Opinions on Motorola JT1000 VHF..(more)

[DewAddict]

Anyone here use this radio and can provide opinion would be great. Just thinking about it as it can be programmed somewhat via the keypad. I realize not all of the programming can be done on the pad but the frequency and PL can and thats most important to me.

Whats a fair price for a used one these days and being Motorola, I assume a long life for the most part. When were they mosty popular? Mid 90's??

Thanks,

Rob

 

[pfish]

I normally see them around $500 or so. That is way overpriced, considering it only does 16 channels. It is not worth it at all. It would be cheaper to buy a MTS2000 (like 256 channels or so) and have someone program it for you.

If you just have $500 to blow, then go for it. But I wouldn't recommend it at all

Or actually if you have a little bit more, go with the HT1550. It has 160 channels I believe and it is programmable via the front keypad (just like the JT1000). It is alot newer also.

 

[2112]

If front-panel programmability is more important to you than lots of channels, then the JT1000 is the way to go. Radio was popular mid 90's to around 2000. Lots more info for the JT1000 is here:

http://www.batlabs.com/visar.html

Here's one that was up for auction that completed recently with no bids:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MOTOROLA-JT1000...9722423801QQcategoryZ4674QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It was even a "federal" model that "needed no key". Of course, with the info at Batlabs, a key might not be required regardless.

Looks like fair price for a JT1000 is a little under $500 for good, clean radio. HT1550's seem to go from $500-$750 depending on features and condition.

As an owner of both Waris (HT750/HT1250/HT1550) and Jedi (HT1000/JT1000/MT2000/MTS2000) radios, I can say that Waris's, while newer, are definitely not their eqaul in terms of transmit/receive performance. I also believe that the Jedi's are more durable. The Waris's seem to have more features and their user interface more friendly, tho. More info on them is here:

http://www.batlabs.com/htpro.html

Hope this helps!

 

[Mozilla]

Jt1000

Actually while the JT1000 is a very nice radio, look at the Bendix King Line..EPH and later date radios. You will find one at a better price... even close to new. It has front face and computer programming capability. They are durable and also have 14, 24 and 210 channel
units available. Accessories are easily available and there is both factory and non factory service depots that cost a lot less on repair. While I am a Motorola fan, I use the Bendix for my VHF front face stuff .

 

[OpSec]

Ditto on the BK radios, and if you are really loaded with $$ then look at a Thales 25 portable.

The JT1000 is nice, and it fills a void for a specific cross section of radio users, in that it's FPP capable. However, for it's price 16 channels is a bit small. Even my old-by-comparison Ericsson M-PA portable that is FPP is 64 channels and has an alphanumeric display.

 

[DewAddict]

Well thanks to all who responded, I have purchased an MT2000 160 Channel unit and it will come programmed as needed for a lot less than the JT1000. For you motorola buffs, can the firmware or Flashcode as I think they call it be updated? My radio will have HOST VERSION R02.01 on it. What is the newest for this radio and what difference will it make to get it?

Thanks for the info,

Rob

 

[OpSec]

The MTS2000 is flash-upgradeable for new firmware, and the MT2000 is not flash-upgradeable and needs a trip to the Depot for anything to happen with it. I'm not so well versed in the Jedi line of radios, but it looks like your firmware is on the older side (mid-late 90's).

If you don't need exotic things like GE Star or QCII, then it won't matter. The radio by default supports PL, zones, scan etc.

 

[Mozilla]

Mt 2000

Good radio, and you can have one of the buttons or menu screens set for direct/talkaround/simplex. Also I cannot remember if the radio does selectable PL, known as MPL. Another nice feature is the ALpha for either naming or just having the freq show up on display. PS there are Double AA packs available so that you could live off of alkalines if need be.

As to the Thales/ RACAL 25... ooh yeah baby... I own 2, and they are sweet.

 

[DewAddict]

I am really happy with it so far. It is set-up to do scan via the keypad and hi/low power as well.

I really want to be the "boss" of my own radio so I was thinking about purchasing the RSS from Motorola. Do you know the process to buy the software and how much it costs for the MTs/MT series radios? Also, can it be run on Windows 2000. I know nothing about it, or if I can even purchase not being a dealer. How does it work, if you know?

Rob

 

[DewAddict]

Hi again,

I finally got through to Motorola and found that I can order the Software and cable. But the software for my MT2000 is DOS based and requires a Windows 98 computer according to tech sales at Moto. Although they do give you the WIndows based software for the MTS2000 and MTX8000/9000 so thats cool you get both but its really exspensive as expected.

I am still hesitant on buying it though as I am told that the DOS software requires a SLOW 286 computer to work correctly. This software is dated Feb 10, 06 so its fairly new. Maybe they have reworked it to work on a Windows 98 computer??? Anyone know???

Rob

 

[mancow]

Good radio, and you can have one of the buttons or menu screens set for direct/talkaround/simplex. Also I cannot remember if the radio does selectable PL, known as MPL. Another nice feature is the ALpha for either naming or just having the freq show up on display. PS there are Double AA packs available so that you could live off of alkalines if need be.

As to the Thales/ RACAL 25... ooh yeah baby... I own 2, and they are sweet.

Thread hijack...

I have a couple of them too. But, my batteries decided to all go recently. At $220 a piece it's a real ***** to replace them.

Have you seen the Datron Guardian series? I got to demo one. It's a Thales/Racal 25 inside an XTS3000 type body and it uses XTS accessories and batteries. If you don't care about subersibility it's the way to go. They are about a grand cheaper and the same Thales25 sofware can be used to program them.

 

[Mozilla]

Datrons

Yes, I have seen them but not played with one, and yes you are correct, if Ruggedized Saber owners think their batteries are costly..try Thales/ RACAL. I luckily have a few good batteries and the double a packs.... but would definitely look into moddding a dead battery or making a plug in adapter to go to a seperate battery source...

As to the MT2000, you can either find a $50 laptop , or set up your computer as a dual boot with DOS as the other OS. There are many articles on this. I have used Pentium 3s to program MTS/ MT series, but running out of true DOS. But always back up first what you read, before you continue.

 

[silverbk]

Get your battery packs rebuilt at http://www.primecell.com (I am not affiliated) I have sent them hundreds of batteries and you cannot even tell they were rebuilt. Don't ask me how they open the cases, but they work great when you get them back.