Problems, questions, Please help!!

[laedtken]

I am a golf course assistant superintendent and use hand held radios to control the irrigation system. The current radios we have, have become so used and abused that they are finally giving up. Currently we have 2 Motorola Radius P1225. On one radio when we enter a "8" the radio actually inputs an "6" and on the other radio the "9" does not work at all. The problem is, the "9" key is entered in every command and the other keys are used to identify specific holes or individual sprinkler heads. There is the problem! We are not able to accurately use our system when there are customers on the course.

Here is the information on the back of the radio.
(starting from the top left of the label)
FCC ID: ABZ99FT4073
Canada: 109195250A
Tanapa: HUE3603B
Model: P94ZRC90C2AA
1225 Series Radio Type: ZPCUA
Handie-Talkie 7.5 vdc

The questions I have are:
Are these radios still available in the marketplace?
If not what can replace these radios without having to change the rest of our system?
What information can you tell me about the radios we have?
Am I posting my problem to the correct forum?

I have very little experience with hand held radios other than using them for communication between radios. I know we use "channel 2" on our radios to control our system.

 

[trap5858]

Have you contacted the irrigation company that set up the system? I would look there first.

 

[SteveC0625]

The questions I have are:
Are these radios still available in the marketplace?
If not what can replace these radios without having to change the rest of our system?
What information can you tell me about the radios we have?
Am I posting my problem to the correct forum?

Answering your questions...

These radios have been out of production for many (15 to 20) years, but you may still find them on the used market. From your description, it sounds like they may have a touch-tone pad on them. That, unfortunately, makes that specific model even rarer. Someone in the know about used radios might be able to find them, but it's iffy. And, if the radios are failing, other parts of the system may be as well.

The P1225 was a mid range commercial two-way radio in its day. There are a number of current products from Motorola and other manufacturers which will most likely be direct replacements for the handheld radios you currently have.

This forum is more aimed at the radio hobby person, either scanner listeners or two way radio folks, especially amateur radio. There are a few professionals here, but even they will not be able to examine your radio and irrigation system. It's not a bad place to learn about things, but for your purposes, you'll get a lot of different information, and you won't know how to separate the good from the bad.

You are much better off contacting a vendor in your area who can look over your system and equipment and make some realistic recommendations about replacing the radios. As the previous poster pointed out, talking to the company who installed the system would be a good start. If they are no longer around, then either contact another vendor for irrigation systems or, perhaps better yet, reach out to a two way radio shop and get their advice and assistance. I suggest a Motorola shop first as they should have the equipment to examine the programming of the radio as well as the radio itself and make some comprehensive recommendations to you.

You need someone in your local area to guide you on this. And, if the handheld radios are beginning to be problematic, then the rest of the system needs to be closely evaluated for similar problems.

 

[Golay]

DTMF

Perhaps I misinterpreted the original post, but I read it as he needs replacement radios with a keypad on the front. Unless I read it wrong, they control the sprinklers/whatever it was, by transmitting tones. Am I incorrect, or will any handheld programmed to the same frequency as he is using now, with a keypad that generates standard DTMF tones, fit the bill?