Anyone into ex pmr conversion

Before we go any further i am not talking about 446mhz gear.

I am talking about converting ex taxi radios,like Pye Tait,Key etc.
I have dabbled with these type of rigs for many years.I am no means an expert.
I know that M3's are not alowed to convert these type of rigs.
Personally i think they are missing out .But ofcom make the rules !

So i would be interested in anyone who has converted a EXPMR radio and how you got on with the rig.

Andy G6OHM

as you say andy we cant but i would love to have a play.i did alot of electronics in the 80's and early 90's mainly audio and visuals.i did build a few rf tx's for use on short range 88-108 fm

Motorola 1200's here are coverted a lot and work well with there 25watts

theres been a few old pye radios around here ex taxi 1s that have been converted but and this is a big but they were 40watts out the back end of them ony usefull on the hills me thinks not that i wud condone useing 40watts on that band but a lot of peeps with ham sets do tho around here .i use a motorla euro446 handle pro with a bnc connector on the top of it and a cut down di-pole on my curtain rail in the liveing room .furthest distance up to now is 30miles to bolton and worked liverool,wirral,wales from winter hill bolton with it as well

I have several.
A ex Fire Brigade PFX on 4 meters, which works OK until you add a 1 or 2 meter tail of counterpoise under a case screw & then it really rocks.
A 4 meter AM Pye Vanguard which I will at some point fit to the Velocette.
An old & massive ex St John Ambulance Belcom, that still has their crystals in it.
Plus a couple of Icoms laying around that I want to put onto 2 meters at some point.

hmmm... I've got an old Icomm site radio, I swear it's on 2m but it only having channel/CTCSS I can't lock down the frequency so I daren't test it on anything more than a dummy load. I also have a Yaesu VX5 I'm using for PMR Tx and WFM monitoring, I'm hoping to have a Sirio mobile whip set up on my bike before long so I can actually hear the traffic reports (the Yaesu's own antenna SUCKS, btw). Quick technical ask on that; having not done the math, does anyone know if a 5/8 wave reduced 11m whip (not sure of the model but it is similar in size and appearance to the Wilson FGT) will work on a CMOS Tx'er at 446MHz without blowing it? I'm hoping so, it'd save me some time switching antennas just so I can send...

I have a VX-7r, which will have the same antenna as a VX-5r & the antenna is OK, not brilliant, but then no rubber duck is brilliant.
For the antenna why not use a 70 CM antenna ? A CB antenna is a tiny bit big having been designed for a frequency with a 10 meter wavelength & with 446 at around 70Cm in length, I find most of my 70CM antennas work on 446 with little or no adaption.

I've done many conversions starting way back with crystallised gear and then later burning EPROMS and currently simply programming modern equipment for amateur bands and PMR446.
My latest radios are a pair of MotoTrbo handhelds which I'm looking forward to programming for DPMR446 once I get the lead.