# Newbie - help with Ambulance Radio



## TheDonNJ (Sep 18, 2014)

Hey guys, I need some help and I'll try to keep it short. My friend is trying to acquire 2 radios for his ambulance here in New Jersey. He's looking at Motorola Spectra A5 VHF 146-174 50W 128Ch
The problem is he wants to make sure this radio conforms to NJ's DOH minimum requirements. 

Below 2 requirements he don't understand and I don't either. Can you please help and or tell me if the Spectra is sufficient for these:

1. A functional, dual-tone, multi-frequency encoder is required in either the driver's or the patient compartment.
2. All radios shall be capable of transmitting and receiving on the required frequencies with automatic Continuous Tone Coded Sub-audible Squelch (CTCSS) disable in carrier squelch mode.

We're completely lost on the second one...
Thank you in advance for your help.


----------



## Akulahawk (Sep 18, 2014)

With regard to Motorola equipment, and item #2 above, that's also known as PL Tone. I'd be quite surprised if any portable radios made in the last 10 or 20 years didn't have PL/CTCSS as an option or wasn't already built-in.


----------



## SafetyEMT18 (Oct 12, 2014)

You need to make sure that the radio is narrowband channel spacing compliant and the A5 Spectra is not. It will only do wideband channel spacing. I'm not sure what NJ's DOH requirements are but there is several radios you can use. The Motorola Astro Spectra W5 is the newer of the Spectra series but also 10 years since it was last produces. 

Almost all radios will do CTCSS and also dual-tone encoding. Pretty much standard on most commercial radios for tone paging. The tone paging set up is tricky, I recommend you get in touch with a radio dealer to make sure your radio is set up correctly. Also check if you need a P25 digital radio or you are fine with an analog only radio.

Motorola :Older less $$$ CDM1550, Astro Spectra , MCS2000, Newer and more $$ PM1500 or XTL1500. XTL2500, XTL5000 
Kenwood: TK-790 series radios


----------



## ZombieEMT (Oct 19, 2014)

I hope this helps. I do not know much about the specifications of this specific radio, however, this radio is used at my volunteer squad on the UHF band in New Jersey. I would say you are probably good.


----------

