Motorola Oddballs through the years

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resqguy911
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by resqguy911 »

mikegilbert wrote:
KG4INW wrote:Now, if only there were clear batteries, curl cords and antennas! Very cool, I'm super jealous!
Oh, man. I'd kill for those!
NSPD wrote:Thanks for posting pictures of some of the more interesting items from that lot!
It's my pleasure! I've been busy with my regular job and photography gigs, but I plan on photographing all the radios I've acquired over the years. The plan is to shoot them all in my light tent from every angle- eventually submitting these to the main batlabs site. They'd all be 'floating' on a white background. Figured it'd be nice to have high resolution images for as many portable Motorola radios as possible. It'd be my small way of giving back to batlabs community.
There are clear batteries to be found, but just like everything else- you have to know someone. Even the aftermarket battery manufacturers have them at trade shows, so they might be more prevalent than the clear radios.
Regarding the photos, some of your more 'original work' doesn't have a plain white background. I suggest more of those. :o
"TDMA = digital and same great taste, half the bits"
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mikegilbert
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by mikegilbert »

resqguy911 wrote: There are clear batteries to be found, but just like everything else- you have to know someone. Even the aftermarket battery manufacturers have them at trade shows, so they might be more prevalent than the clear radios.
Regarding the photos, some of your more 'original work' doesn't have a plain white background. I suggest more of those. :o
Very interesting, I need to keep my eyes peeled! As far as my 'original work' goes, I definitely need to make some more of those :lol:

Picked up another one:

All yellow Chessie MT500
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Stealthy black MX-360s DTMF
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chrismoll12
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by chrismoll12 »

ok who bought it? Completely blew my bid out of the park - Ended at 300 Bucks!!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/121089562269

Oh My God - did someone call for a BRICK? A prototype HT220 they call it? The only DTMF HT220 I have came with black rubber buttons
Type: CC4094E
Serial: M94JLY
Model: M24FFN3171D SP20

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imgs saved to my pc should they disappear
Last edited by chrismoll12 on Sat Apr 13, 2013 10:01 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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MTS2000des
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by MTS2000des »

that's plain absurd, $300 bucks for a $25 radio. I guess the economy isn't so bad. But something tells me you will see this relisted again soon...
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WB6NVH
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by WB6NVH »

-SP does not mean "prototype." Special Products made things for well-heeled customers who wanted some unusual feature or configuration. Prototypes generally did not have model numbers or serial numbers. One of the most prolific SP modified radios seems to have been the MX300S, the -SP numbers ran into the hundreds.

On that HT220, curious that the front housing was so huge. There must have been something inside other than just a DTMF encoder and tone decoder.
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Astro Spectra
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by Astro Spectra »

I'm guessing IMTS on the '220? Note the extra 3.5mm jack on the top...
chrismoll12
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by chrismoll12 »

Speaking of HT220's Here is a mystery. This is a factory DTMF HT220 - Model H33FFN1100E TYPE CC3540 SERIAL L68J49
There is a 2 chip board w/switches and , the 3 wires simply clip on to that board, possibly added later on to operate something?
I wonder if this HT220 is something more than just a DTMF



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MTS2000des
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by MTS2000des »

that board is a COM-SPEC PL board, very common and still available today:

http://www.com-spec.com/ss64.htm
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Will
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by Will »

Your HT220 was a carrier squelch radio, the 1100 in the model number confirms this.

Very common to add the Com Specs board and a lot cheaper that the PL encoder from /\/\. And you could change the PL code without buying a new tone reed.
chrismoll12
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by chrismoll12 »

wow ok, a plugin programmable tone encoder - thanks fellas its good stuff!
I'll check in if I have more - Next project is breaking into the Medical HT220 I have -
I'm not crystal guy, but I keep this stuff for nostalgia
Gotta know where it all came from
Last edited by chrismoll12 on Thu Apr 18, 2013 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
RFguy
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by RFguy »

Looks like one of the chips is trying to escape. It made it off the board and is trying to hide on the left.
chrismoll12
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by chrismoll12 »

not exactly an oddball but at the time
The $700 CB Radio? I'm sure most were aware Motorola did manufacturer Citizens Band radios during the "1970's CB craze" well....today...
A NOS (New Old Stock) CM540 Electroscan went for over 700 Bucks on ebay ladies and gentleman - start checking your old boxes!
Who was watching it? my god did it go, go, go
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171059612165

Good News is the owner of this rig will have , 10, T-E-N User programmable memory channels- that lucky dog
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MTS2000des
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by MTS2000des »

I have a Mocat 40 in my closet, got it years ago. It works but doesn't transmit any modulation. Looks like it was made for Motorola by someone else, Uniden maybe? Board looks Japanese.

Motorola also made marine radios, there was a white one off of a GP300 that had a display, IIRC did some form of basic form of voice inversion encryption, recall seeing them in the early 1990s.
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Victor Xray
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by Victor Xray »

KitN1MCC
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by KitN1MCC »

thats a cool looking cb
MT2000 man
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by MT2000 man »

Speaking of oddball radios, I read here a LONG time ago that M had produced a few ( protoype versions, since Motorola never offically made an "R" version of the Jedi housing ) Ruggedized versions of the MTS / Jedi radios. I wonder if any of those will actually get into the wild, or of they are all now destroyed, or if they even REALLY existed ???
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d119
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by d119 »

<Insert gong sound here>

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JSMR II, anyone?

These were SP for the Japanese SMR market. Trunked. Notice everything is bass-ackwards.

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Or perhaps the MIB 9000? (Another JSMR product)

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FireCpt809
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by FireCpt809 »

Jonathan KC8RYW
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by Jonathan KC8RYW »

Anyone ever see a Motorola MoTrar20?

Basically, it was a Type I trunked radio that used crystals inside an oversized Maxar 80 housing.

I got one in a trade, and pitched it.

Sorry if I made any of you guys cry.

Oh, look, there's one on eBay right now. No, I'm not related to this auction at all.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorola-Motrar ... 1174007559
73 DE KC8RYW
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SYN1894B - V3m Sprint-branded Battery Cover
motorola_otaku
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by motorola_otaku »

d119 wrote:<Insert gong sound here>

Image


JSMR II, anyone?

These were SP for the Japanese SMR market. Trunked. Notice everything is bass-ackwards.

Image
Image

Or perhaps the MIB 9000? (Another JSMR product)

<dead links>
Those look more like somebody else's rebranded radios. All of the other JSMR mobiles I've seen were MCS variants. They even made a Visar variant.

Motorola's Japan wing has always fascinated me. The 900 MHz JSMR trunking protocol was just one of the wacky things they churned out for that market - at one time (early 2000s) there were XTS3000 variants with JP model number prefixes. Now they just sell the same XTS5000s that we get, though I have no idea who's buying them over there since public safety and government uses mainly ICOM stuff.

Here's a decent rundown of what's available over there now: http://www.jenix.co.jp/product/motorolaTop.html
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Pj
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by Pj »

Note the blue GP329ex on there :)
Lowband radio. The original and non-complicated wide area interoperable communications system
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d119
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by d119 »

Pj wrote:Note the blue GP329ex on there :)
Junque... All of it.
motorola_otaku
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by motorola_otaku »

Notice that some of those look kind of familiar... almost like Vertex Standard products? ;p

JSMR is dead, btw. It used 915/930 MHz which has since been reallocated for cellular to line up with Europe/Asia.
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d119
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by d119 »

motorola_otaku wrote:JSMR is dead, btw. It used 915/930 MHz which has since been reallocated for cellular to line up with Europe/Asia.
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mikegilbert
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by mikegilbert »

Here's a good one for you guys. The PNC 2010T. An XTS2250 1.5 in a yellow housing.

It was designed for the Policia Nacional de Colombia. I'd kill to get one of those housings for my collection!

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KG4INW
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by KG4INW »

Cool, where are those screenshots (I assume) from?
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tuckerm
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by tuckerm »

Schrodinger's Radio: It is simultaneously too loud and too quiet, but you will never know which until someone transmits.
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mikegilbert
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by mikegilbert »

A good friend of mine knows my love and obsession over oddball Motorola gear, so he snatched these up at a hamfest. Single channel w/PL.

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d119
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by d119 »

mikegilbert wrote:A good friend of mine knows my love and obsession over oddball Motorola gear, so he snatched these up at a hamfest. Single channel w/PL.
I believe those are Motorola HT10's with a different label on the front...
The_Kid
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by The_Kid »

Not sure how much of an oddball this is but it is a railroad clean cab radio. Not sure on the model though.

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Will
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by Will »

d119 wrote: I believe those are Motorola HT10's with a different label on the front...
I would agree.
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nukedude
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by nukedude »

I have been told by several people that my MW300 mobile data terminal is an oddball also. Lots of people know about the MW520 and 800/900 series computers used by public safety and fire departments. It was sold to me as new old stock coming from Israel and running WinCE 2.12. It isn't much of a computer, and a black and white LCD display makes for limited usefulness.
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d119
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by d119 »

The_Kid wrote:Not sure how much of an oddball this is but it is a railroad clean cab radio. Not sure on the model though.

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I believe that's an "MCX" Railroad radio. Not exactly rare, but not plentiful either... I've seen a few around here and there for sale. Neat radio!
The_Kid
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by The_Kid »

Everything I had read pointed to it being an MCX but I couldn't find out for sure. They were fixing to trash it at work so I picked it up. Seems to work just fine. Does anyone know if they have issues like the spectas with leaky caps? Also have a spectra clean cab.
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jnglmassiv
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by jnglmassiv »

mikegilbert wrote:A good friend of mine knows my love and obsession over oddball Motorola gear, so he snatched these up at a hamfest. Single channel w/PL.
What does the second knob do?
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mikegilbert
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by mikegilbert »

jnglmassiv wrote:
mikegilbert wrote:A good friend of mine knows my love and obsession over oddball Motorola gear, so he snatched these up at a hamfest. Single channel w/PL.
What does the second knob do?

Squelch adjustment and PL enable/disable.
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35-K9-1
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by 35-K9-1 »

Added a little green to my MTX8250. Kinda "odd"

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mikegilbert
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by mikegilbert »

Picked up this DataTAC modem the other day. No reason, I just remember seeing these on the old Motorola LMPS page in the late nineties. One more for the display cabinet.

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d119
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by d119 »

I've got one of those brand new in the box somewhere around here...
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APX
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by APX »

I came across what appears to be the third XTS3000 made. It is interesting in several ways. Its physical S/N has an APC code for the XTS3000 and is from early June 1996, three months before the XTS3000 was announced, apparently on September 12, 1996. However, the codeplug has a S/N with an APC code for the Astro Saber from early September 1993, three years before the XTS3000 was announced. The host firmware is cp_d 00.09.00, and the DSP firmware is R05.0.18. It is programmed with only test frequencies of 851.0625, 868.0625, and 851.05. It doesn't say ASTRO on it anywhere, even though one of the 851.0625 conventional personalities is programmed as ASTRO. The sticker on the bottom instead says FLASHport. The FLASHport sticker on the back is blank. The main info sticker on the back has MOTOROLA in all-caps thin italicized type. The FCC ID is the correct AZ489FT5774 for an 800MHz XTS3000. The model number is the correct H09UCH9PW7AN, as it is an 800MHz Model 3.

The case is interesting. It has a very fine texture, so fine it is almost smooth. The plastic feels more like ABS than polycarbonate and is very thin, so thin that it cracked at the bottom, where the case is supposed to snap together. The XTS3000 sticker on the top of the front has the purple XTS3000 much larger than usual and in an italicized font. Even the purple top side button and the PTT button are smooth. There is a circular recess just above the contacts on the accessory connector. The knobs are smooth, too. Circular machining marks are barely visible on the channel selector knob. Only the outer two battery contacts are present.

Reading the codeplug gives a warning that it is "an old pre-release prototype." It was written on July 10, 1996, using Labtool. The codeplug version is 000A, showing firmware 03.20.00.00 (probably for lack of knowledge of cp_d 00.09.00 firmware) and DSP software R05.00.18. Its flashcode is 040008-000000-8 (H869 hardware multikey encryption and H38 SmartZone systems operation), but it doesn't show an EMC in service mode.

Given all of the above, it looks to be a legit super-early engineering prototype of the XTS3000.
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mikegilbert
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by mikegilbert »

Very cool! I'd love to see some images!
KG4INW
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by KG4INW »

Ditto, need some hi-res photos!!
N4KVE
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by N4KVE »

We have all been lead to believe that all XTS3000's came with a 1 meg board, but because that prototype was made so early, did it come with a 512 K board? GARY
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APX
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by APX »

That's a great question, which this early 800MHz Model 3 XTS3000 can answer. I took a quick look under the hood, and the controller label and IC markings are as follow:

X15060124 05/29 NCN6128A

5105457W33
TCNH005NP02
CNNO9607
JAPAN

TE28F008
BVB90
U6090630A
intel
FLASH

ATMEL
28C256E
20TI
9611

Note the "008" of the TE28F008 flash memory IC, identified elsewhere as the U727 1M host ROM, which denotes 8 megabits, better known as 1 megabyte, in an 8 x 1M configuration. So even this early specimen has a "1 MEG" controller. As would be expected, this is a NCN6128A controller, and there should be nothing earlier than an "A" revision. The DSP firmware should be stored in the U404 DSP ROM of the vocoder board, so the size of the DSP firmware should not detract from the capacity of the U727 1M host ROM. Therefore I think it's safe to conclude that all XTS3000's have a "1 MEG" controller, as has been the general understanding.
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abbylind
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by abbylind »

The purple features makes it sound like a XTS3500....
Q: Does this unit come with a speaker?
A: hello yes its in the radio thanks
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d119
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by d119 »

I believe he was referring to the text that says "XTS 3000" on the main nameplate, that was always purple on the XTS 3000.
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mikegilbert
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by mikegilbert »

Here's an odd one. The MX800 conventional only 800mhz radio.

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Andy Corbin
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by Andy Corbin »

I ran across an older Motorola speaker at Dayton Hamvention. The speaker is the same style that was with the Motrac series except this one is a low gloss black cabinet finish with a chrome speaker grille and a chrome mounting bracket. This speaker has a powered amplifier in it which I have learned puts out about 15 watts and the speaker itself is a "weatherproof" design. I have seen Motorola powered speakers and the old metal "motrac" design, but never with the black and chrome scheme. I thought the speaker looked pretty cool so I bought it and didn't really pay much for it. I checked and the amplifier portion does work. The speaker is actually in pretty good condition for its age.
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Will
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by Will »

Reminds me of Motorola motorcycle radios. They were black, white, and chrome, and had the volume, squelch, chan sel, ect in the speaker.

Great find...
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Andy Corbin
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Re: Motorola Oddballs through the years

Post by Andy Corbin »

I remember the motorcycle speakers but they were a bit before my time as it pertains to actually working with radios. Just remember seeing them on the bikes as a lad. Seems I remember the MC speakers had a volume, squelch and an on/off switch, as well as a handheld mike. Nothing like the helmet mounted boom mikes of today.

I looked up the p/n on this speaker and appears they may have been used on firetrucks. Probably back when open cabs were the norm.
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