[Milsurplus] Sic Transit Gloria Motrac

[Jack Antonio]

On 5/26/2018 8:21 PM, Hubert Miller wrote:
>
> Going thru my old stuff I hadn't looked at in years, actual years, I 
> found a stack of Motorola Motrac radio manuals.
>
> Years ago, I was thinking these might actually be usable on 2 meters.
>
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.� The term Motrac covers a wide range of 
model numbers, variants,
and frequency ranges. Almost as many twists, turns and details as is 
covered by the generic term
"ARC-5".
>
> now, who would want to bother ? �And they're not really a collectible 
> item either, unlike say for example, maybe
>
> a Wilson
>
Wilson? Had no idea they were a collectible. I had one once, liberated 
from commercial service. I
really didn't think much of it, and wound up throwing it away.

There are a few people who now use Motrac vintage gear on the ham bands, 
but probably no where
near the number who operate vintage military gear. I just recently put a 
Mocom 70 (sort of a "cost
reduced" Motrac) on 52.525 for old times sake.
>
> 400 DC inverter, I suppose,
>
Depending on model number, one could probably use the power supply out 
of a 100W Motrac
as a foundation for a power supply for an SB-100 or similar tube type 
SSB transceiver. (100W referred to
RF output power, not DC input).
>
> Kind of sad, but then, these things were just a tool, not a work of 
> high art.
>
For some, maybe. But I converted and used quite a few Motracs, Motrans, 
and MIcors for ham service, and have
some of the same regards for the sets as I do vintage military gear. It 
was good stuff, well designed, and gave
good service. (And GE gear falls in the same category, although there 
are those who like Motorola and hate
GE, and vice versa).

Control heads for Motracs ask for quite a bit now on eBay. Think 
"Adam-12" and police car restorers.
And I scrapped lots of them 20 to 30 years ago.

Jack Antonio
WA7DIA