Field programmable receiver that matches performance of Motorola Radius?

[JoshuaHufford]

I recently purchased a 4 channel Motorola Radius that I plan on using as the radio for an internet feed for my local Railroad Line. Thanks to the wonderful help I received here I've since learned how to program and use it, and I've kept it with me in the car while I'm working to test it out as I don't yet have the antenna installed at my receive site. So far I've been VERY impressed with how much better this receives than my 2 scanners, and I've had zero intermod which happens quite a bit with either of my scanners and I pick up a lot more stuff.

So my question is, is there a receiver that can be programmed in the field without a PC, and that can hold at lest 20 channels without spending a fortune? I only want to receive, do not plan on transmitting.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Edit: I can't edit the subject line but I meant to say "Field programmable receiver"

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Most scanners, have very wide front end filtering on the receiver. Some more expensive receivers like ICOM ICR7000 and ICR9000 have varactor tuned filtering.

You can improve a cheap scanner by installing a VHF preselector filter tuned to the railroad band. If you have several railroad scanners, you can feed all of them from that filter using a multicoupler. If you use any preamp, be sure the gain isn't too great or the inter modulation will be worse,

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[Golay]

DC to Daylight

I think RFI Guy summed it up pretty good. Your Moto radio is designed to receive a narrow range of frequencies. Hence they can design exceptional selectivity into the radio. A scanner on the other hand has to receive a much wider range.

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Yea I get that, I was just curious if there was a VHF receiver out there that can hold a few more channels and be programmed in the field. I don't need wide range of a scanner.

 

[zz0468]

Yea I get that, I was just curious if there was a VHF receiver out there that can hold a few more channels and be programmed in the field. I don't need wide range of a scanner.

I'm sure not aware of anything like that a outside of a scanner. For your purposes, it's actually cheaper and easier to buy a used commercial tranceiver and just leave the transmitter frequency blank.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

You can get a 16 or 32 channel Maxtrac and use the DOS RSS software to program it in the field.

Bear in mind that your railroads might be going to narrow band 12.5 KHz channels and an older radio might experience adjacent channel interference if you are located in an urban area.

If it were me, I would look for a decent VHF scanner and add the external preselector.



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[JoshuaHufford]

So does DOS RSS require a laptop? I was hoping for something I could program on the unit itself.

I guess I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too....

 

[Citywide173]

So does DOS RSS require a laptop? I was hoping for something I could program on the unit itself.

I guess I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too....

Not just a laptop, an OLD laptop or PC. The older RSS doesn't like most computers with a processor faster than the old 286's.

 

[hardsuit]

RFI-EMI-GUY - yes, Railroads are getting an upgrade to 12.5 Khz Digital and NXDN 6.25 khz in the Kenwood and ICOM iDAS systems. however iDAS 6.25 Khz FDMA gets you more today and can work Mixed Mode with Analog conventional and Trunking.

 

[hardsuit]

JoshuaHufford - the Receiver you want doesn't exist, low end Scanners like AIR band receivers have cheap Receivers and don't do Digital. and Scanners have a Tough job scanning 25 - 1300 Mhz just a Narrow Sliver of the RF spectrum. but Professional scanners like the 9500, 8600, and the R30 do a better job cutting through the Interference. Unfortunatly today Scanners still have CHEAP Receivers in them and lack the RF filters to deal with Interference and Deal with Digital Simulcast transmissions.

 

[zz0468]

I was hoping for something I could program on the unit itself.

Your requirements are mutually exclusive. Want cheap? Get something used. Want good performance? Get a commercial transceiver. Want front panel programming? Get a scanner.

Those are your choices, those are your options. A Radius line or Maxtrac will require something running DOS and a real serial port to program it, not a USB to serial adapter. But unless you're trying to program something really old, like a STX portable, a Pentium class laptop with DOS 6.22 running will work just fine.

A cheap laptop can be had for $25 at a thrift store. The required RIB can be had for $35 on eBay. The cable, you can make yourself. The software is "out there" for free.

In exchange for that minimal effort, you can program some damned good radios bought for damned cheap.

 

[zz0468]

Not just a laptop, an OLD laptop or PC. The older RSS doesn't like most computers with a processor faster than the old 286's.

Maxtrac and Radius RSS isn't THAT old that it needs a 286. I run it on a 2 ghz class Pentium 4 and it works fine. STX and Mostar and Syntor X want something slower. Maxtrac doesn't seem to care.

A good rule of thumb is, use what processor was current when the radio was current.

 

[krokus]

If you are just wanting FM, then some ham radios could fit the bill. Stick with the big names: Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu, or Alinco.

Recent models allow computer programming, on top of front panel programming, and the unit can have a transmit inhibit activated. (Or store things as an odd split, with an out of band transmit frequency, which the radio will not a key up on those freqs.)

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[n1das]

Maxtrac and Radius RSS isn't THAT old that it needs a 286. I run it on a 2 ghz class Pentium 4 and it works fine. STX and Mostar and Syntor X want something slower. Maxtrac doesn't seem to care.

A good rule of thumb is, use what processor was current when the radio was current.

The fastest PC I ever used to run the old DOS RSS for programming GP300 portables had a 90 MHz Pentium processor and was running Windows 95. Anything faster than a 386 40MHz machine was problematic. The trick to getting the old DOS RSS to run on the 90MHz Pentium machine was to disable the cache on the motherboard through a setting in the CMOS Setup. This slowed the PC down enough for the old RSS to run and run properly. I enabled the cache again after I was done using the RSS.


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[Railbender]

Look for an old Relm RH 256NB. There are several on eBay now for less than $50. It is 16 channels. If you put a switch on the outside to replace the programming jumper on the main board you can program it without removing the covers. I have several that I use as VHF monitors with excellent results.

 

[Ubbe]

I can't vouch for other amateur radios performance but the ones I have in my signature all have excellent front-ends. The TYT MD380 are less than $99 new and can have 32 channels in each scan list and plenty of zones and channels for manuel selection. The squelch are a bit too tight as default and need to be lowered a couple of notches in the service menu. But there's a choice of normal/tight SQ for each channel to be able to tighten it up if it seems to be too loose on a channel.

It's fully keypad programmable as well and you can lock out channels during scan and also add/delete them from scan lists.

/Ubbe

 

[popnokick]

The AOR AR-DV1B wideband communications receiver covers 100 kHz to 1300 MHz (less cellular on U.S. consumer "B" version) in traditional analog modes (SSB, CW, AM, FM, S-FM, W-FM) as well as various digital modes. No other radio in this category that can decode Icom's D-Star™ mode, Yaesu's new C4FM mode, Alinco's digital mode, NXDN™ (note: 6.25 kHz only), P25 Phase 1, DMR (Tier 1 Tier 2 modes, unencrypted), dPMR, etc. Interesting features include: 2000 Memories (in 40 banks of 50), Memory Scan, AM Synchronous Detection, Noise Reduction, Notch, Digital Data Display, Clock, Calendar, Alarm, Timer. The backlit display may be adjusted as well as the color of the backlighting on the keys. Multiple tuning steps are available: 10, 50, 100, 500 Hz, 1, 2, 5, 6.25, 7.5, 8.33, 9, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 3, 50, 100 and 500 kHz. Multiple bandwidths may be selected: FM 200, 100, 30, 15 and 6 kHz., AM 15, 8, 5.5 and 3.8 kHz., SSB 2.6 and 1.8 kHz., CW 500 or 200 Hz.
A similar feature set is found in the AOR DV10. You will pay handsomely for either of these radios that meet your specs.

 

[Citywide173]

The AOR AR-DV1B wideband communications receiver covers 100 kHz to 1300 MHz (less cellular on U.S. consumer "B" version) in traditional analog modes (SSB, CW, AM, FM, S-FM, W-FM) as well as various digital modes. No other radio in this category that can decode Icom's D-Star™ mode, Yaesu's new C4FM mode, Alinco's digital mode, NXDN™ (note: 6.25 kHz only), P25 Phase 1, DMR (Tier 1 Tier 2 modes, unencrypted), dPMR, etc. Interesting features include: 2000 Memories (in 40 banks of 50), Memory Scan, AM Synchronous Detection, Noise Reduction, Notch, Digital Data Display, Clock, Calendar, Alarm, Timer. The backlit display may be adjusted as well as the color of the backlighting on the keys. Multiple tuning steps are available: 10, 50, 100, 500 Hz, 1, 2, 5, 6.25, 7.5, 8.33, 9, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 3, 50, 100 and 500 kHz. Multiple bandwidths may be selected: FM 200, 100, 30, 15 and 6 kHz., AM 15, 8, 5.5 and 3.8 kHz., SSB 2.6 and 1.8 kHz., CW 500 or 200 Hz.
A similar feature set is found in the AOR DV10. You will pay handsomely for either of these radios that meet your specs.

Based on the statement of the original poster:

feed for my local Railroad Line.

So my question is, is there a receiver that can be programmed in the field without a PC, and that can hold at lest 20 channels without spending a fortune? I only want to receive, do not plan on transmitting.

(emphasis added)

This recommendation seems to be a bit of overkill.

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Thanks everyone, this has been very helpful.

 

[popnokick]

As would be the Icom R30 or other receivers suggested in earlier replies (???). Just trying to illustrate features vs budget.