Will a Motorola MT1000 Communicate with the RT-524?

[RJTM998]

Be kind I am I am still learning this radio thing. LOL

I am looking for a handheld radio that will communicate with my RT-524. After searching here and other sources I think a Motorola MT1000 I found on eBay programmed with ( 42-50Mhz Split) should work. Is this correct?

If not what will work and do you guys recommend? Thanks!!

 

[SCSG-G4]

6 meters is the only amateur frequency available on the RT-524, that is, from 50 to 54 Mhz. And there may be local restrictions. Most of the frequencies that I've seen posted by HAM's run around 51 Mhz.

 

[papakb]

Frequency alone isn't the issue unless you want to operate the 524 in open squelch mode. And no one likes to do this unless they absolutely have to. If the MT1000 has a 150hz tone squelch then it will work, otherwise your SOL. Unfortunately I think the 1000 only has 151 and 156 sidetones. Why not just use a PRC-68 or a PRC-126/8? Something else you need to consider is the FCC wants you to be a licensed amateur operator to transmit on 6 meters. The Technician License is fairly easy to get with a few evenings of study and a no code test.

 

[D6T]

I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible.

I have firsthand experience with this exact situation.

Quick answer: In this application, the MT1000 is best suited for experimenting only. It will work, some of the time, at very close distances. It should never be relied upon for two way communications with any military transceivers at all.

I’m a lifelong radio nerd and hold a General class amateur license. I’ll keep the terminology simple.

About 20 years ago, I was assisting a state guard unit in obtaining radios from local agencies to augment their small fleet of PRC77s. We received a plethora of low band P200s, which are the same platform (Genesis series?) as the MT1000.

Even given the “wide as a barn door” receivers and wide TX of the P200, the closest CTCSS tone match was 151.4Hz, and the military-civilian transceivers worked sporadically at opening each others’ squelch across a room! Period. You can forget about reliable communication over any appreciable distance beyond line of sight.

Side note: If you’ve heard what a consumer-grade scanner sounds like when it receives a military radio transmission and shows it as 151.4Hz, it’s a sort of “off” audio, like you can understand the words clearly but tell it’s not being received perfectly. Hearing that on my scanners back in the day (and it still sounds the same today on my high end Whistler and Uniden scanners) gave me hope that the military-civilian experiment with 151.4Hz would work, but alas it does not.

 

[RJTM998]

I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible.

I have firsthand experience with this exact situation.

Quick answer: In this application, the MT1000 is best suited for experimenting only. It will work, some of the time, at very close distances. It should never be relied upon for two way communications with any military transceivers at all.

I’m a lifelong radio nerd and hold a General class amateur license. I’ll keep the terminology simple.

About 20 years ago, I was assisting a state guard unit in obtaining radios from local agencies to augment their small fleet of PRC77s. We received a plethora of low band P200s, which are the same platform (Genesis series?) as the MT1000.

Even given the “wide as a barn door” receivers and wide TX of the P200, the closest CTCSS tone match was 151.4Hz, and the military-civilian transceivers worked sporadically at opening each others’ squelch across a room! Period. You can forget about reliable communication over any appreciable distance beyond line of sight.

Side note: If you’ve heard what a consumer-grade scanner sounds like when it receives a military radio transmission and shows it as 151.4Hz, it’s a sort of “off” audio, like you can understand the words clearly but tell it’s not being received perfectly. Hearing that on my scanners back in the day (and it still sounds the same today on my high end Whistler and Uniden scanners) gave me hope that the military-civilian experiment with 151.4Hz would work, but alas it does not.

Thanks guys. Looks like I will just go with a PRC 77, PRC126 or similar..

 

[papakb]

D6T, The other issue, and something not always present when looking at spec sheets, is all your military radios are wide band radios with with higher deviation than the commercial, narrow bandwidth stuff. While they will talk to each other on the same frequencies, the wide band radios overwhelm the narrow band radios and sound terrible and the narrow band radios sound weak on the mil sets. As far as the squelch goes it really depends on how well (or poorly) the squelch circuitry was tuned. If it was done correctly 151.4 CTSS won't open a 150 hz system but if the tuning tech was sloppy it might but you'll never have reliable comms with them.