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Show all reviews of the Motorola GM300
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You can write your own review
of the Motorola GM300.
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YEPSURE
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 25, 2007 11:08
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Great for the right price
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have owned many of GM300’s over the years and have found them to be excellent for amateur radio use. The previous post outlined the costs of programming equipment, which is a factor, however the previous reviewer was a little high on the costs. Using current purchase costs, anyone buying the items outlined in the previous review can expect to spend the following:
Rib.................$25
Cable...............$25
9v batt.............$2
Pirated software.... FREE VIA THE INTERNET
Shipping............$12
--------------------$64 grand total
Keep in mind this is what it would REALLY cost for these items, if not cheaper . . .
The treasured RIB doesn’t cost anything near what it used to. Good aftermarket RIBS can be purchased brand new off ebay for $20 plus shipping, not the $100 the previous reviewer stated.
The programming cable for the GM300 can be made from a simple CAT5 cable. Simply cut one end off and solder the other end to the appropriate connector. The schematic is available via batlabs and the wires are all straight forward point-to-point connections. So you could realistically knock another $20 off the price since most people have CAT5 cables laying around anyway.
Spending $5 for a 9-volt battery is purely optional. You can just as easily spend $2 for an off-brand alkaline. Or you don’t have to use a battery at all since the RIB has a D/C input jack so you can simply attach a 9-12 volt supply to it.
As for the software, or RSS, this was at one time an impossible task to acquire without paying Motorola their fee. Like everything else on the Internet though, it too can be found for free. I’m not saying it’s okay to do this but merely pointing out, like everything else in cyber land, it is in fact there.
The shipping fee is a variable amount that could be higher or lower, depending on the transaction. I’ve purchased UHF GM300’s for as low as $35 (32 channel, 40-watt model), so the bottom line shipping amount is a small variable in the grand scheme of things.
The bottom line here is to think about the REAL cost of programming this radio vs. what someone arbitrarily decides to post about it here. I’ve owned GM300’s for many years now and the required programming gear is as cheap as ever and can be purchased everywhere on the Internet. The GM300 is an excellent radio for amateur purposes IF you can buy on at the right price. They are simple radio’s that do one thing very well.
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