Motorola 1970's Ham radio

[MTS2000des]

Motorola was not known for cheap 2-way radios. But we did stress quality. Every specification was verified. Radio prototypes were drop-tested, vibration tested, field tested, and life tested. And we tested them over the full temperature range -30C to 60C and frequency range. They had to work and survive I think 11 volts to 16 volts. For temperature testing, the radios would transmit 1 minute on, 4 minutes off for 8 hours, and then 5 minutes on, 15 minutes off for one hour. This was not true for some of our competitors. The plastic cases were ABS, which was nearly indestructible.

The first Triton prototype had a handle, because it was assumed that boat owners would not leave the radio on the boat, but take it with them. Hence the easily detachable cradle. But marketing decided the handle added too much to the cost.

We had some discussion about the color of the heat sink. "Everyone" knows that a black heat sink works better than a white one. We tested that and found that any color paint worked better than bare aluminum, but white worked as well as black..

List price usually ended up 5 times the manufacturing cost. The difference was not all profit. Other expenses were factored in, like development, marketing, and warranty

I have over 7,000 MSI subscribers on a 15 site simulcast 2021.1 800MHz system(mostly APX, some legacy but fewer as they are being replaced with N70s). MSI: you get what you pay for. A subscriber product designed to perform. Not perfect but very few issues and build quality is not one of them. A system designed to perform to save user's lives and keep people safe. Yes it was millions. That's what tools not toys cost folks.

Today's hams are too cheap, spoiled and technically incompetent to appreciate what quality subscriber equipment really costs and why. I was a child when the Triton and Metrum were in their prime, but back then, the technical bar for being a ham was much higher than the YouTube/Bowturd crowd demand today and I can see why Motorola would offer a commercial amateur product, even if it was a "one off" of a marine or LMR subscriber.

 

[prcguy]

I suspect most of the Motorola Metrum's were sold through Henry Radio to the Beverly Hills, West LA crowd. I remember reading the ads in the early 70s thinking who can afford this sh*t?