GE Phoenix

[RCM]

I have a GE Phoenix with a tag on it that lists a 463/468 repeater pair and 141.3 PL. It is a single channel rig with a switch for talkaround. I think it would make a perfect receiver for my repeater, thereby saving one of my TK-805Ds for mobile use.

 

I did see a guy selling programming software and hardware, but at a price that would pay for a better radio. 

 

Anyone have any ideas on setting this radio up?

[PastorGary]

MyGMRS Staff is providing some resource information below, but does not guaranty the accuracy of the data in these links. Use at your own risk.

 

 

Link (1):   http://www.rtzaudio.com/kg4lne/pages/phoenix.html

 

Link (2): https://www.qsl.net/w4xe/rpttech/rpttech211.htm

[Jones]

The old GE Phoenix rigs do have a hot receiver, and have all the needed aux pins out the back, with COR, PTT and audio signals.

 

I have a friend who still uses a Phoenix as a UHF link radio on his VHF ham repeater.

 

I'll contact him, and see if he has a programmer available.

 

NOTE: I am personally not too familiar with these rigs, but they are so old, they may be crystal controlled.

[RCM]

Thanks! According to one source I found, the first generation was crystal and later ones were PLL. Not sure which one this is. I'm planning to go to the shop that the tag is from, and see if they can help me. Maybe they can at least tell me if it's crystal or PLL.

[Jones]

If that shop is still in business, I'm sure they could tell you which vintage it is.  Heck, if it's the PLL one, they may even program it for you if you slip them $20-25 or so.

 

 

EDIT:  You might also ask them for a copy of the manual, or at least a photocopy of the alignment instructions, and the pin-out for the back connectors.

[RCM]

If that shop is still in business, I'm sure they could tell you which vintage it is.  Heck, if it's the PLL one, they may even program it for you if you slip them $20-25 or so.

 

 

EDIT:  You might also ask them for a copy of the manual, or at least a photocopy of the alignment instructions, and the pin-out for the back connectors.

Yeah, that's what I was hoping. Turns out they are out of business (even though G**gl3 Maps still shows them) but I found out who their business went to, and went there. One guy there wasn't completely clueless, but they weren't able to help me.

I did find a shop advertising programming service for the PLL ones on ebay. I guess I'll open it up and see if it's crystal or PLL, and if it's PLL I'll probably send it to them if I don't come up with anything else. If crystal, I can probably just buy crystals for it and swap them myself.

[RCM]

MyGMRS Staff is providing some resource information below, but does not guaranty the accuracy of the data in these links. Use at your own risk.

 

 

Link (1):   http://www.rtzaudio.com/kg4lne/pages/phoenix.html

 

Link (2): https://www.qsl.net/w4xe/rpttech/rpttech211.htm

Thanks! That's a big help.

[Jones]

MyGMRS Staff is providing some resource information below, but does not guaranty the accuracy of the data in these links. Use at your own risk.

 

 

Link (1):   http://www.rtzaudio.com/kg4lne/pages/phoenix.html

 

Link (2): https://www.qsl.net/w4xe/rpttech/rpttech211.htm

That first link says Larry Waggoner, W0KA was in on this project.  I didn't know he was ever into Phoenix radios, but his big repeater is made from a GE MSTR-II.  Larry is a personal friend of mine, and fellow broadcast engineer.  I have his info in my phone, and talk to him on a regular basis.  If you have any more specific questions, I can call and ask him.

[RCM]

Thanks! That's good to know.

[n4gix]

That first link says Larry Waggoner, W0KA was in on this project.  I didn't know he was ever into Phoenix radios, but his big repeater is made from a GE MSTR-II.  Larry is a personal friend of mine, and fellow broadcast engineer.  I have his info in my phone, and talk to him on a regular basis.  If you have any more specific questions, I can call and ask him.

Could you ask him if he knows of any other source for Master II ICOM's. Since International Crystal went out of business my Master II repeater has become a huge and heavy boat anchor...

 

73 de NGIX / Bill

[Radioguy7268]

I'm not aware of any current crystal manufacturers, and the pricing of crystals was pretty much making them obsolete even before you counted the cost of labor to install and tune.

 

I've still got an old Micor station that's been modified for a CSi multi-tone panel, and it was rocked on a Biz band frequency of 462.175. I've kept it around with the idea of tweaking it over to GMRS, but I never got around to it. I've got enough projects I'm behind on already. 

[Hans]

This might be a simplistic way of looking at it but I seem to recall talk years ago of PLL-ish circuits to wire in place of crystals. By now, is there such a product or circuit possible to take the place of crystal unobtainium?

 

Just as an example (there are a few interesting links in the comments too)...

http://hackaday.com/2014/10/15/digital-crystal-breathes-new-life-into-old-radio/

[RCM]

I'm not aware of any current crystal manufacturers, and the pricing of crystals was pretty much making them obsolete even before you counted the cost of labor to install and tune.

 

I've still got an old Micor station that's been modified for a CSi multi-tone panel, and it was rocked on a Biz band frequency of 462.175. I've kept it around with the idea of tweaking it over to GMRS, but I never got around to it. I've got enough projects I'm behind on already. 

 

http://www.filtro.net/rf_crystal.html

 

I don't think crystals are going away anytime soon. They're used in lots more applications than just crystal controlled radios.

[RCM]

This might be a simplistic way of looking at it but I seem to recall talk years ago of PLL-ish circuits to wire in place of crystals. By now, is there such a product or circuit possible to take the place of crystal unobtainium?

 

Just as an example (there are a few interesting links in the comments too)...

http://hackaday.com/2014/10/15/digital-crystal-breathes-new-life-into-old-radio/

 

Yep, and it's even easier now than it was before. In fact you could take a single-channel crystal transceiver, add an outboard DDS and have all frequencies within the passband of its filters. With memories, offsets, scanning, and whatever you want.

[RCM]

BTW my Phoenix is indeed PLL controlled, and I have found a guy who can program it for me.

[n4gix]

I'm not aware of any current crystal manufacturers, and the pricing of crystals was pretty much making them obsolete even before you counted the cost of labor to install and tune.

Obtaining a crystal isn't really the crux of the problem. First is calculating the precise frequency for the crystal that the GE Mastr II requires (hint: it ain't anywhere close to the final operating frequency!)

 

Then having someone with the knowledge re-factor the required capacitance, resistance, and tuning coil necessary to "net" the ICOM package to 2ppm frequency tolerance, and "cook the ICOM" properly.

[RCM]

I received this Phoenix back from the programmer today, and it works great! Does 40 watts out on tx, too.

Although the plan is to use it on the receive side, I figured I might as well get it programmed to transmit on 462.675 too (rx is 467.675) so I could swap it into the transmit side should that ever become necessary.

Also, since it is a 2 channel radio and I don't need TA on it, I had it programmed for an alternate pair as well.