Old Radios Recyling?

[mikepdx]

GIVE the old public safety or gov't radios, if serviceable, to hams.

Great idea, except for one thing:
The vast majority of hams want 'plug and play' convenience.
They want to lay down the plastic and sit back in their easy chair.
Servicing and experimentation isn't in too many ham's vocabulary.

Used radio prices have CRASHED...
Ebay was flooded with used radios. My state's surplus auctions have been filled with VHF gear,
mainly due to the switch to the new statewide 800Mhz system, but also because of the wideband stuff getting dumped.

Sweet music to my ears.
The trickle of high quality surplus VHF-UHF gear for hams is now becoming a deluge.
Time to make my shopping list.

My personal thanks to the FCC for the narrowband mandate,
to Homeland Security for being more than generous with grant monies,
and lastly to aggressive salesmen peddling trunked systems.

 

[SteveC0625]

WirelessRadio.net - FCC Part 90 VHF UHF Radio Narrowbanding Info, Resources, & Compliance Updates has been a great resource for me in learning about this issue.

All I can find there is that two watt gear is presently exempt from 6.25 khz certification for efficiency mode capability.

A document on that site from the FCC Engineering and Technology department stated that any two watt radios used in conjunction with repeaters would have to meet the narrowband requirements. That is all it said.

An Industry Canada Narrowband Mandate went into effect January 1, 2004. I found this on one of Motorola's FAQ sheets for narrowbanding:
How is Narrowbanding being managed in Canada? If I operate an LMR system in VHF or UHF in Canada do I follow the FCC requirements?
Licensees operating in Canada are not subject to the FCC rules, but instead are regulated by Industry Canada, which also set Narrowbanding requirements for all VHF and UHF land mobile radio equipment. While the intent is similar, the rules and deadlines vary. Similar to the U.S., since February 1997, all radios certified after that date were required to include 12.5 kHz efficiency. Industry Canada licensee dates are generally more aggressive than the FCC dates, requiring that as of February 1997, all new license applications must be in 12.5 kHz efficiency in the urban spectrum congested areas, and that as of January 1, 2004, all existing 25 kHz efficiency systems are considered “non-standard” in those spectrum congested areas. Industry Canada however, excluded the less populated areas from required Narrowbanding, and has not been consistent in enforcing these rules in the urban areas. While it also defined rules for meeting 6.25 kHz efficiency, it has placed a moratorium on those rules, which it will likely not lift before the FCC makes any future decisions. Licensees should contact their Regional Industry Canada office for Narrowbanding requirements in their area. http://www.actcom.net/Narrowbanding/RO-99-2227.pdf for more.

I don't know exactly what is going on in Canada currently compared to when the FAQ was written, but I am seeing Ebay auctions for WB gear coming out of Canada now. That suggests to me that the Canadian market for used WB only gear is probably going to shrink pretty quickly.

A side view suggests that both the US and Canada aren't setting any deadline for 6.25 yet. (Whew!)

Yes, the hams will have a vast supply of WB gear to pick from, but as I said before, it is likely there will be a lot more equipment available than the hams can absorb.

I really think a lot of this equipment is going to end up alongside old PC's at the salvage/recycling depots.

 

[wuzafuzz]

Great idea, except for one thing:
The vast majority of hams want 'plug and play' convenience.
They want to lay down the plastic and sit back in their easy chair.
Servicing and experimentation isn't in too many ham's vocabulary.
.

True for some but not for all. Besides, my thought was to donate radios to ARES/RACES type groups, where if only one member can program them up, the rest will benefit. As I said, it's a partial solution for old radios.

Availability of programming software and the accompanying licensing agreements may very well mean the death of those radios. It's not like a county or city can donate their copy of an old RSS or CPS.

 

[wuzafuzz]

I think you will find that there are going to dozens and dozens of WB radios available for each ham in the country. Probably way too many for anyone anywhere to ever utilize even a small portion of them.

That would be why I presented it as a partial solution. It could be of great benefit to amateur groups that are giving back to the community, and would at least minimize the waste government is so well known for.

 

[SteveC0625]

That would be why I presented it as a partial solution. It could be of great benefit to amateur groups that are giving back to the community, and would at least minimize the waste government is so well known for.

This is probably the only avenue of sending WB only radios to a good home. ARES/RACES and other ham operator groups could pretty much decide what makes and models they would want to acquire. If I was involved, I would consider ease of programming and repair and stock as many of one preferred make and model as I could find. And I think there will be a lot of them to find! Some for use and some for parts.

Businesses disposing of their gear in this manner can take a tax write-off. Unfortunately, other groups that could utilize similar stock piles won't be able to do so because they are subject to the same narrowband mandate as the rest of us.

It is too bad that only the hams can make use of this stuff. There is gonna be a whole bunch of it available.

 

[N4KVE]

Great idea, except for one thing:
The vast majority of hams want 'plug and play' convenience.
They want to lay down the plastic and sit back in their easy chair.
Servicing and experimentation isn't in too many ham's vocabulary.

Not exactly true. I have 3 mint cond Icom dualband mobiles sitting in the closet, but in my car is a Motorola Spectra with the rare 438-470 MHZ bandsplit. Great radio & no intermod. Yeah it's a hassle to get programmed, but it works great. It really is a shame that their value is falling. Just today I had lunch at Mickey Dee's & they gave me 2 Spectras with my Happy Meal. GARY N4KVE

 

[Alarms50]

Where do you get this from? I have not seen a single thing from the FCC indicating that radios under 10 watts and/or portable radios, are exempt from narrowbanding.

Unless you can provide proof from the FCC or the Rules, please don't spread misinformation.

(Same to nbruark...I know of no 2 watt exemption either).

I too haven't heard this until this post. I've searched to no avail to find any mention of either of these "exemptions".

 

[olderguy]

low band

Narrow banding doesn't apply to frequencies below 150 MHz. Many fire departments will find they can continue to use their old low band radios and pagers, e.g., Minitor II's, for things like voice paging. As departments find other options less than optimal this could become a very viable alternative. Have you checked the prices of low band Minitors lately?