GE Quest Railroad Clean Cab VHF (148-174Mhz) Radio 12R Series II 50W Train

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Silent Key
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Hope it's OK to post this here for all you railroad buffs. This it not my listing and I am not affiliated with the seller in anyway. This looks like a nice opportunity for you guys. Hope you don't mind me posting it. He claims to have more than 10 available!

GE Quest Railroad Clean Cab VHF (148-174Mhz) Radio 12R Series II 50W Train


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lenk911

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Any idea who really made these radios? I was an engineer with GE Mobile Radio in some of its last years of existence and we recommended Lynchburg build a locomotive radio. But the marketing people rejected it because Motorola owned the train radio market and the electrical environmental protections/voltages/transients made the product too expensive with limited sales. Motorola may have owned the train radio market then but GE was fast becoming owner of the locomotive market over Electromotive. Shame to have to put a brand M radio in these locomotives.
 

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Any idea who really made these radios? I was an engineer with GE Mobile Radio in some of its last years of existence and we recommended Lynchburg build a locomotive radio. But the marketing people rejected it because Motorola owned the train radio market and the electrical environmental protections/voltages/transients made the product too expensive with limited sales. Motorola may have owned the train radio market then but GE was fast becoming owner of the locomotive market over Electromotive. Shame to have to put a brand M radio in these locomotives.

I really don't know anything about them but it's tempting to pick one up. It's preprogrammed with all the common VHF analog railroad frequencies, which are still in use in my area. How are the receivers in these? I'd think they'd be very good.
 

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I was assuming these can run on 12VDC...then I thought maybe not? I just saw a Youtube video where they were testing a Riton Clean Cab radio and they were feed it 72V. Anyone know?

Thanks!
 

fxdscon

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I was assuming these can run on 12VDC...then I thought maybe not? I just saw a Youtube video where they were testing a Riton Clean Cab radio and they were feed it 72V. Anyone know?

Thanks!
From the Ebay description.....

Units will require a 12 volt DC power source capable of handling up to 50 watts of power.
 

wa8pyr

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I was assuming these can run on 12VDC...then I thought maybe not? I just saw a Youtube video where they were testing a Riton Clean Cab radio and they were feed it 72V. Anyone know?

Every clean cab radio I've ever seen has a large, 4-pin connector for external power; two pins are for the 72vdc standard on locomotives these days, while the other two are for 12vdc.

The problem is finding the big connector at a reasonable price; they're not cheap. I used to have a 4-channel locomotive radio (the same form factor but made just before the all-channel radios hit the market) which I used for RX only, for which I simply used alligator clips to the proper 12vdc pins on the big connector.
 

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Silent Key
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Every clean cab radio I've ever seen has a large, 4-pin connector for external power; two pins are for the 72vdc standard on locomotives these days, while the other two are for 12vdc.

The problem is finding the big connector at a reasonable price; they're not cheap. I used to have a 4-channel locomotive radio (the same form factor but made just before the all-channel radios hit the market) which I used for RX only, for which I simply used alligator clips to the proper 12vdc pins on the big connector.

These are supplied with the appropriate connector and pre-wired with a pigtail for 12VDC. They're also supplied with the programming cable AND software! I guess it's safe to assume they can't be programmed out of band for receive? I'm thinking maybe MURS?

DOH! Don't know what's wrong with me today...just reread the ad: 148 - 174 MHz!



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MDScanFan

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I searched for a bit and could not find any references to Rx performance or reviews of this radio.
 

AK9R

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From the Ebay description.....
Units will require a 12 volt DC power source capable of handling up to 50 watts of power.
I wonder how many people will be mislead by that statement. 50 watts at 12 volts is about 4.2 amps. But, I'm guessing that radio draws a lot more than 4.2 amps when transmitting at 50 watts RF output.
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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Will it do narrow band? It is not the latest model. I think there is a 3D digital model.
 

MDScanFan

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Do you know what page they are on? I did take a look at that manual but did not see performance specs. Perhaps I missed them.

Moreover than performance specs, in my searching I could not not find any feedback from users of this radio.

The manual I posted covers all the performance specs.
 

nickwilson159

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We used them at a shortline I worked at. The 12RIIs had poor sensitivity & selectivity compared to the Ritrons and Astro Spectras we used. The 3D series seemed much better on both fronts.

The original 12R model was a Harmon unit, which GE got when they purchased them.
 
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