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Motorola EXPO - What year did it come out?
- Thread starter clavo2
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MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
1982
RFI-EMI-GUY
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1982 would be about right. I remember being in a meeting where it was being released. A product manager threw one from one end of the room to the back ( I ducked), to make a point that it was rugged. They were, with exception of the knob cover.
I’m guessing throwing was taught to Motorola salespeople in the day. I remember a STX being thrown at a wall ( and surviving).
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
I have a "Communications Equipment Selection Guide" (remember those) from 1984, and it specifically called out the 1982 intro date for the Expo. The black top escutcheon radios were submersible, the silver top ones were not.
They had a Hirose accessory connector, and supported DES encryption in some models. You can still buy one here!
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
Fewer and fewer people even know what crystals are. Maybe someone will chime in and offer their services. There are very few places to even order new crystals. ICM got out of the business in 2017. Bomar is still in business. Short of part 97 and GMRS, there aren't any uses for these old goats. Yes, they were neat, but quite frankly if I never see one again, it won't be too soon. They drifted like hell and were a PITA to tune. Quite frankly the VISAR ran circles around it, even with it's durability problems, it was 100 times a better radio being a Jedi and all tuning was via softpot.
RFI-EMI-GUY
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3 crystals for a standard repeat and talk around configuration. Not too hard to tune. I did have one once that would not net the receive frequency properly. They are solid radios in every respect. I prefer Systems Sabers now.
RFI-EMI-GUY
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Actually not a bad deal for some secret squirrel radios.
Compared to the old HT220s I once had to lug about and use, the Expo was a dream come true.
RFI-EMI-GUY
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It is too bad they did not continue using that form factor in a smaller synthesized radio. Instead they made radios chunkier in anticipation of P25.
You should put the short battery on it to show off how cool that form factor was for the time. I remember it being slimmer than my slim HT220 I think, too.
As far as history, my recollection is that the intent was for covert stuff. The one I had was crystalled around 410 MHz.
The one in the previous pic I posted is a VHF, but in the late 80's I worked at an amusement park that used UHF Expos and HT90's. A few of the Expos we had were submersible models, assigned to our water park for the lifeguards. The attached pic shows a couple I have in my display. Note one of them has a 2 channel toggle (which is more common and like the one I carried years ago), and the other has a 4 channel knob, where it appears 2 of the channels are (or could be) encrypted.
Attachments
Thanks for all the replies. I've been searching for the VHF service manual forever. I haven't seen it scanned or PDF. If anyone has a copy of either the VHF or UHF service manual, I'll send you a prepaid mailer if you will let me borrow it for a few days. I will *promptly* return it. I've let some people borrow some of my rare paper service manuals for old moto... and then have to bug the person to send back over and over for months.... I will not do that! Thx. This is going to be a hard one to find I think. Hoping to get lucky.
ElroyJetson
Getting tired of all the stupidity.
Great radios especially for their time. Yes, I totally agree, they should have modernized the concept in the same form factor. Imagine an APXpo. 16 trunked talkgroups or channels, a very basic radio, ideal for the regular patrolman. Two knobs, a small LCD channel display, integrated bluetooth, and THAT SIZE and form factor. Everybody loved the Expo within its severe limitations.
So a modern Visar.
ElroyJetson
Getting tired of all the stupidity.
I'd forgotten about the Visar!
Ah the Visar, with the paper thin circuit boards. Seriously, if you have never disassembled one you can't imagine what it's like. The entire thing flexes like...well a flex circuit. What a total POS.
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