NX5600 question

[nhfdcadet]

Hi, I havent dealt much with the NX5600, however the FD that I work for still uses low band pretty regularly, in conjunction with UHF.
Will the NX5600 go down to 33mhz? I know sometimes you can get radios a little lower than they advertise.

 

[mmckenna]

That would be quite a stretch from the current 39MHz lower limit.
Software would error out, but might take the frequency (haven't tried this, I'm using all VHF and 7/800 models and don't need to take them out of band). Probably going that far out would require retuning.

And then there's the whole type certification issue taking them outside their design specs.

What drove Kenwood to release the 5600 was the California Highway Patrol agreeing to buy a few thousand of them. Not sure they see much of a market elsewhere and I haven't heard any plans for htem to release a lower bandsplit version. With the end of the TK-6110 radio, it's getting really hard to find low band gear.

 

[nhfdcadet]

That would be quite a stretch from the current 39MHz lower limit.
Software would error out, but might take the frequency (haven't tried this, I'm using all VHF and 7/800 models and don't need to take them out of band). Probably going that far out would require retuning.

And then there's the whole type certification issue taking them outside their design specs.

What drove Kenwood to release the 5600 was the California Highway Patrol agreeing to buy a few thousand of them. Not sure they see much of a market elsewhere and I haven't heard any plans for htem to release a lower bandsplit version. With the end of the TK-6110 radio, it's getting really hard to find low band gear.

Thats the problem we are running into, cant really get anything new, all of our low band channels are 33mhz, we have a mix of radius mobiles, CDM1250, vertex, and kenwoods.
We use a combination of UHF and Low band, I figured it might be cool if we were able to do a dual deck single head setup with the uhf and low band but thatd require that radio to get down to 33 obviously. we might be SOL

 

[RussH]

We're having the same problem in my County as well, as I still have a few agencies that are utterly dependent on their existing low-band systems. I have to laugh every time they reach out to me looking for a replacement portable. The best I can tell them is to try their luck on flea-bay and take their chances. Thankfully, the existing TK-690s are pretty rock-solid.

 

[kd4efm]

in response to the question of going down that far, Kenwood emailed me back, and the software will not allow it to "slide" to 33 MHz.

 

[KK6ZTE]

We're having the same problem in my County as well, as I still have a few agencies that are utterly dependent on their existing low-band systems. I have to laugh every time they reach out to me looking for a replacement portable. The best I can tell them is to try their luck on flea-bay and take their chances. Thankfully, the existing TK-690s are pretty rock-solid.

Even the classic ball-and-spring mounts are NLA from Motorola and from PCTEL. It's getting rough supporting low band.

 

[AK9R]

Even the classic ball-and-spring mounts

Breedlove has ball mounts machined from stainless steel and brass. I'm not sure how well unplated brass would hold up in a salty environment (near the ocean or where salt is used on the roads in winter).

https://breedlovemounts.com/store/ols/products/cb-ball-on-3-in-plates-with-ring-terminal-connection