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Public safety mics for VHF radios - any differences?

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Eaton90

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Oct 26, 2010
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Hi folks!
On one occasion I bought a HMN9057B speaker mic with a VHF antenna thrown in with it. Since I still don't have a VHF HT1250, I wanted to use this mic with my UHF radio, with a UHF antenna screwed in it, of course. But having done a Google search on the part number of my mic, I saw that some sellers consider it a VHF-only device.
On the contrary, I wanted to buy a RMN5073 mic to use with my XTS2500 VHF. But the seller claims it doesn't fit VHF radios... I'm a little confused.

Are all the public safety mics the same or are they different for different frequency band radios? Can I buy a "UHF" mic and use it with a VHF radio with a suitable antenna?
Thanks in advance!
 

exkalibur

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It isn't that it won't "fit" on a VHF radio - rather, there is FAR too much loss in the coupling involved to get the RF up to the antenna, that any benifit of using a speaker-mic mounted antenna (IE, getting it away from your body mass) would be cancelled by the loss in the setup. Would it work? Sure. But so would a screw in the antenna connector, it is just a matter of how well it would work. I've used a PSM on an HT1000 before in VHF and the performance was let's say less than stellar. Using even a proper heliflex antenna on the PSM was far worse than a stubby VHF on the radio itself. Infact, in a few occasions, there was little difference between having an antenna on the PSM and not.
 

Eaton90

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That's interesting, thanks. I didn't know the "wrong" speaker mics could influence the radio performance so seriously.
But I've got 2 more questions:
1. Are there a version of public safety mic for VHF XTS radios and if yes, what parts # do they have?
2. What if I use my VHF speaker mic for HT1250 UHF with an appropriate antenna? Will it decrease the radio performance like it was described earlier?
 

exkalibur

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No, Motorola doesn't offer a Public Safety speaker-mic for VHF.

I'm confused about part 2 of your question.
 

Eaton90

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I see...
About part 2 of my question: I simply didn't know there were no PS mics for VHF radios. Having done a little google research I came to the conclusion that my HMN9057B mic was for VHF models only. Some sellers described it as VHF. And my mic had a VHF antenna with it when I purchased it... But according to your information I was wrong.
I've found a VHF GP340 to test my PSM. The results of this test were disappointing to me :( with the propper antenna installed, the reception was horrible. I thought I was using a radio with a nail in the antenna connector!
To be honest, I haven't tested my PSM with the UHF radio I've got, but after such results I have no desire doing it. I wish I bought something more useful with the money I paid for the mic and now I'm thinking about trading this particular piece of equipment. Why on the world would Motorola produce such useless devices (I've never seen other 2-way radio manufacturers make something like this) and police forces order them?
 

N4KVE

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There are no band specific PS mikes. They work on whatever radio you put it on. If you have 2 Jedi radios, UHF, & 800 & a UHF, & 800 stubby antenna and just 1 Jedi PS mike, you can use it on whatever radio you have with the correct antenna for the band, However, M doesn't recommend using a PS mike on any VHF radio, as it's not efficient. Yes, there are people who do it on their ham radios just because it's not recommended, but performance will be much worse than using the antenna on the radio. But if the repeater is down the street, yes it will work. So while a PS mike can be used on VHF, performance will suffer. Of course everything I just said is worthless if M just released a new PS mike that will work on VHF. GARY N4KVE
 

KG4INW

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You can use that "VHF" PSM on your 1250 with a UHF antenna screwed on it and you'll be just fine.

And it should work much better on the UHF radio too. Not as good as a whip antenna on the radio but better than your VHF experience.
 
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