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Photo: Identify this antenna socket on a mic please

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emcomm

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I bought this mic for my Astro Saber and it didn't come with an antenna.

It has been a bear to find the proper antenna for it.

1) What type of connector is this?

2) any clue where I can purchase a UHF stubby for this?

3) Why did they put this antenna connector on this mic - it's so unusual for MOT

thanks guys!
 

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Markinsac

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It looks like someone put a gender changer into the socket in order to use another antenna. As it has a flat spot on the threads, you might consider trying to see if it will break loose. The regular connector shouldn't be pushing up that far, and should be the other gender.

It is a public safety microphone - I have one for a MTS2000. This one looks like mine except for the additional adapter.
 

exkalibur

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That speaker mic is for the Saber, not the Astro Saber. It won't depress the RF switch properly, so the antenna really won't do much at all. However, it is a TNC connector. Note that when this radio was used, they didn't use the SMA style antenna that is so popular now, so they likely used whatever coaxial connector they thought best. Mini UHF wouldn't have been a great choice as there aren't a heck of a lot of portables that use it (IE, sourcing antennas would have been difficult), whereas there were quite a few that used TNC.

I don't think you'll be able to source an antenna from Motorola, but have a look at other antenna manufacturers.

This is the only one I could easily find. 6 inches could be a problem though.
SPWH18FT - Field Tunable 400-512MHz 6" with a covered TNC connector

An alternative would be to attempt replacement of the TNC connector with an SMA allowing you to use any of the current Motorola antennas. You could also attempt to replace it with an MX connector, allowing you to use the stubby antenna that goes directly on the radio.
 

jim202

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It looks like someone put a gender changer into the socket in order to use another antenna. As it has a flat spot on the threads, you might consider trying to see if it will break loose. The regular connector shouldn't be pushing up that far, and should be the other gender.

It is a public safety microphone - I have one for a MTS2000. This one looks like mine except for the additional adapter.

If you don't know any better, please don't tell this person to put a wrench to a perfectly good connector and go breaking it.

That is a standard TNC connector. You can go look at most company portable antenna selections and pick the one you need with that style connector on it.
 

exkalibur

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Forgot to mention: I have one at home, I'll look up the model number and see if if anything pops up. I don't recall seeing a part number on the antenna itself, but I'll have a look.
 

exkalibur

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Here's the part numbers you'd be looking for:

8505309N09 400-440 MHz
8505309N10 440-470 MHz
8505309N11 470-512 MHz

Incidentally, the N09 and N10 are still available from Motorola, for around $20 each.

I haven't messed around with them in quite awhile, but I can't imagine it would be too difficult to make it work on your Astro Saber. I'll have to take another look when I get back. If nothing else, you could likely mod it to be a regular speaker mic with no RF component.
 
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FFPM571

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A saber PS mic will not work with an Astro saber. I tried. They are not interchangeble at all. Even with switching the RF with a small screw in the connector.
 

W2NJS

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TNC stubby antennas for UHF are available from Tessco in Baltimore, and probably from other parts houses as well. Standard Saber radio antenna connectors are single-pole, no ground. Astro Saber and
similar later units are SMA two-pole.
 

Markinsac

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After getting the model number, I was able to see that the connector there WAS OEM. My apologies for responding before having full information. I'd never seen a Motorola connector that stuck that far out.
 

cmdrwill

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The antenna connector on a Motorola PS speaker mic is a standard threaded neilson connector, AKA TNC.
 
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