Motorola 1970's Ham radio

[Naucenta]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a 12ch Motorola 2M FM from the early to mid 70's but I can only find brochure or ad photos of the unit. The radio was called a Metrum. Does anybody have any photos of a unit? Thanks very much for your help.

 

[rf_patriot200]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a 12ch Motorola 2M FM from the early to mid 70's but I can only find brochure or ad photos of the unit. The radio was called a Metrum. Does anybody have any photos of a unit? Thanks very much for your help.

Duck duck go has images of it, but didn't find any for sale.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I think it was derived from the Motorola VHF marine radio of that era. I don't think many were sold.

 

[prcguy]

I had one in the 90s and they show up now and then on eBay. They are crystal controlled so if you get a working one and it doesn't have frequencies for your area it could get expensive.

 

[rf_patriot200]

I think it was derived from the Motorola VHF marine radio of that era. I don't think many were sold.

Yeah, I remember a Marine model that looked like that.

 

[Naucenta]

Duck duck go has images of it, but didn't find any for sale.

Thanks I had a look but could only find the vintage adverts. If anybody has one to hand it would be great to see some more photos of the unit.

 

[tweiss3]

If you can get a model number/name from the old advertising, you may be able to find one on eham, qrz, or one of the "boat anchor" sale sites.

 

[Naucenta]

If you can get a model number/name from the old advertising, you may be able to find one on eham, qrz, or one of the "boat anchor" sale sites.

This is all I could find unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a serial or catalog number for the unit

 

[rf_patriot200]

This is all I could find unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a serial or catalog number for the unitView attachment 177127

Yep, that's all I saw too.

 

[tweiss3]

From repeater-builder:

APA=Metrum II 2-meter radios - D23APA and 33APA - derived from the Modar Triton marine radio
(this mobile was Moto's only amateur radio product until the AP73 handheld)

Table of Motorola model number suffixes - a Rosetta Stone article

 

[MTS2000des]

$499 in 1976 dollars is $2767 in 2025 money. I imagine Motorola didn't sell too many, which is why they are a white elephant. Today's crybaby hams piss and moan about buying anything more than a $30 low audio muffleturd aka Baofeng. I imagine in 1976, there weren't many with that kind of cash, not including the $9 per channel crystals x 12=$108 which comes to another $599 in today's money, raising the price of your Metrum II to the equivalent of $3366- that could buy an APX8000. Which is why so few have them in the ham world. Luxury radios!

 

[Echo4Thirty]

$499 in 1976 dollars is $2767 in 2025 money. I imagine Motorola didn't sell too many, which is why they are a white elephant. Today's crybaby hams piss and moan about buying anything more than a $30 low audio muffleturd aka Baofeng. I imagine in 1976, there weren't many with that kind of cash, not including the $9 per channel crystals x 12=$108 which comes to another $599 in today's money, raising the price of your Metrum II to the equivalent of $3366- that could buy an APX8000. Which is why so few have them in the ham world. Luxury radios!

Ill bet Alphonso had one!

 

[hill]

Yeah, I remember a Marine model that looked like that

Motorola marine radios would called Triton.

They seamed to made marine radios from 1970's until much later like the sometime in 1990's.

I would guess they were marketed to government or commercial.

I saw a Triton that was about 6-12 channels, but had a guard receiver also on Channel 13.

 

[mmckenna]

raising the price of your Metrum II to the equivalent of $3366- that could buy an APX8000. Which is why so few have them in the ham world. Luxury radios!

That's just extravagant luxury, even for a radio with an iPhone built in….

 

[kayn1n32008]

$499 in 1976 dollars is $2767 in 2025 money. I imagine Motorola didn't sell too many, which is why they are a white elephant. Today's crybaby hams piss and moan about buying anything more than a $30 low audio muffleturd aka Baofeng. I imagine in 1976, there weren't many with that kind of cash, not including the $9 per channel crystals x 12=$108 which comes to another $599 in today's money, raising the price of your Metrum II to the equivalent of $3366- that could buy an APX8000. Which is why so few have them in the ham world. Luxury radios!

This is why I'm okay with a $150-$250 barrier to entry. In the grand scheme of things it's not a lot of money to buy a decent(ish) entry level radio. It keeps the baofeng mafia with their 'wercs grate' garbage from polluting the bands.

Edit: I can buy quality LMR gear for both VHF and UHF for under $250/radio all day long on the secondary market. All my LMR gear has been sub $300/radio, or less, for the better part of a decade.

 

[Naucenta]

Motorola marine radios would called Triton.

They seamed to made marine radios from 1970's until much later like the sometime in 1990's.

I would guess they were marketed to government or commercial.

I saw a Triton that was about 6-12 channels, but had a guard receiver also on Channel 13.

Yep the Modar Triton. I had a catalog a while back promoting the Triton. There are quite a few of those around on ebay. The unit was white and black. The main casing on the unit is identical to the metrum so I'm guessing if the Metrum didn't do so well they repurposed the injection molds for the Metrum to produce the Modar Triton.