Ham Radio Mechanical Gurus??

[John Gault]

Any actual Ham Radio "mechanics" in the fold or somebody who knows one??

Looking to convert a Icom to Part 90 Commercial...
I'v been told 2 diodes make the difference...

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[cigars]

I would hit the interwebs. Maybe try Miklor or some of the other forums specific to Icom.
However, converting something to function as a Part 90 doesn't mean that it's Part 90 approved. Kind of like using a standard Baofeng to talk on GMRS or FRS. It's certainly capable but it's not FCC approved.

 

[John Gault]

I spent days planning and hours professionally installing this radio and Icom charges extra for every nut...
Hate to have to redo everything for 2 diodes difference
SAR requires Commercial to transmit.. I can monitor with current only..

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

Ask the HRO in King City; if not prohibited, they would say.

 

[parallax]

what model number Icom?

 

[John Gault]

IC-2730A

Research tonight suggests that modifying will not make the radio FCC Part90 Complaint.
Issues seem to be that the radio can transmit outside the intended range of frequencies.
I hate to put 2 radios in my rig for the dickwad tweakers to steal

 

[cigars]

That ICOM is a nice unit with the Bluetooth.
I just bought two of these UV-50X2 - BaoFeng Tech
I've been pretty happy with them so far. Monitors and displays four frequencies at once. That's not why I bought them, but it turns out that I really like that feature.

 

[AMProducts]

If you need a part-90 commercial radio... go buy yourself a monoband baofeng, there are some ok units that are in the $50-100 range that will do what you want. If you just need to pull the mars-cap diodes (sometimes resistors) you can also just smash them with a pair of needle-nose pliers.

Here's the info... IC-2730 MOD Frequency expansion

If you really need to remove them, you'll need a set of hemostats, and a soldering iron, just pull on one side and heat up one side of the pad with the iron and lift.

 

[cigars]

Just a question... not sure if I missed something here but why would SAR require the use of modified comms equipment and not just off the shelf radios? Don't they use the allocated SAR frequencies? They still have to operate per FCC guidelines.

 

[bbbass]

I'm not familiar with this radio, but my shop did sell the Part 90 Icom line. I'm thinking the programing might be a problem?? Typically Icom Business Radios block the functions that are not allowed so maybe they block the freqs you need in TX mode? IDK.

 

[AMProducts]

Just a question... not sure if I missed something here but why would SAR require the use of modified comms equipment and not just off the shelf radios? Don't they use the allocated SAR frequencies? They still have to operate per FCC guidelines.

Chances are good the SAR group has their own frequencies run by the county, on a county repeater or something similar. Quite often a SAR group will issue radios, but may allow people to use the repeater with their own equipment, even though IIRC it's technically illegal. (a part 95 radio, can't be made a part-90) this is why a tx increase conversion is referred to as "MARS cap" or "Military Auxiliary Radio Service" which uses modified ham equipment with amateur operators to handle things like phone-patch, message forwarding. This made sense back in say... vietnam era, when some far-flung parts of the combat zone had no access to phones.

While on the one hand, I think it's great to have an expanded tx on the radio, I generally just avoid ham gear for this reason and instead just buy a part-90 radio. The only stuff I still use ham gear for, is HF radio, which there isn't really part-90 equipment available for.

 

[John Gault]

All Volunteer. All personal expenses and equipment (all) paid by said volunteers..

Yes, County And state designated SAR frequencies..
I used to be Volunteer Firefighter. Most all equipment, Clothing and gear was provided by district or reimbursed later..

It's getting expensive to be SAR..