To Program the Down East Microwave Units, there is nothing to them. Personally I think it was a mistake to discontinue this model. Be ready to pay a pretty penny for a used one. They are no longer made and they covered both the 900MHz band as well as the 225MHz (1.25m) band. To Program the Alinco Units (LEFT), you will have a very easy time, but you have to find a radio first. It is a goldmine! Remember the old 900MHz cordless phones? They were on 927MHz (927.48-927.975MHz). Keep in mind that since there is a lot of cellphone activity on or near these frequencies many times surplus cell phone tower gear, commonly found on eBay can be re-purposed.
Both are good picks, but I decided to go the Motorola route after talking to people and hearing them for myself. Kenwood or the Alinco if you can still find one.
Motorola MTS2000 portable 900Mz version (RIGHT).Down East Microwave Transverters - Does SSB/CW also!.Alinco DJ-G29T - Only one for Ham Market!.Here is a list of what is currently around and easiest to deal with: Build or modify hardware or something that can be re-programmed. You can find the current San Francisco Bay Area Repeater Frequencies for 900MHz on my website as well as the VHF/UHF Bandplan to help you get started.Īs far as hardware there is two ways you can go about it. On Repeaters depending on where you live you will find a -12MHz or likely a -25MHz split/offset.
If you are interested in this topic, check out my pages on Amateur Television. The band is widely used experimentation, there is even ATV (Amateur Television) or Ham TV as it is sometimes called on here as well as on 70cm and 1.2GHz. The propagation is very similar to that of the 440 (70cm) band, in fact some people think it is better depending on where you operate, due to different absorption and paths the signal takes.
All you need is a technician license and you are good to go, do not need to be a general or extra to operate here so if you are licensed, you are ready to rock! Basically the 902MHz to 928 MHz range has been allocated to hams on the secondary basis meaning, we have to accept interference from other sources as we are not the primary users of the band.