This isn't a cry for help so much as it is a poll of all you Motorola fellas out there who happen to have your tickets. Many of the answers (and I hope to get more than one) will be rig-dependent (i.e., ability to scan, freq range coverage, etc) but I guess what I am looking for is a philosophical answer in many ways because I am not looking for a "how-to" so much as a "why do you...?". Obviously, local/regional repeaters, simplex freqs apply but what other stuff do you guys program in to your radios? Public Safety? Railroads? NOAA? How do you have these prioritized? For example, while I very patiently await my Saber III (which is being programmed gratis by a fellow board member), I am using a POS chicom dual-bander. When not being assaulted by the IMD this crappy HT receives , I generally listen to Pittsburgh Police Channel One. Every so often, I will manually key in some local repeater frequency, maybe throw out my call. My point is, my preferred "background noise" is public safety chatter even though I am a licensed amateur.
I hope I haven't lost the room with my usual rambling way of asking a question - let's hear it, guys! Pick up any of your fine Motorola products you have handy and let me know how you have it set up...
Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
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wes11b10
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2013 1:45 pm
- What radios do you own?: Sabers, Spectras, MaxTracs,etc
Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
Wes/W9YYH
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
I've got a CDM-1550 in my truck in the VHF persuasion. I have a mix of amateur, work and local public safety in it.
When I'm around town, I keep in on 146.415 simplex, which is what the CMD-750 in the kitchen is set to. My wife, also a ham, had a CDM-1250 in her car that is on the same frequency.
When I get closer to work, I switch over to the "work" side and monitor the PD and Fire VHF systems I look after. I've also have an 800MHz Kenwood NX-900 NexEdge radio that sits on our conventional analog repeater when I'm farther away, or on trunked system when I get closer.
Out on the road, I'll monitor any number of things, ham simplex, ham repeaters, public safety, interop channels, etc. More often than not, longer road trips are on our camping/ATV trips where I'm with other family, and we tend to use 146.415 simplex also.
I've set it up with a zone for amateur, a zone for work, a zone for local law enforcement, a zone for local fire, and a catch all zone for everything else.
When I'm around town, I keep in on 146.415 simplex, which is what the CMD-750 in the kitchen is set to. My wife, also a ham, had a CDM-1250 in her car that is on the same frequency.
When I get closer to work, I switch over to the "work" side and monitor the PD and Fire VHF systems I look after. I've also have an 800MHz Kenwood NX-900 NexEdge radio that sits on our conventional analog repeater when I'm farther away, or on trunked system when I get closer.
Out on the road, I'll monitor any number of things, ham simplex, ham repeaters, public safety, interop channels, etc. More often than not, longer road trips are on our camping/ATV trips where I'm with other family, and we tend to use 146.415 simplex also.
I've set it up with a zone for amateur, a zone for work, a zone for local law enforcement, a zone for local fire, and a catch all zone for everything else.
"The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from."
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wes11b10
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2013 1:45 pm
- What radios do you own?: Sabers, Spectras, MaxTracs,etc
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
Excellent! This is EXACTLY what I was hoping for, reply-wise. Thanks, mmckenna!
Wes/W9YYH
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Hams - How Do You Have Your Radios Set Up?
Okay, I will bite. I started cop work over 30 years ago and I have had my first amateur license quite a while back, too. I have used a lot of scanners, amateur radios, and commercial radios over the years. I have had some very good ones and some stinkers, too. Probably one of the best mobile hammy radios is the Yaesu FT-8800. The reason I like that one so well is the dual band and dual displays with 10 banks right and 10 banks left. I would typically set up each bank to correspond to each nearby county on the left bank and the right banks was mutual aid frequencies that are used anywhere. I also included federal agencies. too.
As far as great land mobile gear, and I know it is blasphemous to say this here, but a GE Delta with an S950 (or was it 990) head was a great mobile in my old unmarked county car. It had the configuration for 4 banks of 32 channels and the EEPROM for field programability! I also loved the dual level priority. I had mine set up as the selected channel was absolute priority and a second channel was second priority.
As far as Motorola portables go, I had a Visar which was okay. After that, I had an HT1000 with a couple of ham repeater and the rest were police, fire, EMS, etc for work. I also had an MT1000 for quite a while and it, too, was a solid radio. Then we went 800 mHz at work, so no more ham stuff! I must say, though, that the XTS5000 is a very solid radio. I would love to have a pair of those, one VHF and one UHF with the ability to program on the fly.
I did also have a pair of GP2000s for w while. They are field programmable, and even though they are more solid than Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu, they are certainly no XTS5000!
As far as scanners go, I have a Uniden Home Patrol HP-1 in my car. I have a Uniden BD996XT at home.
As far as what I program in my radios, I never program NOAA into an amateur radio. I figure that is what the VFO is for. It is pretty easy to enter 162.550, or whatever, on short notice. As far as railroad goes, I have listened to them, but I just can't do it for any period of time. We do have BNSF, CP Rail, and UP near me. We also have some shortlines, too, of course. Listening to them issue track warrants is like watching paint dry. I just can't do it.
Since out area has gone to a P25 trunked system, there is very little to listen to that is still analog, conventional as far as public safety goes in our area. I actually have NO ham radios right now! I had 4 Yaesu FT8800 up until a few of years ago. Then, when rumors abound about Yaesu offering P25 compliant ham gear, I dumped those to get ready to buy new stuff. Then I found out that Yaesu stuff is NOT like public safety P25. That kind of left a bad taste in my wife. I have been meaning to buy a pair of used XTS5000s. Again, one VHF and one UHF, and possibly an XTVA for the vehicle, but I have been dragging my feet.
As far as great land mobile gear, and I know it is blasphemous to say this here, but a GE Delta with an S950 (or was it 990) head was a great mobile in my old unmarked county car. It had the configuration for 4 banks of 32 channels and the EEPROM for field programability! I also loved the dual level priority. I had mine set up as the selected channel was absolute priority and a second channel was second priority.
As far as Motorola portables go, I had a Visar which was okay. After that, I had an HT1000 with a couple of ham repeater and the rest were police, fire, EMS, etc for work. I also had an MT1000 for quite a while and it, too, was a solid radio. Then we went 800 mHz at work, so no more ham stuff! I must say, though, that the XTS5000 is a very solid radio. I would love to have a pair of those, one VHF and one UHF with the ability to program on the fly.
I did also have a pair of GP2000s for w while. They are field programmable, and even though they are more solid than Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu, they are certainly no XTS5000!
As far as scanners go, I have a Uniden Home Patrol HP-1 in my car. I have a Uniden BD996XT at home.
As far as what I program in my radios, I never program NOAA into an amateur radio. I figure that is what the VFO is for. It is pretty easy to enter 162.550, or whatever, on short notice. As far as railroad goes, I have listened to them, but I just can't do it for any period of time. We do have BNSF, CP Rail, and UP near me. We also have some shortlines, too, of course. Listening to them issue track warrants is like watching paint dry. I just can't do it.
Since out area has gone to a P25 trunked system, there is very little to listen to that is still analog, conventional as far as public safety goes in our area. I actually have NO ham radios right now! I had 4 Yaesu FT8800 up until a few of years ago. Then, when rumors abound about Yaesu offering P25 compliant ham gear, I dumped those to get ready to buy new stuff. Then I found out that Yaesu stuff is NOT like public safety P25. That kind of left a bad taste in my wife. I have been meaning to buy a pair of used XTS5000s. Again, one VHF and one UHF, and possibly an XTVA for the vehicle, but I have been dragging my feet.
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MTS2000des
- Posts: 3347
- Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2003 4:59 pm
- What radios do you own?: XTS2500, XTS5000, and MTS2000
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
on my LMR radios, I typically program my ham zones in priority of frequency, with alpha tags showing the call sign and frequency (if display permits. How I love the MCS2000 mod III!)
For example, Z1 CH 1 would be labeled W4AQL 145.15R, Z1 CH 2 WA4DIW 145.17R, etc.
For example, Z1 CH 1 would be labeled W4AQL 145.15R, Z1 CH 2 WA4DIW 145.17R, etc.
The views here are my own and do not represent those of anyone else or the company, the boss, his wife, his dog or distant relatives.
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
My XTS, Astro Spectra, and Astro Saber are all programmed alike. Minus a couple changes per radio. As far as alpha tags go, If its a public safety freq, I will just tag it with the name of the Dept and what they use it for, for Ham stuff, I normally don't put the callsign as the tag, just the RX freq as the tag. Simplex stuff with is tagged with the freq, and an A for analog, or D for digital... Pretty simple..
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
My XTS, Astro Spectra, and Astro Saber are all programmed alike. Minus a couple changes per radio. As far as alpha tags go, If its a public safety freq, I will just tag it with the name of the Dept and what they use it for, for Ham stuff, I normally don't put the callsign as the tag, just the RX freq as the tag. Simplex stuff with is tagged with the freq, and an A for analog, or D for digital... Pretty simple..
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
Lmr gear for me consist of GE and Motorola stuff mostly. I have 6, 220 and 10 meter GE Ranger's with front programmable S990 control heads at the house and 220 and 6 meter GE Orion's mobile.
The 220 Orion is used to access my remote base link which is a pair of Motorola maxtracs, 220 MHz maxtrac cross banded to a 10 meter meter maxtrac as a remote base setup.
A Motorola maxtrac 900 MHz repeater with a Azden PCS 7500 6 meter remote base at the house.
in the truck for frequency agility I also have a 6 meter Vertex FTL-1011 with a front programmable control head that I made for those rare occasions when I need to enter in a new repeater that my 6 meter Orion doesn't have.
HT's consist of 220 MHz and 900 MHz hamflashed GE Front programmable MP-A portables and FPP Motorola XTS5000's for 2 meter and 70 cm.
Other HT's are Motorola Mt1000 and P200 low band for 6 and 10 meters.
All of my low band radios, except for the remote base setups, also have local 46.XXX MHz FD and most of the CHP frequencies while the XTS's have some local P25 public safety receive only channels.
Obviously my low band remote base radios do not have any non ham frequencies in them.
Most of my radios were freebies given in exchange for converting similar models to Ham bands for others.
The 220 Orion is used to access my remote base link which is a pair of Motorola maxtracs, 220 MHz maxtrac cross banded to a 10 meter meter maxtrac as a remote base setup.
A Motorola maxtrac 900 MHz repeater with a Azden PCS 7500 6 meter remote base at the house.
in the truck for frequency agility I also have a 6 meter Vertex FTL-1011 with a front programmable control head that I made for those rare occasions when I need to enter in a new repeater that my 6 meter Orion doesn't have.
HT's consist of 220 MHz and 900 MHz hamflashed GE Front programmable MP-A portables and FPP Motorola XTS5000's for 2 meter and 70 cm.
Other HT's are Motorola Mt1000 and P200 low band for 6 and 10 meters.
All of my low band radios, except for the remote base setups, also have local 46.XXX MHz FD and most of the CHP frequencies while the XTS's have some local P25 public safety receive only channels.
Obviously my low band remote base radios do not have any non ham frequencies in them.
Most of my radios were freebies given in exchange for converting similar models to Ham bands for others.
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
I have my 2M rigs set up in order of ascending frequency. Alaska uses 30KHz steps so I have all of the repeaters in the first group and then all of the simplexs in the next group. For naming I drop the 14 and name repeaters like 697R and simplexs like 652S. The S is hard to distinguish from a 5 so I am considering using X for simplex. I am working on an IRLP group but the frequency assignment is not as well disiplined. Most of our repeaters use 103.5 Hz tone and IRLP mostly uses 123.0 Hz tone. I am considering adding the PL code in the name so the repeater example would become 697R3A.
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
I have a CDM1250 used for my base & M1225's for my vehicles. I only have ham freq's programmed in them and program the display for actual freq 146.52 & if for a repeater will program 146.16/76. At home I use a scanner for ham & anything else.
Microtech
Microtech
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
I use an old Motorola Syntor X9000 for 6 meter operation. It has a pile of frequencies that you can put into the radio. The drawback is that with the original firmware, you can only have the first 64 channels in the radio in fixed scan lists.
On the VHF side I have a Motorola XTL5000. It is loaded to the limit with 50 zones. Each zone covers a region that I travel through. As my travel goes from southern New Hampshire all the way to the New Orleans area, there are a bunch of channels in the radio. Actually wish I had the ability to add more.
Then I have an old VHF Spectra radio on the 2 meter ham band. This also is set up in zones. Problem is you can only have a max of 128 channels in the radio, so it is limited to my local area.
On UHF, I also have a Spectra with 128 channels on the ham frequencies. Because of the large number of 440 repeaters, I have to be much more selective on what gets programmed into the radio for active channels.
Have an Astro Spectra for some of the 800 trunking systems that I work with.
Jim
On the VHF side I have a Motorola XTL5000. It is loaded to the limit with 50 zones. Each zone covers a region that I travel through. As my travel goes from southern New Hampshire all the way to the New Orleans area, there are a bunch of channels in the radio. Actually wish I had the ability to add more.
Then I have an old VHF Spectra radio on the 2 meter ham band. This also is set up in zones. Problem is you can only have a max of 128 channels in the radio, so it is limited to my local area.
On UHF, I also have a Spectra with 128 channels on the ham frequencies. Because of the large number of 440 repeaters, I have to be much more selective on what gets programmed into the radio for active channels.
Have an Astro Spectra for some of the 800 trunking systems that I work with.
Jim
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n3eg
- Posts: 39
- Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2005 2:38 pm
- What radios do you own?: HT1550 v/u, XTS2500-3 FPP, etc
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
I have both my UHF and VHF HT1550 radios set up with the first zones as public safety only for the two closest counties. Third zone is local ham frequencies, other zones are "travel zones" with mixed ham and PS freqs for north, west, and south, and the rest are our shop's customer freqs. The next to last zone is a regional "interop" zone with VTAC/UTAC and other such channels, and the last zone is a programmable zone with the leftover free space. The PS/ham zones and scan lists are separate, because it's usually either work (listen for problems on public safety) or play (ham freqs) - no long winded QSO interrupting the cop's transmission with the noisy loose cover on his CDM1550 before I can get his unit number.
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
In my Jeep, I have a zone just for ham simplex stuff then a seperate zone per region of all ham repeaters. For example, I have a zone for NW Oregon, Central, Oregon, Oregon Coast, Western Washington, Seattle, Lower Mainland BC & Vancouver Island. My HTs follow this same pattern.
Mountain Wave Search & Rescue http://www.mwave.org
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wes11b10
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2013 1:45 pm
- What radios do you own?: Sabers, Spectras, MaxTracs,etc
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
For anyone interested - however well-intentioned my original post was (and I sincerely thank everyone who took the time to reply), the most important discovery I made was that this is an impossibly subjective question. As I've continued to accumulate radios, as I've muddled through the programming process, what I have discovered is that it takes precisely that - muddling through, trying things, making mistakes and learning not only how these things work but what I, as a radio amateur/Motorola Public Safety/Commercial radio enthusiast want out of my gear. The answer is that it seems to change weekly. Certain things I thought I would use or listen to (440 simplex and railroad frequencies being two examples) I found that I could really care less about. Whomever said that listening to railroad radio traffic is like watching flat latex ceiling paint dry (or words to that effect) was right on the money! In any case, I think I've had an epiphany of sorts that (hopefully) will lead to a more subjective and practical involvement with the boards. Thanks again, fellas.
Wes/W9YYH
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
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okto
- New User
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Sat Jul 20, 2013 3:59 pm
- What radios do you own?: Jedis and Sabers, mostly.
Re: Hams - How do you have your radios set up?
I have my first Moto (but, uh, definitely not my last) in the mail (a VHF HT1000), and I'm planning to set it up like so:
1: National 2m simplex
2-11: local repeaters
12: NOAA 162.40 RX only (KGG68, Tomball TX)
13: NOAA 162.55 RX only (KHB40, Galveston TX)
14: MURS Ch 4
15: MURS Ch 5
16: Marine Ch 16 (int'l distress/calling)
With this setup, I'm prepared for daily repeater use, emergencies on land or water, or the potential need to have an unlicensed person use my radio for two-way non-emergency comms.
I always thought a channelized radio would be so limiting compared to a frequency-agile one, but after really thinking about what an HT gets used for, sixteen seems like the whole world!
1: National 2m simplex
2-11: local repeaters
12: NOAA 162.40 RX only (KGG68, Tomball TX)
13: NOAA 162.55 RX only (KHB40, Galveston TX)
14: MURS Ch 4
15: MURS Ch 5
16: Marine Ch 16 (int'l distress/calling)
With this setup, I'm prepared for daily repeater use, emergencies on land or water, or the potential need to have an unlicensed person use my radio for two-way non-emergency comms.
I always thought a channelized radio would be so limiting compared to a frequency-agile one, but after really thinking about what an HT gets used for, sixteen seems like the whole world!