FCC weighs in on narrowband conversions

[N9LLO]

Might not be the last word, but for now we have guidelines that effectively halt any plans to do any narrowband conversions on old radio equipment intended for part 90 use.

http://mccmag.com/onlyonline.cfm?OnlyOnlineID=147

Chris
N9LLO

[Tom in D.C.]

For you pro sound guys (like I was in a past incarnation), buried in the same edition of this publication is the new FCC 700 mHz prohibition on wireless microphones effective this June. Most of the equipment manufacturers are affected by this.

[kf4sqb]

To me, that's just further proof of what I already suspected: the whole narrowbanding joke is being fueled by radio manufacturers.

[N4DES]

And I have heard of local shops going through the FCC database, based on their local areas, and making cold calls to those who have active licenses trying to drum up business.

[Jim202]

There have been some postings on the site here about Motorola supplied narrow band kits for several radios. When asked if the kits come with a
new sticker to be attached to the radio to say the radio is certified for narrow band use, we are told that there is no sticker.

This would imply that mother M is also trying to pull a fast one on the radio shops and customers in trying to make a fast buck. If the radios have
been certified by mother M to use the kits for narrow banding the radios, I would expect to see a sticker to prove that the mod is accepted by the
FCC. They should be kicking for joy that the have a way for customers to save money. However, that is not the normal path that mother M normally
takes and makes me hesitant to even consider this route without the sticker. Mother M's focus has always been to short life a radio so a new one
can be sold.

Jim

[xmo]

Motorola isn't trying to pull anything on anyone.

The radios that these kits are available for were originally designed in both wide and narrow versions. The kits were simply made available to convert from one existing version to the other. Since the radios were originally type accepted for narrow band there's no need for a sticker when you do the conversion.

There has been some speculation that Motorola will offer kits for conversion of other radios - ones that were never type accepted for narrow band. It's true that they did that way back in the 60's and 70's when operation went from +/-15 to +/-5 KHz deviation but that was a very different Motorola.

The chance that today's Motorola will come out with narrowband kits for radios like Maxtracs and Spectras is about the same as the chance that Al Gore will announce that global warming is a fraud.

[KitN1MCC]

is there a list some were of the radio and the kits that work seems like i have found bits and Pieces

[RADIOMAN2002]

The only sure fire way to determine if your radio was type accepted for narrow band is to run the type acceptance number through the FCC database. http://www.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid/

[RadioSouth]

is there a list some were of the radio and the kits that work seems like i have found bits and Pieces

The radios that were made in OR conversion were: SM50 SM120 GM300 M130 M120 M10
GP300 P110 SP50 GP68 (unsure about GP350)

HLN9578 is listed to work with VHF and UHF GP300 and P110's

HLN9575 is listed for VHF GM300 and M130 (good chance also M120 and M10)
HLN9576 is listed for UHF GM300 and M130 (" " " " ')

It appears that only radios in the OR category above would be convertible without the recertification step. BUT the 25 and 12.5 versions did carry their own model#'s I'd check to confirm that they both share the same FCC ID# before investing in a kit, recall about $79.

[KitN1MCC]

i know about narrow only models and number just need to start looking