At 07:27 AM 05/04/07, you wrote: >Hello all.. Does anyone have any info on the Moto Maratrac as related >to making a pair of them into a repeater or using them as remote >bases?. How hard are they to move to the ham bands as I have a few that >are 42-50, 150-164, 450,470. I have searced around the different sites >and can find almost no mention of the Maratrac. I would be interested >in hearing any info related to them. Thanks.
The Maratrac is a Mitrek PA deck and outer frame married to a Maxtrac- derived receiver and exciter. They will NOT duplex - you will need two. They will NOT run full power - they will overheat and save themselves by reducing power. I have seen two that got dirty as they saved themselves, then cleaned up when they cooled down. There are better radios out there for repeater duty, but if it's all you have then you crank the power down on your own, verify that they stay clean, and blow air... they will survive. But have at least three, if not four, and expect the transmit one to die eventually. If you have to do any mods, then mod both. Duplicate any programming as well so that when the transmit one dies anyone with a key can go to the site and swap the two radios and put the system back on the air (i.e. the radio with the newly deceased transmitter is now the receiver). Then you can swap the half dead radio with the third or fourth radio (already modified, programmed, tested and shelved) at your leisure. I first did this exercise back when the Motran and the 13-509 were current... the procedure hasn't changed much... Mike WA6ILQ
