What websites would people suggest for buying radios? I've looked at Galls but I can't find the model numbers there to tell me if those radios are compliant with us.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Are you looking for amateur or professional equipment?
For professional equip, I highly recommend http://www.myradiomall.com (http://www.myradiomall.com). Very reasonable and easy to deal with.
Check here for the current compliant list. https://ntc.cap.af.mil/comm/equipment/equipment.cfm
Considering that the list will likely change again once the narrowband project gets back on track and that many wings are swimming in un-issued radio gear, I strongly discourage any of my people to spend their own money right now, especially considering that about the only stuff you can actually buy which is compliant, can be licensed, and is both NB/WB compliant costs between $1500 $ 2500 new.
Quote from: Eclipse on January 23, 2008, 08:27:38 PMI strongly discourage any of my people to spend their own money right now, especially considering that about the only stuff you can actually buy which is compliant, can be licensed, and is both NB/WB compliant costs between $1500 $ 2500 new.
I dunno about that. I paid right at $700 dollars for a new Motorola 1550 XLS last summer.
Quote from: Dustdevil on January 24, 2008, 04:09:17 AM
Quote from: Eclipse on January 23, 2008, 08:27:38 PMI strongly discourage any of my people to spend their own money right now, especially considering that about the only stuff you can actually buy which is compliant, can be licensed, and is both NB/WB compliant costs between $1500 $ 2500 new.
I dunno about that. I paid right at $700 dollars for a new Motorola 1550 XLS last summer.
Which is great, except that the above radio's narrowband compliance, if put into service after Jan 2006, is still TBD. I have members in my wing who purchased equipment which was "bricked" (as far as CAP is concerned) by that very table because of the in-service date issues.
Very few radios on the compliant list are full-on green with regards to in-service dates post Jan 2006 except for EFJ, thus the $15-2500 price (though I had one member who picked up an EFJ HT w/ keypad off ebay this summer for $400).
If you buy anything else, and your use is only for CAP, you're rolling the dice on compliance.
Quote from: Eclipse on January 24, 2008, 03:42:21 PMWhich is great, except that the above radio's narrowband compliance, if put into service after Jan 2006, is still TBD.
Not according to the National site that you posted before. It shows that model as compliant.
That's the only reason I brought it up.
I have to assume we're talking about an HT-1550-XLS, as that was the only Motorola 1550 I could find on NTC page.
It shows the radio as wide & narrow compliant if put into service before Jan 2006, and TBD for narrowband compliance if put into service after 2006.
(http://group22.net/files/other/ntc.jpg)
Which means that once CAP goes to narrowband, they may well indicate this radio is not compliant.
Since you say you bought it last summer, you're past Jan 2006.
I would hope that his licensing officer would have caught that when he went to register it and seek a callsign.