Motorola Spectra

Finding a lot of these radios on ebay for dirt cheap...good radios? Was thinking of getting a couple to start a collection of gear for a repeater.

They are excellent radios provided someone has not hacked them. Not usable on narrow-banded frequencies, except for receive only. The do suffer from leaking capacitors.

Any particular ones?

Motorola-DA5KX-068W-Spectra-UHF-Mobile-Radio-D44KXA7JA5BK

cmdrwill said:

They are excellent radios provided someone has not hacked them. Not usable on narrow-banded frequencies, except for receive only. The do suffer from leaking capacitors.

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After the caps are replaced they make fine radios for ham use.

They are easy to program. You just about can't kill them. Not sure why you would say anything about hacking them. They have to be changed software wise to go on the VHF and UHF ham bands, depending on the model.

I have been using them for about 15 years now and find them a very stable and easy to modify radio. You do need a slow speed computer that runs pure DOS to be able to program them. Can't use any of the high speed computers you find today running windows and expect to program the Spectra radios.

You will also need s RIB (radio interface box) that translates the voltage levels from the computer serial port to the level the radio is expecting. Yes I did say serial port on the computer. Not a USB connection.

The programming cable you can build yourself. Depending on the radio, you will either need a BD15 male connector or a BD25 male connector. The wiring diagram is available in many places. The site Batwing Laboratories has the information. There are other sites, but you can start there.

There are a number of control heads that the Spectra radio can use. It sort of depends on just what you want to do with the radio as to which control head would be the better choice for you. There is a HHCH (A3) (hand held control head), there is an A4, A5, A7 and A9 type control heads that will work with these radios. The radios come in a dash mount and a remote mount, as well as low, medium and high power TX output. The high power only come in remote mount. The other power levels can be either dash or remote mount.

There should be a ton of these radios floating around out there if the radio shops that pulled them all from service didn't dump them in the dumpster. Don't pay much for these radios. The high power radios (100 watt, some people call them 110 watts) require a special power cable. It is a special 2 wire connector that has a retaining screw to hold it in. The wires are someplace in the order of a #8 or #6. Forget the size. The other power cables are like a 2 pin trailer connector you can get from the auto store. Just look for a heavier wire for the mid power (50 watt) radios.

The low and mid power radios use a mounting bracket, while the high powered radios use a mounting tray the radio slides in and the handle locks it into the tray. Uses the standard 2135 Motorola key to unlock it.

I could go on for some time with the features and options the Spectra radios can have. Most of them are just software selectable. Don't want everyone jumping my case with this long post.

The units I'm looking at don't appear to be the remote version. And I would be using this for GMRS. And why the hell are these radios so damn cheap? I'm seeing 800mhz P25 models going for super cheap too

Josh380 said:

The units I'm looking at don't appear to be the remote version. And I would be using this for GMRS.

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I have never managed to remember if the GMRS operation is wide band or narrow band modulation. These radios will only do wide band modulation (+/- 5 KHz. deviation).

Also believe there is a power limit on the GMRS frequencies. So the dash mount are the way to go. You can adjust the power output with the radio programming software.

50w radio, 50w limit GMRS..and wideband (for the time being)

Josh380 said:

And why the hell are these radios so damn cheap?

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The VHF and UHF versions are no longer Part 90 usable. The 800 versions are not rebandable.

Gotcha. That explains it...not to mention there seems to be quite a few out there for sale.

The Astro Spectra line support narrowband (if they have the 2.5KHz option) and 1 MEG 800 radios sure are rebanding supported, provided they are flashed with rebanding enabled firmware.

These are an affordable way to P25. Phase 1 only. And of course, you have to use caution when buying one, pay attention to the radio's flashcode (which defines what features and systems the radio will support, some are analog only), and HOST/DSP, and VOCON type (1 Meg vs. 512K).

And the leaky cap problem plagues the Astro Spectra line as well.

None the less, good radios that if properly maintained will provide years of service. CPS is also Windows based (XP) and much easier to program than ancient DOS based RSS of the analog Spectra line.

MTS2000des said:

The Astro Spectra line support narrowband (if they have the 2.5KHz option) and 1 MEG 800 radios sure are rebanding supported, provided they are flashed with rebanding enabled firmware.

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Yes.

Just for clarification of my previous post, the Spectra and Astro Spectra are quite different animals inside. It's the Spectra UHF and VHF that are obsolete. As MTS2000des said, some Astro Spectras can still be used on Part 90. I suspect they're still usable on Part 95 GMRS, as well. Pay attention to what you're getting. They use different software.

All of them make excellent ham rigs. The non-rebandable 800 Spectras can still be used on conventional channels. The UHF range 1 and range 3 can both be moved to the 440 ham band, and the 900 Spectras can be used on the 900 ham band.

Honestly, after reading all of your posts, I'm thinking I might want to spend just a *little* more for a setup.

The leaky caps put up a pretty big red flag for me. I don't want to have to open up the radio and replace them if I end up getting a unit that has this issue. My soldering skills aren't the best, but I've used them plenty of times before though.

I don't have a ton of money..I want to go as cheap as possible (not BF cheap), and updated programming software would be a plus.

Josh380 said:

Honestly, after reading all of your posts, I'm thinking I might want to spend just a *little* more for a setup.

The leaky caps put up a pretty big red flag for me. I don't want to have to open up the radio and replace them if I end up getting a unit that has this issue. My soldering skills aren't the best, but I've used them plenty of times before though.

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There are three types of Spectras:
Those with caps that haven't leaked yet.
Those with caps that are leaking.
Those with caps that have been replaced because the originals leaked.

Trouble is when they leak, they can cause other damage. Changing out the capacitors might be all one needs to do, but you could find other issues when you start working on them. There are guys that will do the cap replacements for you, if you want.
Truth is, in the end, you'll have a 20 year old radio with new capacitors.

Josh380 said:

I don't have a ton of money..I want to go as cheap as possible (not BF cheap), and updated programming software would be a plus.

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Spectra's are good radios, but the challenge of programming them might be an issue. Finding an older PC can be a hassle. Not impossible, but they aren't just laying around like they used to be.
I've got one that I used in a mobile installation, actually an off road side by side machine. Beat hard, dust, mud, rain, etc... Worked just fine.
I personally prefer the Motorola CDM's, though. You'll pay a bit more, but a more modern radio, still in production (for a little bit longer). Will do wide and narrow band. Depending on which model you get, no hackage required to put them on the amateur bands. Heck, you can even get a 220 MHz version that with some software tweaks will do 222MHz. Display is nicer and I think easier to read.
Lots of older Kenwoods out there too. Easier to program in my own option.

In spite of the pitfalls, I use Spectras almost exclusively for my VHF/UHF/900 ham gear, as well as for monitoring - I've got them on all bands, including 800 and 900 trunked for no-affiliation trunking.

The capacitors are surface mount types, and it's best to use hot air for desoldering, but not essential. You can replace them with leaded electrolytic or tantalum capacitors.

The software for the regular Spectra is DOS only, but a slow computer isn't necessary. I use 2 GHz Pentium class computers with no problem. What IS essential is a serial port, NOT a USB to serial adapter. It's gotta be built in, and recognizable from DOS. A DOS window won't work, it's GOTTA be booted into DOS.

For the hassle, you get dirt cheap radios that can be rock solid, they're easily hacked to do things they weren't designed to do (like out of band mods). The front end filters and VCO's are surprisingly easy to tune so they can be moved up or down the band quite easily. The hard part is the programming software mods

You can easily run them without a control head if you want a dedicated single channel radio, the front ends actually work on busy mountain tops (mostly), and last but not least, did I mention that they're dirt cheap? I usually get them for free. =)

Bottom line, if you've got a half-decently equipped lab to work, then they're a bargain, and a lot of fun to play with. If you're more of the appliance operator, then their time has come and gone, and you're better off looking at something else.

mmckenna said:

Trouble is when they leak, they can cause other damage.

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Exactly my point. Seems too risky to me. I saw a set of two on ebay going for $40..I almost bought em right when I saw it, but wanted to find out about them first..I'm glad I did.

You are not far from me. I do the Spectra repairs very reasonably with a warranty on all my work.

I purchase VHF or UHF spectras, Then purchase 800 Astro spectras. And convert the v/u Spectras to astro spectras.

Spectras are good radios. They are public safety grade and very well built radios. I had one in 900 MHz that worked quite well (only thing that drove me insane about it was the ignition sense). I recently off loaded 8 or 9 high power 403-433 MHz models.

As pointed out above, there are only 3 kinds of Spectras…those with leaking caps, those who's caps are not yet leaking and those who's caps have been replaced. It was just a poor component choice on Motorola's part. Less than $20 in parts to recap them last I checked.

I've got a few (8 or 9) VHF high power models I have to get around to recapping at some point (think I'm going to turn some into digipeaters). Also a UHF dash mount (for GMRS) that I've been trying to track down a remote kit (my usual source wasn't at the last hamfest). I think I picked up something like 8 A9 control heads for $40 on fleabay not too long ago.

They aren't cheap because they are bad radios. They are cheap because many agencies upgraded to XTL's for narrowbanding if they hadn't already upgraded to Astro Spectras and simply gave the old radios away to individuals willing to take them. Those individuals are just trying to get some money back for "rescuing" them and bringing them to the amateur/GMRS market. Radios take up space…tell that to the pile of GM300's sitting by my desk.

Minneapolls, Minnesota

Just thought I'd put my two cents in here...

The City of Minneapolis [Fire-Rescue] still runs with about 2/3 Spectra's in their rigs, running P25, Phase 1, of course. They've been around since day one, and still continue to run solid.

Those would be Astro Spectra's. The original Spectra's were analog only.