i have a Motorola astro spectra with a W9 control head, can anyone tell me how to program this because I just got on at a fire station and bought this radio unprogrammed from ebay so its a waste of space until I can program it for my area and stations frequency!
It can't be stressed enough that to have it programmed properly (and legally) you need to bring the radio to your station's radio shop and have them program it for you with all the correct options, frequencies, tones, etc. This will also ensure that the radio is tagged as using one of the licensed radio slots so your agency won't exceed the number of radios that they're licensed to use. It's also important that you get approval for your radio to be on their system in writing from an official authorized to grant that approval.
You need to be prepared for the possibility that your radio is can't be programmed for their system. This could be for several reasons. Some are due to limitations on the radio and others may be more political.
* Your radio is not on the correct band.
* Your radio is designed for a different sub-band.
* Your radio is not able to be set to narrow-band emissions.
* Your radio is not capable of being set to the correct mode (e.g. your radio is analog only and they're digital; your radio is digital, but uses a different type of digital - P-25 vs MotoTRBO; etc.)
* Agency policy is that only radios owned by the agency can be used on the system.
* Agency is on a larger trunking system and only radios purchased through that system are allowed.
Could you ignore those issues and program the radio yourself (assuming it's compatible)? Sure, but you leave yourself open to having the radio "bricked" (made inoperable where only the system manager can reactivate it) and your position with the department being terminated for failing to adhere to their policies.
