What did I buy?

[fishmanasc]

I picked up this unique bit of equipment at an estate sale. The price was way great, the only problem is I have no idea what it is. So if you can tell me what it is that would be great. Also if it is worth anything or if it is just a piece of junk.

Pictures below...

 

[C138NC]

Well it shouldnt be to hard to tell you, its a motorola thats a given, its also one of the late 60's kinda maybe near mobile radios in police cars or fire trucks... depending but yeah, I wouldnt really tell you if its UHF or VHF but you can always get a shop to look at it for you but i highly doubt most shops carry the equipment to examine it since its that old..

if you get it working ill be surprised

oh its not a piece of junk, you just have a piece of history, plus its only 2 channels and crystal controlled. so no modern PC or RSS can do anything for it.

 

[davidmc36]

Looks like a remote head for an old radio. The radio was probably so large it took up the whole trunk. lol
The old Johnson VHF that I have in the shop is labled like that one toggle switch, F1-F2, except the one I have is five channels and has F1-F5 on the front. probablt transmit and recieve lights on either side, but I would be at a loss to tell you what radio.

This looks similar only newer:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Motorola-VINTAG...4|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:3|294:50

This one has only one channel:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MOTOROLA-MOCOM-...4|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

 

[C138NC]

Oh thats a radio head? mm i wasnt paying attention, well i could tell you there IS one shop in my town that has that sitting on their shelf, they could have equipment for it but i think you are holding something you would have to look for the other end for...

 

[N_Jay]

Yep, just a control head. Nothing but switches and lights.
It is pre-Motrac, that would put it in the 1960's.
I don't know much about the Motorola stuff of that era.
I am guessing it has been modified in some way from the binding posts in the back.

 

[davidmc36]

Oh thats a radio head? mm i wasnt paying attention, ...

No need to be a smart ass. I beleive the OP genuinely did not know what it was.

 

[fishmanasc]

I genuinely had no idea what what it was, aside from it was some sort of radio equipment and a Motorola. Thanks for the help.

 

[js_scan888]

Here's a photo and info on a Motorola U43GGT-1100C model with a 1966 manufacturing date.

Michael Covington's Daily Notebook

If you are interested in some older radios, check out:
MOTOROLA EARLY LAND MOBILE EQUIPMENT INDEX
CHP Patrol Car Radio History

Lot's of interesting stuff.

 

[davidmc36]

Here's a photo and info on a Motorola U43GGT-1100C model with a 1966 manufacturing date.

Michael Covington's Daily Notebook

If you are interested in some older radios, check out:
MOTOROLA EARLY LAND MOBILE EQUIPMENT INDEX
CHP Patrol Car Radio History

Lot's of interesting stuff.

Gotta love reading about vintage stuff.

Did you see his booster cable story below? I got stumped the same way with one of those cheap booster battery packs with the plastic clamps. I thought the On-Off switch was intermittent cause every once in a while I would get it hooked up right. Was almost ready to rip it apart when I noticed the one-sided hook up. Dooooooh!!!!:roll:

 

[rfradioconsult]

1960's vintage tube radio with transistorized power supply. Could be used on a low band, high band or UHF radio. Two channel head, the other switch isn't labeled the banana jacks aren't stock.

 

[Hoofy]

The Michigan DNR used that type of radio on the 44.XXXmHz band. The radio was mounted in the trunk of cars and behind the seat of trucks and was about 20 to 24 inches long 16 to 18 inches wide and about 4 inches or so thick. All the wires were plugged into the back of the head (the part you have) and ran into the radio. The bundle of wires was about an inch or more in diameter and encased in a plastic type loom.

This was before large multi-plugs and each wire was plugged in individually into the back of the head.

 

[mm]

One adam-12 see the man,

An old old old Motrac head. They had 2 or 3 different mics available depending on the vintage. very Early 70'ish

OOPs forgot the same head should also work on a Motran and if I remember correctly even a mocom70.

 

[WA4MJF]

I usually associate this head with the Twin-VEE system and it would be a later one, as it has the 2 channel capability.

 

[n2hbx]

I'm thinking Twin-V or maybe T-Power...too old to be Motrac.

Red light for TX. Green light for power. Unlabeled switch may be PL on/off. Binding posts definitely not stock. Whoever had it may have had it wired to light up with an external power supply.

I'm amazed at the condition of it--even have the control cable pins that look brand new! Some collector might be interested in it.

Larry

 

[n2hbx]

Actually, looking at the photo again, the unlabeled switch looks like a mod of some kind. The switch appears to be a different style, and the escutcheon has a round hole, not oval like the other ones.

If it were mine, I'd have to open it up to see the inside. But then, I'm just the nosy type.

Larry

 

[baker954]

What did you buy?

You bought a very cool control head from an old radio! Wish i woulda been there to pick it up!

 

[baker954]

And I like how the mic says TEN-FOUR

 

[C138NC]

No need to be a smart ass. I beleive the OP genuinely did not know what it was.

I wasnt being a smartass, I never saw it clearly until someone said it was just the head, my comments are more crude if i was an SA at the moment.... just letting you know that now

 

[zz0468]

Haha! AH, the memories. My first 440 rig was a BBT that had a control head like that. It's not the original microphone. The Motorola mics of the era vaguely resembled the Motrac/Motran mic, except they were made of metal, and were quite heavy.

 

[rfradioconsult]

Not a Motrac/Motran style head; the shape of the casting is different the switch positions are different and the Motrac head had a single flat panel on the rear to accept the pins, not the 3 modified tube sockets.

This type of control cable pin termination was used to allow the installer to feed the cable through smaller openings than having to deal with a large connectors.