Motorola

[KingCobra_CDX882]

I still perfer ham gear to the motorola gear
their stuff is ok
too big and clumsy and heavy
only single banded

i do have a hook up
a friend of mine has software for most motorola radios

got to tell you though
my Icom T-90A
with external 131 mike

has all the audio and more of any motorola
while i also can easily put high gain antenna on it
(try that on a motorola HT)

plus it is far less weight
oh and easily multi bands

oh and i have yet to see any other HT that allows me
to hit a repeater 55 and 65 miles away (from ground-sea level)

i should use my IC-91AD & see if it is as good as my T-90A

even my kenwood THF6A i like far better
even though it is rather low on audio
but is so small and it is a true tri band

 

[Cheech]

I have a few of the radius radios. I think that was about the time they started changing in quality but the radius radios were built well. I especially liked the GM300 it was new and improved maxtrac and great for repeater TX radios. I curently only have one motorola HT and thats a radius p1225. Its works good to and I have no complaints with it it. I once left it on siting in my garage by acident and walked out there 3 days later and started hearing voices and to my suprise the battery was still good. We have also used some of the old GE radios MVS and Deltas and they seem to disipate the heat better than any motorola. The GEs are geting hard to find but I see some companies are still using them with no problems to this day. I see the same with older motorola units Maxtracs being the most common. Those are fine built radios in my opinion and cant say I see many of todays radios holding up that long but only time will tell.

 

[countryboy879]

can u use Motorola radios for ham? if so how?

 

[CDX8412]

can u use Motorola radios for ham? if so how?

Sure you can. I have used Motorola, Vertex, Midland, E.F. Johnson and Uniden commercial radios for ham radios over the years.
How you do it is not usually that simple, because these commercial (LMR) radios do not have VFO capability, and usually require they be programmed by a computer and software. The software for some radios can be found online, since many of the radios they program are no longer made, and the software is essentially in the "public domain". Motorola, however, is very particular about it's software and doesn't like it freely distributed, so that makes programming a Motorola radio a bit more challenging.
Also, most Motorola dealers will not reprogram a radio into the amateur band, since the radio was not "designed" for those frequencies, even though they will usually work there fine and without retuning. Motorola is not a friendly company, and they come down hard on people about licensing agreements and software piracy.

I did my Moto radios myself by obtaining the necessary software, the necessary programming cables, and in some cases, performing the necessary hex edits to the software code so as to be able to enter in the particular frequencies for the ham bands (as is required to program the GTX line of 900 mhz radios to work on the 33cm ham band).
So, yes, you can use Motorola radios for ham radio, but you need to jump through some hoops to use it.

 

[Chong]

moto

Motorola GM 300 VHF radios are nice i have 2 of them programed for 2 meter and they work very well. Also there built like tanks and theres really no way for user error for people who cant make any other radio work.They sound nice and blow other commercial radios ive had away. So if you have a chance to get one grab it up.Motorola = good

 

[hamsphere]

Any Big M Fans around here?

Motorola sucks, a bought a CB from them and it fell apart!

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Motorola sucks, a bought a CB from them and it fell apart!

Yeah,that's why all the public service agencies use them. They want a radio that will fail them during an emergency. :glare:

 

[Moleculo]

Motorola still makes CBs?

 

[NorthStar]

No they haven't made CB's in a long time. Their CB's were much better built than the others at the time.