i recently bought 7 motorola mt-1000 for my kids...i don't know much about them and i think they are broken and i wasted my money...hopefully not
Well, basically, you did, but lets get beyond that....
most of them seem to charge however when i press the ptt button no sound come over on any of them. do they need to be programmed to work together? is this something worth fixing if its possible?
Thanks!
First, we don't know where you are located, so it's difficult to provide accurate information.
Here in the USA, there are not any "license free" frequencies you can use these radios on. So, before you do any transmitting, you need to sort out the legality issues. It's not something I'd recommend ignoring.
As for them not being able to talk to each other, it's very likely they were programmed to talk through a repeater. To do that, they transmit on one frequency and receive on another. That will prevent them from talking directly to each other.
To work the way you want the radios likely will need to be reprogrammed.
The issue is that you cannot just randomly program them to random frequencies. You need to be licensed on the frequencies you want to use them on. In the USA, there isn't any legal way around that. The FCC is pretty clear about this.
Programming can be an issue as these are old radios. The programming software requires an old PC. A new one will be too fast for the programming software to work. The software is DOS, it won't run under windows.
In addition, you need a Radio Interface Box (RIB) or equivalent to handle the interface between the PC serial port and the radio. The interface between the RIB and the radio requires a specific cable.
Not easy, not cheap.
The programming software is designed for radio technicians, so it's not something thats simple. A newcomer to radio will have some issues figuring it out. Not impossible, but not easy, either.
To do what you want to do -bunch of radio for the kids to talk- using these radios is going to take a lot of work and possibly a fair amount of money.
Honestly, that money would be better spent on getting appropriate radios for you kids. Simple, inexpensive FRS type radios. They'll work out of the box, they are legal, and if something happens to them, it's not a big loss.
lol
