looking for a dual-band mobile tranceiver - VHF/UHF

[eboe]

like the topic says, i'm looking for a dual band mobile tranceiver capable of receiving and transmitting in the 150-160 Mhz range AND the 450-470 Mhz range. it needs to be capable of using DPL also. it would be nice if it could decode and display MDC1200 signaling, but that's not mandatory.

is there such an animal?

[dittrimd]

Are you resigned to Motorola products. Kenwood makes a system that will do what you want. A TK790 (VHF) and a TK890 (UHF) connected to one head will do very nicely. Obviously it will not do MDC, since MDC is a proprietary Motorola item. Motorola to my knowledge does not make a radio that will do dual band in one control head. I quoted out radios two years ago for my FD and the Motorola offered two MCS2000 with separate control heads. The kenwood system has been great for us. We put them in all our trucks and officer cars along with SVR200 pyramid UHF repeaters. For rural firefighting you cannot beat it. Good luck.

Mark

[JohnWayne]

Here is an auction for that exact Kenwood dual-band setup that dittrimd is describing. I'd buy it if I needed it; it looks really slick:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 5701018372

Vertex also makes a similar setup that you can use with the VX-4000 and VX-6000 series radios. You can have many combinations of heads and drawer units; it is really slick. I wish I had a VX-6000.

VX-4000 Brochure:
http://www.vertexstandard.com/downloadF ... tion%2Fpdf

VX-6000 Brochure:
http://www.vertexstandard.com/downloadF ... tion%2Fpdf

For what it's worth. Motorola did make a Spectra with with two drawer units and one HHCH. You can find more info at http://batlabs.com/spectra.html under the "Spectra Dual Head Option (HHCH)" heading.

Hope that helps.

Jeff

[eboe]

ok, i was looking at the kenwood stuff. very nice. from what i've read, i'd be looking for a TK790BK, TK890BK, and a KRK-7DB dual-band remote head kit. other than a mic, antenna, and possibly an external speaker, is there anything else needed for this configuration?

list prices are $730, $780, and $250 respectively for the above part numbers. that e-bay auction is a killer deal. i'm not at all familiar with kenwood stuff though. the seller on e-bay was unsure if the radios would work in a dual-band mode. i thought that's how he had it set up since he's using a KRK-7DB. what's up with that? i'm also not sure exactly which decks he has. there are several different variations of the 790/890 series with different frequency ranges. is there any way to tell from the serial number plate in that auction?

another question about the DPL. i couldn't find anything anywhere about the 790/890 radios using DPL. i definately need DPL to be compatible with our current motorola stuff. also, the DTMF PTT ID that it uses is able to be decoded by motorola radios, correct?

sorry for all the questions. i shoulda went to school for this. LOL! (considering that btw)

[JohnWayne]

I don't think the 690/790/890 will do DPL or DTMF ANI. You can put in aftermarket boards for these, but that can be a hassle.

The Vertex radios will do DCS and DTMF.

If the Kenwoods on ebay end up being a good deal, you can always go in and add the DPL and DTMF boards.

Jeff

[dittrimd]

The Kenwood radios will do DPL as well as DTMF and 2 Tone Decode right out of the box. I own this setup as well as the programmer and use DPL and 2 tone decode option.s The eBay offer could be a great deal, it just depends on the bandsplit that you need (again buyer be aware!). The information on the bandsplit can be obtained from the white tag label on the rear of the radio. The FCC ID number is what you want.

Here is what the Tag says for the eBay auction of the UHF TK-890:

FCC ID : ALH22943120

The important number is the second to last. This determines the bandsplit. Here is the breakdown for UHF:

ALH22943110 450 to 480
ALH22943120 480 to 512
ALH22943130 403 to 430

For the VHF radio which he did not post on his auction here is the breakdown:

ALH22933110 148 to 174
ALH22933120 136 to 156

This guy probably bought this setup and did not know what the ranges of the radio were. Now he is trying to unload it with as little info on the radios as possible. Best of luck on you adventure.

Mark

[N2ZPY]

From looking at the auction he has the 2 individual radios and also the cable kit (KRK-7DB) seperately. These can be dual banded but there are some internal mods that need to be made. I just set up a TK-690/790 in my truck. I set it up dual band with dual control heads. I have been very pleased with this setup. The only option that the 790 does not give that I would like is 2-tone encode. The TK-760 will encode but not the 790 (unless I am missing it in the programming somewhere).

Kevin
N2ZPY
BCFD/EMS

[apco25]

MACOM ORION all the way.

[dittrimd]

You are correct the 90 series kenwoods will not do 2 tone encode and I am not sure if that option is available. I know it will do DTMF encode/decode.

I am not sure what internal mods you are talking about as far as making them dual band. The radio configuration is stored in the control head. If you connect the radios together, setup the program in your software for dual band single head and upload it to the radio it should work fine. The only internal mods that I had to do on mine were for the pyramid repeater. I believe a couple of resistor changes. It is pretty cool, I have a 690/890 setup with a pyramid repeater and I am able to repeat not only lowband but the UHF as well. Obviously my UHF repeater freq. and the UHF radio freq. are not ever the same.

The vertex option is also another viable one, they are great radios with similar capabilities as well as lower cost. The only drawback is that they do not offer a 14 character display like the Kenwood. I belive it is only 8 or 9 characters with a built in speaker. We did look at Vertex in our bid for FD radios but in the end Kenwood won out. We did however buy VX-900 radios for our portables and they have worked out great. The Motorola rep said they were not as rugged as the HT-1250 which is what they quoted us. After two years of heavy FD abuse the radios have held up great. The only problem which was minor is the remote mic cables tend to stretch out. Send them back to Vertex and they replace for free with quick turn around time.

Mark

[calif dave]

I wish Motorola made Dual Band radios.
Look into older Kenwood TK-30 series radios. TK-730H is VHF, TK-830H is UHF and TK-630H is Low Band.

I put my single head dual band radio together for $600.00 If you watch E-bay the decks and control heads show up from time to time.
They will do both types of PL and there is a optional signaling unit for decoding 2-tone and DTMF. They are high powered decks also.

Good Luck

Dave

[kf4sqb]

Motorola does make a "dual-band, single head radio". You can run a pair of Syntor X9000 drawers on a single head. They will also do MDC, although it does require an add-on board, and they will do DPL out of the box, if I'm not mistaken. They are also capable of singletone encode/decode, twotone encode/decode, DTMF encode/decode, and Securenet, all needing another add-on board. They also feature an option for an integrated siren, which, IMHO, sounds better than any Whelen or Federal Signal siren.

[Big Blue TO/\/\]

To add to kf4sqb's post, that radio ROCKS! and I wish I still had mine. And Yes, the siren package is the most Hi-Fi sounding siren out there. There is a specific rev. of the RSS to program it as well.
Tom