Motorola Spectra Upgrade for Narrowband

[timmer852]

I've heard the board in the Spectra's can be updated to comply with the new Narrow banding requirements. Does anyone know if this is true? If it is how exactly do you go about getting this completed?

 

[jhooten]

Astro Spectra yes.
Analog Spectra could be done BUT /\/\ is not offering is so you have to buy a new radio from them.

 

[SteveC0625]

The problem with upgrading a wideband only radio to narrowband is that under Part 90 rules, radios must be type accepted for use in Part 90 applications. So even if you somehow upgrade an older radio to meet all NB specs, it isn't type accepted and therefore not usable, at least by the rules.

Motorola actually had a narrowband kit for the Radius GM300, but the radio was never type accepted for 11K use. (11K is NB.) So even if you could find one of the kits and successfully upgrade the radio, it still isn't a legal radio for use in Part 90 applications like public safety and business.

 

[MTS2000des]

not to mention, older radios lack synthesizer steps for the newer "splinter" channels, so merely narrowing the IF bandwidth and TX deviation won't make them compatible with the newly assigned splinter frequencies which didn't exist in the late 1980's and early-mid 1990's when these radios were in their heyday.

It wasn't until 1997 when the FCC approved the use of those splinter channels, why bother spending the time and money (labor isn't cheap!) when new analog narrowband radios are more affordable then ever.

 

[petnrdx]

Correct about the Spectra. The old plain Spectra was never NB type accepted.
But your statement is wrong about the GM300.
They have a type acceptance grant for several models and power levels dating from about 1990.
For example VHF ABZ99FT3032 is for VHF 11K0F3E, F1D & F2D ( and 16K0 also )
And a UHF example is ABZ99FT4030 is a UHF 30 watt, also 11K0F3E etc.
There are a few different FCC-ID codes depending of power level and band, and wide or narrow..
The NB kits for GM 300 are still available from MOL HLN9575 VHF, and HLN 9576 for UHF.
I think the kits are about $80 dollars, but don't hold me to that. Memory on that stuff is not that good.
The GM300 won't do splinter steps, but will do 12.5 kHz channel spacing on the frequencies that it will program to with the kit installed.

 

[SteveC0625]

But your statement is wrong about the GM300.

Correction and added info gracefully and gratefully accepted.

The GM300 won't do splinter steps, but will do 12.5 kHz channel spacing on the frequencies that it will program to with the kit installed.

That may be valuable for many agencies that have no splinter channels now and don't plan on adding any in the next few years.

One new point, based on your info, would be that the cost of shop labor necessary to install the kit and realign the radio may push the price of conversion high enough that many would just opt to purchase new radios. Obviously, there are some hams and others who may have the technical proficiency and the equipment needed to do the conversion on a onesy-twosy basis for individual radio owners, but most of us who manage radio inventories have simply upgraded to new radios.

I only had one GM300 in my inventory so we just purchased a new CDM1250 which allows us to have just one CPS for all of our mobiles and base radios.

 

[MTS2000des]

Considering the average hourly rate of most shops is $45-55 an hour, and conversion kits are $80, a good tech MAYBE able to do one in 1/2 hour (provided it goes as planned, nothing else is wrong, etc) that's still close to $100 a piece, plus reprogramming and tuning.

For radios that are 15 years old, it makes little sense. Current analog mobiles like the CM300 (which would be the closest replacement price and feature wise) are selling new at "retail" for $340-400, and these do narrowband (including splinters), MDC, QCII encode/decode w/ID display, alpha tags, high low power, etc. And they come with a 2 year warranty.

It doesn't make financial sense at this point to invest tons of money, mostly on labor costs, to putz around with old radios like GM300s. How much service life do they have left in them? How many other parts are still available? Depot service and support ended for these relics years ago. I'd hate to explain that to a customer who spent money on a narrowband conversion they're gonna have to buy a new radio when a PA craps out in 6 months or a logic board takes a dump.

 

[petnrdx]

I didn't say it would make sense to buy and install the NB kits.
Just correcting the post that there never were any NB GM300's.
And that the kits are still available.
While I think the old GM300 can still be a usable radio for some purposes, you are all quite correct that it makes more sense for most, but not everyone, to replace them.
For users that have a fleet of one or two channel radios that work fine for them it can be an option.

 

[treeclimber1031]

Just looked it up in our Motorola Solutions (MOL), the narrowband kits for the GM300 UHF/VHF are NOT available any more. Sorry guys, gotta buy new ones if you can't find a radio shop with them hanging around on the shelves.