Vintage Motorola HT220's

[PACNWDude]

Vintage Motorola HT220's, (1960's) Handie-Talkie radios produced by Motorola. The thicker of the two is an IS rated version. Two old radios from a batch that served until the early 1990's in a corporate production and manufacturing setting. I thought this might be of interest.

 

[W9WSS]

Used my own personal HT-220 for law enforcement for many years. Mine had extended channels, PL, and a DTMF pad on the front. I wish I never got rid of it.

 

[iMONITOR]

Hate to say it but they look like something straight out of Radio Shack back in the 60's!

 

[RBMTS]

Will - do you remember the mod that "The Portable Clinic" offered with two channel switches that gave 12 independent TX/RX position selections? Spectronics always had one sitting in the glass case as you walked into their store and hams would longly stare and drool at the sight of it.

 

[W9WSS]

Sure do! Dale Phillips always had some ingenious mods and special features on HT-220's but many more portables, mobiles, and base stations. I heard a rumor that he may be retiring.

 

[K9RPL]

Will - do you remember the mod that "The Portable Clinic" offered with two channel switches that gave 12 independent TX/RX position selections? Spectronics always had one sitting in the glass case as you walked into their store and hams would longly stare and drool at the sight of it.

I remember the guy from the The Portable Clinic at Chicago area hamfests with his own table doing on the spot upgrades. He even came out with a scanner slice for the Omni version. I think its a 6 channel if memory serves.

Getting my hands on an HT220 was one of those "Bucket List" items I still haven't checked off.

Ah, Spectronics, geek Moto Heaven... I still see their old building off the Ike going downtown... Heavy Sigh...

 

[RBMTS]

Ahh the memories. How the 220 used magnet relays for the remote speaker mics to disconnect the internal radio speaker. How the 4/5w versions had the power transistor board in the omni sleeve. The clunky matching antenna adapter if you wanted to connect the 220 to an external antenna. The SP version of the public safety mics for CPD. The large PL vibrasponders. The clunky bent formed metal antennas for the railroad models.

 

[RBMTS]

Least we forget about the special convertacom versions that would be inserted into the "coffins" (as we called them). Man those were dogs - constantly losing connections.

 

[K9RPL]

Ahh the memories. How the 220 used magnet relays for the remote speaker mics to disconnect the internal radio speaker. How the 4/5w versions had the power transistor board in the omni sleeve. The clunky matching antenna adapter if you wanted to connect the 220 to an external antenna. The SP version of the public safety mics for CPD. The large PL vibrasponders. The clunky bent formed metal antennas for the railroad models.

I grew up in Elk Grove and the PD there used the same HT220's with the same CPD speaker mics. The ones with the stubby duck.

 

[W9WSS]

I carried my HT-220 until we switched over to an 800 MHz analog Spectra-Tac repeater system. We had two separate channels; One was dispatch, the other tactical. We started testing it after installation in 1986, then it went into full-service in 1987. We had a main and standby transmitter for each channel, and five satellite receivers for both channels.

About 3-4 years ago, the PD I worked for went to DU-COMM for dispatch. DU-COMM put them on a UHF 470 channel with Lisle and Darien PD's. Then, they switched over to Starcom21 where they've been ever since. There are only two municipal dispatch centers in DuPage County. One is DU-COMM, the other is Addison Consolidated Dispatch Center (also known as ACDC). Naperville is with Aurora currently on an Open Sky system, but word is that they will be going P25 encrypted full-time on all police, fire, EMS, and public services.

One final note which is probably WAY off-topic for this forum is that the municipality I worked for is now using only one of the 800 MHz. repeaters, with no satellite receivers (as we had in the police service, with a JPS comparator).

 

[mikewazowski]

Had an HT220 Slimline back in the 80's. Might do have it around here somewhere. Fun little radio.

 

[K9RPL]

I'm sooo jealous...

 

[cmdrwill]

There are a couple HT220's in my museum.

 

[K9RPL]

You're killing me...

 

[ai8o]

Those suckers were built like tanks.

I used one to beat thru a plate glass window during a fire at a store in downtown Cincinnati.
Not even a scratch on it after that abuse.
I still carried it for years after that.

 

[K9RPL]

Many years ago I was vounteering with our local Civil Defense and was at a large fire in a nearby town in the dead of winter. I ran into a firefighter that had his HT220 frozen in a solid block of ice in the top pocket of his turnout coat. Just the speaker mic cable coming out. Still working of course.

 

[chrismol1]

Here's my HT220 - Electrocardiogram handheld. Remember Squad 51 sending the strip to Rampart on the giant orange box. This is the portable version. This one was mfg in 1980. Yea the antenna was grabbed from the drawer, its not original but it completes the look for the shelf.
It may not be as cool as a Secret Service model but its something different

IMG-20201204-220244

Image IMG-20201204-220244 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

IMG-20201204-220412

Image IMG-20201204-220412 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

IMG-20201204-220719

Image IMG-20201204-220719 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I built and modified several of these in UHF back in the day. The styling was far from Radio Shack. Much nicer and durable. The aluminum frame was decorated in a denim like fabric texture molded into it which gave plenty of grip. I got lured away by the EXPO, MX300's and then SABER's. If you have one that works, modify it to accept lithium ion cells and enjoy.

 

[jruta]

Here's my HT220 - Electrocardiogram handheld. Remember Squad 51 sending the strip to Rampart on the giant orange box. This is the portable version. This one was mfg in 1980. Yea the antenna was grabbed from the drawer, its not original but it completes the look for the shelf.
It may not be as cool as a Secret Service model but its something different

IMG-20201204-220244

Image IMG-20201204-220244 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

IMG-20201204-220412

Image IMG-20201204-220412 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

IMG-20201204-220719

Image IMG-20201204-220719 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

Wow that looks like it’s fresh out of the packaging!

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

The CIA had a radio receiver called the SRR-100 not much is known about it , nor is the manufacturer known. It is a radio that the Russians caught a female US embassy employee wearing while she was checking out a dead drop. Take a look at the picture and see why I think Motorola made it.

SRR-100

www.cryptomuseum.com