Commercial Motorola Radios
I've wanted a, or a couple, commercial Motorola radios in UHF and VHF HAM bands for awhile. I volunteer and talk with many that have them and love them. I didn't really need one but found a good deal on a handi talkie in VHF flavor. These radios are usually used by public service and are super high quality. Everything is over built, sealed and reliable. Now a days electronics are cheapened up and the price lowered with overall durability and usability out the door.
I bought a Motorola MT2000, Model 1, top display that operates in the 136-177 range. I chose the model 1 because it's widely available, has a great following and is basic. Later models of the MT2000, all models of the MTS2000 and other Jedi radios (a style and type of Motorola radio) have tons of functions but most are not used in the legal HAM band. My particular model can be programmed for up to 48 channels, scan, narrow and wide band, high/low power and pl tones in TX and RX. Some models are as simple as 2 or 4 channels.
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I wanted a higher quality radio because I use my HT's in inclimate weather, long hours and in coordination with medical and fire. Most of my volunteer work uses 3 repeaters and simplex, all of which are not very local. As such 5 watts is about the minimum power you need along with a near topped off battery when working mobile. My Yaesu has a great battery, I carry two, but like most after a couple of hours your transmit power takes a huge dump once the battery starts discharging. Once that happens my output from the repeater is greatly diminished. The professional radios have much higher end circuitry, high capacity batteries, RX and TX along with being bullet proof.
I've had my MT2000 for a couple of weeks now and I'm blown away. Out of the box my reception is much better than my FT-60 and my Boafeng. Even while monitoring the Motorola is quieter, crisper, no static and I don't always have to be moving around with a giant antenna to get a clear signal, even in the house. Antenna options are limited to OEM and Chinese as each radio is model specific and not multi band. This is a good thing because I kind of have a thing about antennas. Good for me my limited options top out at $10 new and have the same high gain performance as a 2.5 foot, $60 Diamond.
One down side of these radios (base, mobile and HT) is that they are not user programmable, even if they have keypads. Ball park price for an MT2000 new was $1000+. New versions of this kind of radio is years ahead in many ways and can cost upwards of $3000 per radio!! Part of these high prices is the license, software and cables to program. I already had 2 mobile and 2 HT radios so I had a good idea of what I needed programmed, memory banks, power, squelch, etc. After finding a place online I mailed the radio to them with $20 and two days later I had the radio back just as requested.
This is what I'm running.
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Pretty basic but this is all you really need. There are two more keys and a PTT on the side.
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Side by side (all with stock rubber ducky antenna) I thought the MT2000 was going to eat the Yaesu and Boafeng.
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I'm excited to get some talk time on the new radio. If you're looking for one of these post up and I can point you in the right direction.
