Kevin, When I said garbage, I stated "other garbage", and separated from the word Micor with commas. I was not inferring that Micors were garbage.
I agree with you; The Micor is probably the best made RF package of all time. In fact, I have more than ten Micors on the air at the moment in my linked repeater system, Eight UHF and two VHF stations, and a converted mobile UHF that has been running non-stop for over 10 years. (see www.w2njr.org). Plus a few others I maintain for local clubs. In the commercial world, I was still buying Micor-based Spectra-Tac receiver chassis' from Motorola as late as 1995 for special app diagnostic receive sites, and Micor link repeaters. Simply stated, there was nothing better available for high-rf sites. Matter of fact, when the Nucleus paging station was introduced in 1994, Motorola couldn't yet deliver a receiver module that worked properly, and implemented a plug in card which interfaced a Spectra-Tac receiver to fill the bill. The Nucleus was the platform on which the Quantar later evolved. Add a decent preamp and window filter before the preamp, and the receiver performance is hard to beat. Keep a fan on the PAs, and they take a beating. Tap rx audio at the right locations, and audio quality is great. The squelch circuit is second to NONE. However, some of the Micors I was referring to have lost PAs, taken lightning hits, or were just put together by those less competent, and were in need of work. The VHF MSR2000 is also a great performer. Without a preamp, the MSR receiver will outperform a Micor receiver. And the MSR receiver will tune down to 146MHz much easier without the modifications such as those needed to the helical stage on the Micors. While I agree that the Mitrek squelch is horrible, I disagree on the MSR2000 squelch circuit. While the MSR2000 R1 audio & squelch card does not use the famous Micor ic chip, it never the less has dual- level squelching action designed into it, and works as good as the Micor squelch. I have one on the bench right now; a 20db quieting signal results in almost silent squelch closure upon removal, and a noisy signal results in the typical millisecond squelch crash delay. I also have a few on the air, and the squelch is working as described and as good as the Micor squelch. In so many words, the MSR line was made to fill a price point gap once the Micor line subsided and the MSF5000 line was introduced. The reason we see so many more VHF MSR2000s than UHF ones is that early on there was no such animal as a VHF MSF5000 until late in the MSF life cycle. 73, Eric KE2D --- In [email protected], Kevin Custer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > kk2ed wrote: > > Just a quick comment - > > > > I recently bought a pallet of 15xMHz range MSR2000 VHF continuous > > duty stations. I sold five of them to a few of the local > > radio/repeater clubs to replace their *aging Micors, converted > > mobiles, and other garbage not worthy* of sites they are fortunate to > > have. > > > > Just a quick reply.... > > Micors of any kind, Mobile or Station are not garbage as you state, > Eric. Motorola built the Micor line well into the late 1990's for > special uses, where other equipment simply wouldn't fit the bill. > > > Where can you get a repeater better than an > > MSR2000 for that? Converted mobiles are going for as much. > > > > The MSR2000 is based on the Motorola Mitrek vintage of equipment. The > only reason the PA's are worthy are they are a near copy of the Micor. > The rest of the station is of the same quality as a Mitrek. > > Having years of experience with both the Micor and the Mitrek, I'll take > the Micor even considering the age. A properly built Micor Mobile will > run rings around an MSR2K where selectivity, sensitivity, and overload > is concerned; and have just as good of audio. > > The MSR2000 has a terrible carrier squelch. I strongly suggest anyone > running a MSR2000 to integrate a Link-Comm RLC-MOT (Micor) squelch board. > > Compared to the Micor, the MSR2000 was a short-lived product line. > > Kevin Custer > List Owner >
