| KH6TA | Rating: | 2014-11-05 |
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| Solid No BS Portable | Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
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I agree with W4DSN, and I also came from a commercial radio sales/service environment, which BTW was the catalyst that jetted me into HAM radio!
I have used and enjoyed Motorola HT1000, JT1000 and GP68 portables, and really prefer them over the retail ham gear which feels & performs like toys compared to the BatWing radios. Who the hell needs 199 memoriies, etc,etc?
REALLY??
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| W4DSN | Rating: | 2010-02-13 |
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| Solid Commercial Radio | Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
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My background being in commercial communications, I find most ham gear to be tacky and poorly constructed. I found a UHF GP68 on eBay from a guy in Hong Kong and, since it was only $70 delivered, I decided to give it a try. Bottom line, it is my favorite handheld radio. Real solid construction and performance.
My XXXXX brand UHF/VHF HT has so many birdies on receive, you cannot really scan. Not so with this little guy. Yes, it does not have all the bells and whistles of the XXXXX, but it is reliable, well thought out and the battery lasts hours and hours longer than XXXXX.
I recommend it! |
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| KJ4JTT | Rating: | 2009-11-30 |
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| The Rock! | Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
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| I can't remember how long I have had this HT but I put it away back in the late 90s. Got it back out (sold the one I was using to a friend)put it in the charger and it has worked flawlessly for 9 months. Very long life from the battery when normal charged and good full day when fast charged. I have dropped it many times, left it on for a week after the bat was dead. Very loud and clear audio. Only downside is you have to translate the PL tone into a 2 digit code (in the manual) but once you have it all setup it's like that famous bunny. |
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| WB9YCJ | Rating: | 2009-11-26 |
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| Ive owned several ... | Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
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They all had the same problem which drops it from a '5' to a 'Needs Help'........ Battery connection often intermittent. Factory and aftermarket batteries often had poor/loose connection with the radio battery contacts.
In otherwords, the radio would turn off and on by itself due to the design of the battery/radio interface being insufficient (not tight or SNUG enuf). Sometime I would miss calls due to the radio being off - battery not making good contact. I was happy with the basic radio performance when the battery was making contact.
I have talked to other users who had the same issue. So, this is not a phantom gripe. |
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| G8WWD | Rating: | 2009-11-26 |
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| For £43 you can't go wrong! | Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
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I bought one of these as a cheap 70cm handie (yes ther are GP68's for 70cm and 2m).
Bought from Hong Kong via ebay (g8hkshop)It cost me £29.90 plus £13.50 postage, so just over £40 for what looks like a brand new 4w 70cm handie c/w desk charger can't be bad.
The supplied manual on disk is awful, but online you can find the Motorola AP73 manual in PDF form, which is the amateur 2m version and the instructions are much clearer. If you need it email me (gordon@g8wwd.co.uk) and I will send you a copy.
Spec is 20 memories, high (4w) and low (1w) and full VFO coverage in 5, 10, 12.5, 15, 20 and 25kHz steps from 430-470MHz. Full range of CTCSS tones, programmable repeater offsets, etc.
It has also a phone patch facility using codes for access, and direct dial, which are applicable to a commercial radio, but you just switch these off.
Audio is brilliant on both send and receive. It is rugged, very well built (as always from Motorola).
For just over £40 I am well impressed. |
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| N6IHC | Rating: | 2009-02-13 |
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| Good audio but poor button placement | Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
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I bought one of those eBay Hong Kong seller radios which they say are '95% new' whatever that means. I have heard the HK shops took a bunch of old Moto surplus inventory and assembled the radios from parts.
The radio has good speaker audio...better and louder than my other HT's...th79, vx-5r, vx-3r, th78.
The upper row of buttons are too easily depressed when you open the belt clip. You have to keep the unit in 'lock' anytime you're not changing channels, etc...or you will mistakenly push a button and change power level, go into scan, etc.
The marking on the lower row of buttons (* 0 #) are already starting to rub off after 3 months.
Stupid software error means that when you push the 'light' button (with the unit locked) to read the display, all the information is replaced with 'F.Loc' to remind you the radio is locked. The 'F.Loc' disappears in 2.5 seconds and the light shuts off in 3.0 seconds which means you have exactly one half second to read the channel information.
The user manual included with the HK radio is on cd rom and is pretty hideous, but I found one on line for a similar radio and was able to program all 20 channels pretty easily. I have not found a way to enter a name on the channel memory...so your options are frequency OR channel # displayed.
The display data, other than channel #, is very small. I'm 42 with decent eyes but found a magnifying lens most helpful. I have also found mine shows 'ctcss' in the display whether 'ctcss' or 'dcs' is actually selected.
The HK charger isn't much inside. I found a transformer, a few diodes and resistors...so any thought that it is a fast charger capable of effectively handling a Ni-MH cell would be an incorrect notion. The batteries have an internal diode to keep you from shorting out the battery if you set it on something...but that diode probably precludes you from modifying the charging base for use with a smart charger because the smart charger cannot sense the battery voltage.
I think I spent about $80 delivered after shipping and stuff.
It's a good enough radio to program on frs channels and hand to a buddy in another vehicle (after you lock the radio). The audio is good but with 20 channels and no computer interface, use is pretty limited.
I don't regret the purchase, but with the exception of pretty loud receive audio, it doesn't do anything more than the other ht's I have in the closet right now.
I probably should have bought a used Kenwood uhf radio and programming software. I would have spent more money but with extra channels and hopefully a better and more informative display, it would be worth the extra outlay.
Your mileage may vary.
Chris Boyer
kc6uqg |
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| K3JDL | Rating: | 2008-12-13 |
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| Fantastic! | Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
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| I've been very pleased with the GP68 model radios. I have one VHF and one UHF radio, and I find them to be pretty rugged and great performers in the amateur bands. These radios are field programmable, meaning that no Motorola RSS/CPS software or cable kits are required. Standard features include adjustable (digitally controlled) squelch, CTCSS/PL and CDCSS/DPL, high and low power (5W/1W VHF and 4W/1W UHF), DTMF auto dial memories, 20 channel memories, and scanning. I concur with the other reviews-- the audio is fantastic, both reception and transmission. Personally, I have and prefer Motorola speaker microphones which deliver fantastic audio as well. |
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| KE6PID | Rating: | 2007-10-24 |
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| Commercial Radio | Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
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The GP-68 is not intended to be used for amateur radio service and is not type accepted for such-that said, this radio is commercial quality unit which from a performance standpoint pretty much outshines just about anything you can get for the amateur radio market. As delivered this radio is intended to be dealer programmed and the VFO function is not available to the user. Some which were sold gray market to the amateur community have a modification that allows programming from the keypad, once the repeater data is programmed and stored that's what you see, a channel number. It's got all the goodies, PL encode and decode as well as DPL and offset functions, audio is very loud from the built in speaker, the mic is noise concealing so background noise isn't overwhelming – although the radio works best when close talked, it's not absolutely necessary.
Battery life is superb, when idle the receiver goes into a battery save mode, receive run time is several days with the 1500 mA/h battery pack – there are two packs available, a smaller slim line pack reduces the HT's bulk.
The GP-68 is communications tool that you'd see hanging in the belt of a LEO or security guard where performance durability counts; an entertainment device it is not. |
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| K6LCS | Rating: | 2006-05-15 |
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| Grey Market | Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
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Although a good performer, the GP-68 is an export model from Motorola, and never intended to be distributed within the US. Which means you have no valid warranty. Sure, it's a good performer for a single-band HT. But there's good dual-band HTs out there for less than what a new GP-68 will cost.
Clint Bradford, K6LCS |
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| K5HDM | Rating: | 2006-05-14 |
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| GP68 UHF & VHF | Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
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| I love my GP68's.. i have a uhf and vhf model, and I am very impressed. Heavy duty radio, with a LOUD speaker (louder than any amature radio spkr). Easy to use with great features, but not loaded down with stuff you won't use. I have a couple of friends who like theirs alot, and i talked to a guy that had them issued to his fire dept and they like them alot.. the only complaint I've heard is from the fire people, who said they don't like the way the battery goes on, but never had any problems here. |
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