DualBand Astro Spectras

[K9ROD]

I know about the SIU way, but I have come across a "Y" cable that is for two Astro Spectra's. In the software under the "Advanced II" tab you check the box for a dual band unit and designate one radio as primary and the other as secondary. This is usually also referred to as the green radio and the red radio based on the colored band around the radio connection.

Anybody ever do this? Do you program the radios separately and then connect them, or do you connect everything up and then program each radio?

I'm using a VHF W4 110w Astro Mobile and waiting to get the partner to it in UHF flavor before trying everything. As it sits, I can make the cable work for either red or green connection to the single radio, so I'm pretty sure this will work. Just wondering if anyone else has ever done this. Thanks.

 

[NavyBOFH]

Better late than never to reply to this - searching for some information myself...

But the cable you're seeing is for the "red hot receive" setup. Essentially the setup was designed for a CA agency (IIRC Orange County) that wanted to be able to receive on one radio and talk on another. There's talk that the radios were specially modified to also have an internal coax switch so when you TX on one radio the other is cut out - so one antenna could be used. That isn't necessary for the "DIY" version.

The original kit came with the cable, a special trunnion to hold both RF decks (mid power units), and a W9 head with the Home button replaced with the AUX button. There was also a special DEK to patch into the talkgroups and were pre-labeled by Motorola for the names, etc.

So essentially you could get the cable, a W9 head, and make it all work... but wasn't what I was specifically looking for.

For reference: an entire setup was JUST sold recently. This might help you get better information:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorola-A...vip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m43663.l10137