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GE Orion

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Weather-bug-Texas

Weather-bug-Texas

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I just purchased 2 GE Orion's on eBay, but I'm unsure how many channels they are? I'm using these on a desk setup to hopefully provide a local feed. Also, anyone have a good and cheap programmer that can program these? I have a uhf and a vhf mobile.


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ElroyJetson

ElroyJetson

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DO NOT ASK ME FOR HELP PROGRAMMING YOUR RADIO. NO.
The number of channels it can take can be any number from 64 (I've never seen less) to 65,535.

It all depends on the options ordered with the radio when it was purchased originally, or if it was upgraded later.

The only programming option for it is the Harris ProGrammer or RPM software packages. Which are about 300 dollars for conventional only models, and about 2500 dollars (maybe less if you can find a dealer that discounts) for the trunked version.

It's likely that you only need the conventional version of ProGrammer. It should not be too hard to find a dealer that will sell that to you but getting the full trunked version is a bit tougher.

There are no other options for programming the Orion. You use ProGrammer, or you use RPM. RPM being newer and built to support newer radios in addition to the legacy products. And it requires upgrading the firmware in the Orion to be compatible with RPM so really it's not something you even need to worry about. You want the conventional version of ProGrammer.
 
Radioman96p71

Radioman96p71

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Orion radios don't support RPM. ProGrammer R20 was the last to work with he Orion line. M7100 is the oldest mobile that will work with RPM.

You can get ProGrammer R18 just about anywhere online, depending on how good your Google-fu is. R20 can be purchased with RPM Conventional from a dealer for around $400 I think.

Those radios can hold 255 unique frequencies, but they can only have 64 channels per system. It's not easy to fill them up, especially if you try to cover a large area.
 
ElroyJetson

ElroyJetson

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You're right about the Orion not being supported by RPM. I've never actually tried to use RPM on an Orion and actually prefer to use ProGrammer in most cases. The two software packages are certainly similar but I'm just more used to ProGrammer and get around in it a little faster and easier.
 
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