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Any other radios cover 29-54 MHz besides Syntor X9000?

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W8VFD

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Is there anyone out there aware of any other low band radios that cover the entire 29 to 54 MHz range besides the Syntor X 9000? And my next question is, if not, why has nobody made an effort to manufacture one. I understand that low band is pretty much dying out these days but all of the years that it was in use why did nobody else build a radio to do the entire band split.

If this was not placed in the proper forum my apologies.
 

davenlr

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You can get a SDR dongle for about $20, that combined with a free program called SDR#, will tune from about 24 Mhz up to over 1 GHz using a cheap computer or laptop.

Most manufacturers that produce short wave radios usually cut off their coverage at 30 Mhz, because that is the "end" of the short wave i.e. consistent ionospheric propagation band. Anything above 30 Mhz is considered VHF, and is usually covered by a whole different group of radios. This might be due to the difference in components needed to tune the lower frequencies compared to the higher ones, and to keep costs down. I am not really sure.
 

jim202

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Is there anyone out there aware of any other low band radios that cover the entire 29 to 54 MHz range besides the Syntor X 9000? And my next question is, if not, why has nobody made an effort to manufacture one. I understand that low band is pretty much dying out these days but all of the years that it was in use why did nobody else build a radio to do the entire band split.

If this was not placed in the proper forum my apologies.


You have to look at how a company makes it's marketing decisions. If you were looking to make money, you would limit the customers ability to have broad coverage with a radio. This way if they needed to have communications in the 30 to 40 MHz. range as well as in the 42 to 50 MHz range they would have to buy 2 radios. So now you force the end user to install 2 radios in their vehicle.

I am not against the Syntor X9000 low band radio. I own about 8 of them. Think they are a fine radios and you will never see another product like them again. Not only do the cover the whole range with no tuning, but with a few changes they can have up to 255 channels. Plus with the right software and firmware, you can have up to 128 channels of scan.

The big problem is you need to change antennas to cover the entire range or try using some sort of antenna tuner. I have installed 2 antennas on a vehicle and used a T connector right at the radio. You play games with the length of coax goung to both antennas. It works, but your limited on band width of the transmitting frequencies. This works good for fire channels in say the 33 and 46 MHz. range.

To go with this all, you can have selectable CTCSS of all 32 PL tones. This makes for what many people call a dial a frequency radio. Just program the RF channel you want into the radio and then select the PL tone you want. Use one of the operator selectanle buttons on the series 9000 style control head and program the button for "MULTI-PL". The radio is ready to go. On top of that, you get 100 watts of output RF power.

The other radios that can even come close to this ability are the military style radios. You have the "MOBAT" series of radios, but these are generally for the HF frequency range. Then you have several radios in the PRC family that have the VHF low band ability. Again these are designed for military use and don't have the flexability the Syntor X9000 does.

GE came out with their RANGR series radios. But these came in several band segments. They didn't cover the entire 28 to 54 MHz. range in one radio. The receivers also had poor intermode and image rejection issues. The PA output filter had it's limitations and would burn up the circuit board if you tried using them on 6 meters without some mods.

Unless someone comes up with a radio I haven't seen over the last 40 years or so, the Syntor X9000 still holds the record. It was a real fine engineering feat by some good engineers at Motorola that have long since been laid off or fired. You will never see that type of product again.
 

W8VFD

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I am not particular about what brand as long as it does what I want it to do, I was looking at a Kenwood TK-630H but I'm not sure it will do what I want. My only interest in transmitting is in the 52-53MHz ham band but I have public safety that I would like to be able to monitor in both the 33MHZ & 46MHz bands, I'd like a Kenwood for the ease of programming but it's looking like I'll stick with the X9000 for now.


Are you looking to stay with big M, or would you consider another brand?
 

DisasterGuy

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Indeed when it comes to low band you have two limitations. The first being the antenna bandwidth as previously mentioned and the second being that having such a wide front end makes good selectivity difficult to achieve.

Another alternative would be the GE Orion remote mount. While it uses two different splits to cover low band, a single head can control both radios seamlessly.
 

jim202

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If you take a Kenwood TK-690 high split, then hex edit the frequency file, you can put it on the 6 meter band. Have done it and it works. All the normal functions of the radio can be used.

Jim
 
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You can get a kenwood TK-6110k2 that has a factory split of 35-50. It is a small 70W unit.

Vertex has the vx-5500 which has a split of 37-50.

Both are nice radios.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
 

zz0468

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Many of the amateur multi-band radios will do 6 meters, 10 meters, and RX in between. Are you locked into the idea of a commercial grade radio and FM only?
 
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