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From the wanted thread its confused me as to weather the radio that was used eas the short or long one

I though I had seen a picture and mesured it to my holder and came to the dessision that the long one was used
But I cant find the picture I used

If you have pictures to prove what radio was used I would love to see them,

From that thread:

Teliwhy wrote:Approximately 7.5" for the tall, inaccurate model with a PL board, and 6.75" for the shorter, accurate model.

The shorter model you have is the correct one, though it's in the incorrect configuration. The screen-used radios were 8-channel UHF models (three of the round silver knobs in a row on top) with no PL boards, PL switches (the little switch on the top of the front plate), or keypads on the faceplate.

Your holster, while an original Motorola holster, is an inaccurate model; it looks to be about an inch or so too short. The correct holster will come just to the bottom of the speaker grill on either the PL or non-PL model MT500s. See below:


Screen cap with overlay to show the correct size of the MT500:

Just a quick job in Photoshop (it's not aligned perfectly, but there was no stretching, only rotating and skewing to match the angle he's holding it), but it shows how the proportions of the screen-used radio (at the very least, Venkman's) match up to the shorter model. Hold the two radios in your gloved hand and you'll notice that the shorter one just looks right. It's still entirely possible that a taller model MT500 was used in the movie, but there's no definitive reference to back it up as far as I'm aware.

Teliwhy wrote:The screen-used radios were 8-channel UHF models

Can I asked how you know for sure it was an 8 channel radio and UHF?

I have never seen any photo that is anywhere near clear enough to tell how many channels it had let alone the frequency sticker on the back... The housings are all the same so I can't see how you can state that this was the model used with any legit certainty...

And from looking at this picture, the third one in sure looks like a tall model radio (or it's not all the way seated in the holster) as it clear extends past the top of the holster contrary to what is pretty clear in the fourth picture with it being even with the top of the holster as it should be...

As I stated in the wanted thread I find nothing that solidifies what model is the defacto "accurate" with any degree of certainty...

Exoray wrote:Can I asked how you know for sure it was an 8 channel radio and UHF?

I have never seen any photo that is anywhere near clear enough to tell how many channels it had let alone the frequency sticker on the back... The housings are all the same so I can't see how you can state that this was the model used with any legit certainty...

As I mentioned, the screen-used radio has 3 round silver knobs across the top, pointing to it being a model capable of more than 2 channels. Single channel radios have no knob in the center (like Geordi's radios); 2-channel radios have a toggle switch in the center. 4- and 8-channel models use round knobs. I'm not sure why 8-channel seems to stick in my mind in the way it does, but I remember some detail being pointed out years ago that pointed to the radios being 8-channel models. 4-channel radios do have the same center round knob.
As far as UHF/VHF, the only stubby antennas with a thin base matching the screen-used antennas that I have ever seen are all UHF antennas. Aside from that, it doesn't matter, as like you said, the casings don't differ between models, and you have a better chance of being struck by lightning than finding a radio with the proper stubby antenna still attached.

Exoray wrote:And from looking at this picture, the third one in sure looks like a tall model radio (or it's not all the way seated in the holster) as it clear extends past the top of the holster contrary to what is pretty clear in the fourth picture with it being even with the top of the holster as it should be...

That wouldn't matter. The holsters are sized to accommodate the taller model radios; the shorter ones sit with about 3/4" of empty space in the bottom, held up by the speaker grill; either model radio looks the same sitting in one of those holsters.

Again, it's entirely possible that other styles were used, but the knob configurations and antennas on all 3 radios as seen in the holsters match, and the closeup on Venkman's radio shows it to be the shorter model; I see no reason to doubt that, for all intents and purposes, the radios are all identical models snagged as a group for production.

4- and 8-channel models use round knobs.

4, 6 and 8 use the knob so I agree there, but there is no way in hell from the reference we see that we can tell how many channels they had...

As far as UHF/VHF, the only stubby antennas with a thin base matching the screen-used antennas that I have ever seen are all UHF antennas.

Yeah, but it was common practice (even though it destroyed signal) for many people to hack the antennas shorter so that they were easy to deal with... And this certainly could have been the case for a movie where they didn't want a 10" antenna in the way... So although it may lean towards UHF there is really no difference between the lowband, VHF and UHF radios that is visible from the outside...

Teliwhy wrote:That wouldn't matter. The holsters are sized to accommodate the taller model radios; the shorter ones sit with about 3/4" of empty space in the bottom, held up by the speaker grill; either model radio looks the same sitting in one of those holsters.

And I beg to differ not all holsters are made to accommodate the taller radios only the holsters made for the taller radios, they did in fact make both tall and short holsters... The incorrect later model holsters with the quick belt release might all be taller but the correct early model holsters came in tall and short...

Here is a tall radio in a short holster and IMO it sits in the holster that looks just like radio 3 in that picture...



Here is the shorter radio in the same holster that is consistent with radio 4 in that picture...

If you look at the proportions of the shorter radio, then area below the speaker grill is approximately the same height as the speaker grill itself. The taller radio ends up with a good bit more radio below the speaker grill than the other model.

Looking at your holster, the height of the holster itself isn't much taller than the speaker grill. So, while it sits the same way, the proportions are all wrong.

The screen-used holsters are considerably taller than the speaker grill, more in line with the proportions of the PL-model MT500. If a radio were tall enough to sit up out of one of those holsters, it would have to be taller than the PL-models.

Teliwhy wrote:Looking at your holster, the height of the holster itself isn't much taller than the speaker grill. So, while it sits the same way, the proportions are all wrong.

And again I beg to differ, in some scenes and certain radios yes it appears out of whack but in others not so, see later on in the post why I suspect (know) this to be caused by...



In the above capture the ratio looks pretty damn good, the snap isn't in the same location on the holster but the overall ratio of the ratio is IMO far from being "all wrong..."

Again, I have to state that I believe that not all the radios were not the same model as I have been saying, thus leading to incorrect assumptions... I believe everyone is just taking for granted that it's correctly identified as an MT500 short body and looking no further... But, IMO assuming they are all the same model MT500 is careless, and here is why...

Just look at the images below this is not an MT500 in these pictures! I would place money on it being an HT series radio, probably an HT210 or HT220, just look the talk button area, not MT style at all but very much HT style... No shoulder mount mic/speaker socket and the talk button is much higher up and protrudes out pretty far this is consistent with HT series radios not the MT series... This radio is also missing the earphone and external antenna jack on the top found on the MT series, again consistent with the HT series...

Well I'll be damned...

That does look like an HT220. That might explain why Ray's holster appears to be one of the shorter ones. Guess I'll have to admit to being wrong in my assumption that all the radios were alike.