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Fun with the Railroad Astro Spectra

N9JIG

Sheriff
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Dec 14, 2001
Messages
6,041
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Far NW Valley
Over the weekend I found a Railroad Astro Spectra in remarkedly good condition for $20 at a hamfest. I suspect I could have offered less but I would have felt bad about it. I figured $20 was worth the risk of a non-functional radio, it would have looked neat on a shelf in my man-cave even if it didn't work.

Right off the bat I noticed that the screws were missing from the case, I found the proper size at Home Depot and am all set on that front. I also noticed that the panel below the SO239 connector that held the 4-pin power connector for 72 and 12 volts was missing and the standard 2-pin Motorola power connector was sticking out. OK, so I thought that someone had used that to power the radio instead of digging up the proper connector.

The seller had no idea what it was. When he saw my buddy and I looking at it he asked us what we thought it was. I explained to him that it was what they called a "Clean Cab" locomotive radio, that they were of standardized construction so that any manufacturer's radio would slot right it if needed. He said it was left over when his dad died, he worked as a communications engineer for a couple electronics firms but none were involved in railroads as far as he knew. How and why his dad had this radio was a mystery. It had been in his garage for years.

There are no property tags, engravings or other markings for any railroads on the radio at all. The display screen protector was still present but one can see evidence of age.

When I got it home I connected it to power and it came on normally. I connected it to an antenna in my attic and it seemed to receive the local rail channels as well as the scanners. I connected it to my one outside antenna (Omni-X) thru the multicoupler and it seems to pick up every bit as good on the rail and NOAA weather channels as the scanners.

To help avoid accidentally transmitting on it I set the TX channel to one of the WX channels which is automatically locked out for transmit. I also have it on a separate antenna so that if I do accidentally press a the PTT, DISP or a number (DTMF) button while on a RR channel for TX I won't blow up a multicoupler.

For now I will use it to monitor my local railroad channel. If I ever get access to a DOS computer with the proper low-power Spectra cable, RIB and the RSS I might put some 2M channels in it or reprogram the rail channels with no TX or change the TX to some innocuous frequency if possible. I used to have all that but sold it with the last of the radios I had that used them.

For the power I replaced the 2-pin Moto plug with PowerPoles and added a power switch. I have it in my shack connected to my main power supply and I usually leave that n overnight as the scanners log activity. Since the RRS lacks a power switch (it is on all the time when power is applied) and the lowest volume level is still loud enough to be heard from the bedroom this allows me to turn it off at night and leave the scanners running.

While capable of digital and trunking it appears this radio is not flashed for either. Back in 2006 when this radio was built Moto was still pushing Astro digital for the railroads which eventually went with NXDN. If they ever do make the switch to NXDN I will end up with a 20 pound doorstop but for now it is a cool way to listen to my local railroad. Since it lacks a scan feature it just sits on my local Road channel and frees up the scanner I used to use for that so I can use that for other channels.

It does however do narrowband on the rail channels, Channels 001-097 are the wide band channels and 101-197 are narrowband. 201-207 are the NOA WX channels. They make for an easy way to check the RX sensitivity!

For $20 I think I found a great toy. Even if it turned out not to work it would be a neat shelf display but since it does work so well it will be a useful piece in my shack.
IMG_8276.jpg
 

N9JIG

Sheriff
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Messages
6,041
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The A/D is truly for Analog or Digital, and is so specified in the manual (of which I have obtained).

The Scan feature (or lack of such) is a firmware thing, it was written out as the railroads did not need nor desire it. I don't think the RSS would allow it to be restored as it is a special RR Spectra only version. If I ever do play with it I will give it a shot but that is not on my priority list.
 

n7maq-1

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 12, 2004
Messages
214
Location
Oregon
The A/D is truly for Analog or Digital, and is so specified in the manual (of which I have obtained).

The Scan feature (or lack of such) is a firmware thing, it was written out as the railroads did not need nor desire it. I don't think the RSS would allow it to be restored as it is a special RR Spectra only version. If I ever do play with it I will give it a shot but that is not on my priority list.
IIRC Scan will work if you program it with Astro CPS. It has been a LONG time since I messed with an Astro CC.

Jim
 

rf_patriot200

Active Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2024
Messages
1,013
Location
Freeport, Illinois
Over the weekend I found a Railroad Astro Spectra in remarkedly good condition for $20 at a hamfest. I suspect I could have offered less but I would have felt bad about it. I figured $20 was worth the risk of a non-functional radio, it would have looked neat on a shelf in my man-cave even if it didn't work.

Right off the bat I noticed that the screws were missing from the case, I found the proper size at Home Depot and am all set on that front. I also noticed that the panel below the SO239 connector that held the 4-pin power connector for 72 and 12 volts was missing and the standard 2-pin Motorola power connector was sticking out. OK, so I thought that someone had used that to power the radio instead of digging up the proper connector.

The seller had no idea what it was. When he saw my buddy and I looking at it he asked us what we thought it was. I explained to him that it was what they called a "Clean Cab" locomotive radio, that they were of standardized construction so that any manufacturer's radio would slot right it if needed. He said it was left over when his dad died, he worked as a communications engineer for a couple electronics firms but none were involved in railroads as far as he knew. How and why his dad had this radio was a mystery. It had been in his garage for years.

There are no property tags, engravings or other markings for any railroads on the radio at all. The display screen protector was still present but one can see evidence of age.

When I got it home I connected it to power and it came on normally. I connected it to an antenna in my attic and it seemed to receive the local rail channels as well as the scanners. I connected it to my one outside antenna (Omni-X) thru the multicoupler and it seems to pick up every bit as good on the rail and NOAA weather channels as the scanners.

To help avoid accidentally transmitting on it I set the TX channel to one of the WX channels which is automatically locked out for transmit. I also have it on a separate antenna so that if I do accidentally press a the PTT, DISP or a number (DTMF) button while on a RR channel for TX I won't blow up a multicoupler.

For now I will use it to monitor my local railroad channel. If I ever get access to a DOS computer with the proper low-power Spectra cable, RIB and the RSS I might put some 2M channels in it or reprogram the rail channels with no TX or change the TX to some innocuous frequency if possible. I used to have all that but sold it with the last of the radios I had that used them.

For the power I replaced the 2-pin Moto plug with PowerPoles and added a power switch. I have it in my shack connected to my main power supply and I usually leave that n overnight as the scanners log activity. Since the RRS lacks a power switch (it is on all the time when power is applied) and the lowest volume level is still loud enough to be heard from the bedroom this allows me to turn it off at night and leave the scanners running.

While capable of digital and trunking it appears this radio is not flashed for either. Back in 2006 when this radio was built Moto was still pushing Astro digital for the railroads which eventually went with NXDN. If they ever do make the switch to NXDN I will end up with a 20 pound doorstop but for now it is a cool way to listen to my local railroad. Since it lacks a scan feature it just sits on my local Road channel and frees up the scanner I used to use for that so I can use that for other channels.

It does however do narrowband on the rail channels, Channels 001-097 are the wide band channels and 101-197 are narrowband. 201-207 are the NOA WX channels. They make for an easy way to check the RX sensitivity!

For $20 I think I found a great toy. Even if it turned out not to work it would be a neat shelf display but since it does work so well it will be a useful piece in my shack.
View attachment 176270
Nice Snag!:love:
 

jeepsandradios

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Jul 29, 2012
Messages
2,341
Location
East of the Mississippi
Clean unit. My last one was so beat up I assumed it was dragged across the US on the tracks ! Kinda wish I had not sold mine. They were solid little receivers. Well done for $20
 

N9JIG

Sheriff
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Joined
Dec 14, 2001
Messages
6,041
Location
Far NW Valley
Hope the caps hold out until you get your $20 worth out of it.
Yeah, that ran across my mind too. I have dealt with that with other vintage gear like Icom R7000's as well as older Moto gear in the past.

If (or more likely: when) the capacitors go bad on this radio it will then become a display piece.

I think I have gotten my $20 (well $24 now considering I bought the case screws) out of it in the fun I have been having with it. Even if it didn't work at all I would have been happy with the investment.
 

wa8pyr

Retired and playing radio whenever I want.
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Messages
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Ohio
I passed on a clean Railroad Spectra (for $50) at the local railroad show a few years ago; regret it to this day. I'll give you $30 for the one you got. :p
 

N9JIG

Sheriff
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Messages
6,041
Location
Far NW Valley
So now that I have played with it for a week or so I have a couple observations, mostly good:

1) The audio quality is second to none! While not surprised so much I am impressed. I have been in loud locomotive cabs at speed and the ability for a railroad radio to punch thru the loud environment has been impressive, the actual voice quality in a quiet environment is even more so.

2) I wish there was an RX light. While not a deal killer, it would be nice to have some sort of light come on when the radio is un-squelched as I have a boatload of radios going here.

3) Current draw is less than I imagined. When squelched it draws about .6 amps. At low volume (1 or 2 bars) it draws about .7 amps. At full volume (earsplitting!) it draws about 3.5 amps. This is derived from the ammeter built in to the power supply.

4) The darn thing gets loud! In the office I keep the volume at 1 or 2 bars, anything higher might wake up the dead people in the cemetery a couple miles away.

5) I have a line on programming. A local friend has the equipment and I might be able to pop in a few local 2M repeaters and simplex channels in it.

6) I am on the hunt for a handset or hand mic for it. While not critical, when I get it reprogrammed (See #5 above) it would be handy.

7) I know it is only a matter of time before the caps give out, the radio was built in 2006 so is already 18 or 19 years old but it shows no sign of distress.

8) It gets only slightly warm, barely noticeable.

9) Since I have TX disabled by channel selection I feel comfortable connecting it to the outside antenna via the multicoupler. This allows me to hear an additional WX station, up in Flagstaff, so I figure it is as sensitive as any of the scanners connected to the same antenna. While this is to be expected on a new radio, the fact that it is almost old enough to vote makes that somewhat surprising. I am hearing the dispatcher coming from at least 2 towers I was unable to hear in the past.

All in all I lucked out finding this. I passed it up on the table a few times, and only went back there as I was called to meet a friend at "the table with the railroad radio". We started talking about it and I took a longer view at it. I called a friend who knows a lot more about these than I and he assured me that it was narrowband capable so I took a chance on it.
 

wa8pyr

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2) I wish there was an RX light. While not a deal killer, it would be nice to have some sort of light come on when the radio is un-squelched as I have a boatload of radios going here.
Why not use the COR signal on the accessory connector to light up an LED?
 

wa8pyr

Retired and playing radio whenever I want.
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Do you know what pin it is and the proper voltage LED to use?
Not offhand. The railroad Spectra is something of a different beast, and the connectors are different. I know there are connectors for an additional control head (if used, usually installed on the conductor's side of the cab) and a service port, plus a couple of others. Between them, there's probably something which goes high or low when a signal is received; an LED and pull-up resistor would probably do the trick.

Waitaminnit.... you're a ham, you're supposed to be able to figure this stuff out! :p
 

AM909

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I assume the A/D button toggles the A and D LEDs in the display? How about re-purposing one of those LEDs for a really clean solution?

Or are there maybe translucent replacements for the hole plugs around the A/D button, either for light-up buttons or indicators (maybe even one pre-printed MON or BUSY)?

One random component source shows a 5 mm LED drawing 15 mA having a voltage drop of about 3.4V. So, hook up a resistor from 13.8 V to the LED anode (usually the longer lead) and an active-low COR/TOR/TOS signal to the LED cathode (shorter lead from flattened side of lens). The resistor would be about (13.8 - 3.4) / 0.015 = 693 ohms. A 750 ohm, 1/4-watt should work. This assumes the COR can deliver at least 15 mA and is OK with being pulled up to the 13.8V supply.
 
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