Conversion for Business-Band Base Radios ?

[Foxhunter]

I was wondering if I could ask anyone that might follow this topic a question about the Business Band radios. I understand with the advent of such two-way systems such as the handheld Nextel Radio-Phones-----that the Business-Band is pretty much a dead radio system now-a-days. Am I correct in this?

Can a Business Band transceiver (or antenna) be (cost effectively) converted for use on other frequencies, fairly easily? I was wondering because I have a retired Police Captain living near me (who will be selling me my first tower) is wanting to sell me his deceased brother's Business Band base-stations and a large (16-22 ft?--can't tell it's still mounted up high) hollow fiberglass antenna with short & sloped GPK. He has a number of related equipment as his brother had a home-heating and fuel-oil delivery business.

Can anything be converted for use in the CB or Ham frequencies in a reasonable manner or cost? Has anyone done anything with similar radios for conversions? I am unsure what these particular radios are in regards to makes & models but he has several base units and the antenna plus some other miscellaneous gear. I haven't had the opportunity to get inside his brothers house to see the stuff but was wondering if I'd be wasting my time to even consider the items?

[Slim Jim]

I was just looking at Kenwood's website last night trying to figure out what could be done with old Business band radios, myself. I'm pretty ignorant with most of it, but according to the specifications for some of their "land mobile" and "Nexedge" radios, the frequency range is 136-174 MHz. Now, I didn't see where they specified that that range was RX, TX, or both. To my understanding, some of the modern vhf/uhf ham rigs can be converted to cover the entire range from approx. 136-174 on both RX and TX (Yaesu 2500, 2800, etc.) The same may go for the business radios, as well. I'm sure someone with expertise in this area will chime in shortly.

[drdx]

I think some of them, depending on their vintage, can be programmed to operate with their specified ranges. That said, the other issue would be if they have the CTSS subaudible tone encoding needed for some repeaters. You could have a pile of them that can be programmed to frequency but depending on the intended use, without the tone encoding, they may be useless for what you need. -drdx

[Night Crawler]

He has a number of related equipment as his brother had a home-heating and fuel-oil delivery business.
Can anything be converted for use in the CB or Ham frequencies in a reasonable manner or cost? Has anyone done anything with similar radios for conversions? I am unsure what these particular radios are in regards to makes & models but he has several base units and the antenna plus some other miscellaneous gear. I haven't had the opportunity to get inside his brothers house to see the stuff but was wondering if I'd be wasting my time to even consider the items?

Most likely the equipment would either be GE or Motorola if it was used for a business more then 10-15 years ago. I've converted Motorola Mocom's and Motrac's and GE Prog-Lines and Master 2's for use on 2 meters and 70 cms but unless they are fairly new they are going to be xtal controlled and you will have to get a pair of xtals for each frequency you want to use.
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You can get a PL Encoder for use with any radio if it doesn't have one since almost all the repeaters use them nowadays.
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[WEASEL]

I work at a two way shop and we have service manuals for all kinds of different radios. If you can figure out what radios he has, there is a good chance I will have a service manual for it. I should be able to tell you if it is PC programmable, and what frequencies they will cover.

[Foxhunter]

Thanks for the replies on this thread I've been wondering about this for awhile now. This Captain's brother had died and he was waiting for some legal issues to go through with the property and business before he'll let me come look things over.

I know I'll be buying a solid steel (galvanized) self-supporting tower from him, although once again I have to wait to even see it (he assures me it's in good condition---we'll see). If you guys don't mind I'll be coming back to this thread and posting when I do find out what he has and how much. I appreciate the input as I always do and I'm glad for our Forum members who are usually kind enough to venture an opinion or advice. Thanks-----Fox