
(Known to some as Bruce Lane, ARS KC7GR,
kyrrin (a/t) bluefeathertech[d=o=t]calm -- www.bluefeathertech.com
"If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped
with surreal ports?"

Check out
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xcat/

What this is is Skip, wb6ymh, has designed a pic processor board for
Syntor's for frequency control. Or email him


Chris Howard wrote:
I've been looking at Motorola Syntor X radios for awhile
for conversion to the 2 meter ham band. From what I've been
able to learn, that shouldn't be a problem.

Awhile back I purchased a radio that should do the trick.
My problem now is getting cables and a control head that
will work. The information I've been able to gather seems
to indicate a bewildering variety of control heads are
out there.

I would like to know if someone with experience with these
units would be willing to answer some questions off-line
about what combination of pieces I need to acquire to make
this work.

I have considered going with the Piexx "revival" hardware,
but my station computer is a Linux box and their control
software is not available for Linux.