Questions about Motorola MTX950 900mhz radios and 900 vs. UHF

[chas3]

Hi Folks,

I use these boards often for referrence, but due to my lack of knowledge do not often post.

I have an opportunity to buy a pair of new Motorola MTX950 900mhz. radios for a decent price. These would be for personal use, radio-to-radio only, and would replace the pro-quality 2-watt UHF-GMRS handhelds that I have now.

We use the radios for simple family stuff: On cruise ships, in hotels/resorts, etc. and have often found that the UHF radios will lose range on larger cruise ships, especially if my wife is in the cabin and I am at the other end of the ship.

So, in fear of sounding like the newbie that I am, I have a few questions:

Is there much gained in 2.5 watt 900mhz radios over 2-watt UHF radios? Do I get better steel/concrete structure penetration and lose out on range outdoors? What should/can be expected from each radio in terms of range indoors and out?

Am I better off buying 4-5 watt GMRS radios, instead of the MTX950, for better structure penetration?

From the little I know about radios, and these in particular, I know that the MTX950 can be used for trunking & repeater use or just for "talkaround" radio to radio. These units apparently have only 1-channel programmed into them, which is 935.0125. What would you want to have programmed into the 16 channels for personal use(naturally assuming you had a license for those freqs)?

I did look at these units and read through the manuals. I see that you can choose many different functions for the 3 or 4 buttons on the radios, but it does not tell you all of the options available for programming. Is there some kind of a programming worksheet, that shows me all the options for that radio, that can be filled out prior to taking the radios to an authorized Motorola programmer?

Any other help, input or information would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance to all!

 

[N_Jay]

First, if you are in the US you need a license.
Second, in other countries that band may or may not be assigned to business, military, ham, or other uses.
Third, I would not expect you to notice any significant range difference, Maybe even a little bit of loss.

 

[tunnelmot]

From what I hear, the noise floor is getiing so bad on 900mhz anyways. Seems all the spread spectrum junk is now trashing the band. I thought about getting a 900 ham repeater going, but the horror stories of other ham users scared me away.

But, if you get your ticket, I *believe* these can be programmed on 900 ham fairly easily, if you got 'em for a jaw-dropping price, it may be worth it just for the "cool" MTX factor.

Rich

 

[chas3]

Thanks for the replies folks!

I have another (stupid) question:

Does the housing & battery of this radio accept the circuit board/guts of any other radios? What I am wondering is could I swap out the insides with some used Motorola GMRS 4-watt radio into my new housings (to wash my hands of the whole 900mhz thing)?

 

[gatekeep]

Thanks for the replies folks!

I have another (stupid) question:

Does the housing & battery of this radio accept the circuit board/guts of any other radios? What I am wondering is could I swap out the insides with some used Motorola GMRS 4-watt radio into my new housings (to wash my hands of the whole 900mhz thing)?

Yea, no thats not possible.

 

[zz0468]

From what I hear, the noise floor is getiing so bad on 900mhz anyways. Seems all the spread spectrum junk is now trashing the band. I thought about getting a 900 ham repeater going, but the horror stories of other ham users scared me away.

I've heard some horror stories, and I've heard of some great successes. Of course, the frequencies that the OP's radios are on are outside the part 15/amateur band, so are not subject to all the noise - at least not the same way the amateur portion of the band is.

But, if you get your ticket, I *believe* these can be programmed on 900 ham fairly easily, if you got 'em for a jaw-dropping price, it may be worth it just for the "cool" MTX factor.

The MTX series *CAN* be persuaded to go into the ham band, but not without performing some unnatural acts on them. It's the GTX series that just work there. The MTX requires an additional microprocessor (PIC?) to interpret and translate the commands sent to the VCO and synthesizer. It's NOT a beginner project, or one for the feint of heart.