/\/\ Gp68

[landonjensen]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Motorola-GP68-VHF-136-174MHz-2-Way-Radio-Accessories_W0QQitemZ180113096523QQihZ008QQcategoryZ109907QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Are these good radios?

Also would 470.2125 work on this below version?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180112446918

Thanks

 

[Josh]

Good radios, yes. I have one of mine for sale in VHF on eBay right now..

But NO, they will not go out of band. 470.0000 is as high as it's ever going to get.

-Josh

 

[Grog]

"Good" is relative.

Good compared to a ham radio? Maybe/probably

Good compaired to some other commerical radio? Maybe/Maybe not

FCC Type-accepted? We won't go there. Some might be, most won't be. Do I care? Not really.........

 

[landonjensen]

How are they programmed?

 

[Josh]

Good in that they are fairly decent, long battery life, lots of accessories available, easy to program, no computer required, makes a decent amateur rig, and also has a sensitive receiver.

Better than the GP2000 which is the replacement for the GP68. FCC ID doesn't matter on an amateur rig, commercial use on the other hand....

But there's my explanation. Not everyone can afford an HT1550XLS w/FPP, JT1000, or XTS5K w/FPP options, so the GP68 is a cost-effective solution for an amateur operator, which I believe landon is.

 

[landonjensen]

No im not a amatuer radio operator, haha, studying for ham though ! I wish i could afford a JT1000.

 

[landonjensen]

so the only ones available in UHF are 403-470? Are thier alpha tags?

 

[Grog]

Good in that they are fairly decent, long battery life, lots of accessories available, easy to program, no computer required, makes a decent amateur rig, and also has a sensitive receiver.

Better than the GP2000 which is the replacement for the GP68. FCC ID doesn't matter on an amateur rig, commercial use on the other hand....

But there's my explanation. Not everyone can afford an HT1550XLS w/FPP, JT1000, or XTS5K w/FPP options, so the GP68 is a cost-effective solution for an amateur operator, which I believe landon is.

JT1000s are much cheaper at times, they are surely not worth $400-600 like they used to :wink:

All radios sold in the US have to by FCC type accepted. That is often confused with hams who homebrew equipment, we can, but a "store bought" radio can not be offered for sale inside the US without being type-accepted. A lot of the non type-accepted GP68s were exported, then imported as a half-a$$ed way to make some money buy some rather large exporters. That's why you could see new GP68s several years ago at lots of hamfests, but you don't see a lot of them anymore.


Makes me wish I picked up an AP50 in the late 90s

 

[Grog]

so the only ones available in UHF are 403-470? Are thier alpha tags?

No alpha tags.......

 

[landonjensen]

No alpha tags.......

Josh can you confirm this?

 

[Grog]

Josh can you confirm this?

Even better..........

From
http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44237

The GP68 is field programmable, but does not have an alpha display (CH 1, CH 2, etc is what you see). They are hard to find in the US and only have 20 channels, but they scan all 20 at once.

From
http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?p=232238&sid=8c742825a287edabbe4b19ca05fcc551

I owned two of these radios several years ago, one VHF and one UHF. They worked fine, and they covered all of the ham band and all of the relevant commercial band. The FPP sequence was a pain in the neck but it worked. Both radios had FCC type acceptance stickers and numbers on them and I used the UHF radio regularly at work with my company's itinerant license on four channels.

However, neither radio had an alpha display, and to my way of thinking this is a HUGE disadvantage, not so much on the ham band where the channel steps are pretty well defined, but on the commercial channels. Of course each radio is only twentychannels, and maybe one can remember users by the frequency, and maybe another person can't, but who wants to be bothered with having to remember what 154.160 is when a glance at the display showing something like "XXFDDISP" tells you what you need to know without even thinking about it?

This page shows some features...
http://www.ameradio.com/product/427/description.html

 

[zz0468]

Good radios, yes. I have one of mine for sale in VHF on eBay right now..

But NO, they will not go out of band. 470.0000 is as high as it's ever going to get.

-Josh

Good luck with that. I tried to sell a GP68 on eBay and Motorola themselves stepped in and had my auction canceled. Since it's an export only radio, they will not allow domestic eBay sales. There is a program on eBay that allows manufacturers of prohibited goods to control auction sales. The GP68 is indeed on the prohibited item list.

Read this:

http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=mot_software

If it sells, it's merely because Motorola's people missed it. I promise I won't tell.

 

[gatekeep]

JT1000's BAH! XTS5000 FPP is hella cool, HT1550 FPP w/ programming battery isn't bad either.

GP68's DO NOT have alpha tags, just like the JT1000 in that the channels read, CH 1, CH 2 etc. Landon, if your looking for 470+ mhz look for S-split radios, or 450-512mhz radios.

[EDIT]Err, I just had thought my Model II MTS2000 programs up-to 472mhz in the latest CPS.[/EDIT]