GP 340 on eBay

[Angelo6278]

I have recently been looking for an economical solution for my business communication and did a little searching on eBay. I came up with the GP 340 model from Hong Kong with a very affordable, and seemed like it would work for my needs and my pocket. Anyone have any input on the quality of the items, and the legality of using it in the US on a very small scale?

 

[gary123]

Motorolas quality is good regardless of the market the product is produced for.

the troubles you will have is that the radios are not type aproved by the FCC, that means you could theoretically loose the hardware and or face fines if cought using them. This is more true for a commercial operation than just someone using them for camping or something.

the next issue will be programming them, unless you get the CPS (or know someone with it) you wont be able to program them to a usable frequency. The frequency bands in other countries are not the same as they are here in the US.

 

[W2NJS]

And the next issue will be the fact that Motorola most likely will refuse to service your 340 if it's sent in for servicing in the US because if a certain radio is not sold in a country it's not supported by Motorola in that country. I once sent in a GP300 that had been made in China, and it was returned to me all fixed, but with a warning not to try sending it in again, event though the 300 at the time was sold in the US. Problem was "my" 300 was not considered to be a US radio. Motorola can be really sticky about this kind of stuff, so beware.

 

[Nasby]

I would skip the GP 340 and go with an HT-1000. They are very affordable on Ebay (often coming with charger, battery and antenna for under $100.00) and many sellers offer free programming.

 

[SteveC0625]

I would skip the GP 340 and go with an HT-1000. They are very affordable on Ebay (often coming with charger, battery and antenna for under $100.00) and many sellers offer free programming.

If anyone is planning to use any radio for any purposes under Part 90 (VHF or UHF), you might want to make sure that the radio can be reprogrammed to narrowband. The deadline is less than 21 months away now, and any communities that have not already switched to narrowband or some other current technology will be switching in the months ahead. That switch will render wideband only radios obsolete.

In the case of the HT1000,the A, B, and C models are not capable of narrowband (12.5 Khz).

Since the OP is looking for a radio solution for business purposes, that would definitely fall under Part 90.

 

[Angelo6278]

From what I gathered these radios came with a programing cable and software, so with a little fussing around with the program I could program them. as far as i am concerned any of the calling features i don't care about just freq. and trans/rec. But what my question was truly about the integrity of these items from china on ebay, and if these radios can operate from radio to radio alone and have a decent range, comparable to that of maybe a cp-200??

 

[N4KVE]

And the next issue will be the fact that Motorola most likely will refuse to service your 340 if it's sent in for servicing in the US because if a certain radio is not sold in a country it's not supported by Motorola in that country. I once sent in a GP300 that had been made in China, and it was returned to me all fixed, but with a warning not to try sending it in again, event though the 300 at the time was sold in the US. Problem was "my" 300 was not considered to be a US radio. Motorola can be really sticky about this kind of stuff, so beware.

All multinational companies have this policy. Say you take a cruise to the Bahamas somewhere, & end up in a duty free shop. You buy a nice Minolta or Nikon camera for half price. Bring it back to the States, & 6 months later it breaks. Don't even think about sending it to the US importer, as they didn't import it, or make any money off it's sale. It will have to go back to the people in the islands who imported it from Japan. For any US importer of any product to warranty an item, they had to have imported that specific product & made profit on it. They have lists of specific ser #'s to verify where the product was sold. GARY N4KVE