Does anyone here know a bit about the centracom II series of motorola consoles? If so, could you provide me with some details as to what this system might be setup to do? Also, are there any good sites that list what each of the cards purposes are?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0014081617
Thanks, Ryan
Looking for details about this Centracom II ebay auction
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It appears that its pretty much a complete system.
However, without all the proper documentation, it will be tough to get it to work properly without hours of trouble shooting, assuming you have a good background in installing and maintaining these.
Motorola equipment doesn't exactly have maps on the back of the equipment that says "This goes here and does this".
However, it appears that the CEB/cardcage is included which is the brains of the whole system (not the pushbutton consoles).
Small amount of information can be found here:
http://www.batlabs.com/centracm.html
However, without all the proper documentation, it will be tough to get it to work properly without hours of trouble shooting, assuming you have a good background in installing and maintaining these.
Motorola equipment doesn't exactly have maps on the back of the equipment that says "This goes here and does this".
However, it appears that the CEB/cardcage is included which is the brains of the whole system (not the pushbutton consoles).
Small amount of information can be found here:
http://www.batlabs.com/centracm.html
Lowband radio. The original and non-complicated wide area interoperable communications system
Tell us why you think you want this and then maybe we can advise.
If it is a II and not a II+ you need an eprom burner to program.
It may be a II+ programable by RSS.
Just looking at it and the card lists ther are lots of conventional Bims
some LORI's and LOMI's, The usual OMI's with the required RS232 board, the 2 timers and some BIM relay boards.
I might buy it if I could use it but If you are asking advice on the board about it I recommend you forget it. Centracom II is a beast if you don't know what your doing and the manuals are not great.
Now if it was an Elite Centracom no problem although again not easy to program unless experienced.
The other option is the power supplies are good for various purposes. although again these are the old ones. The racks are worth a hundred bucks but again if you really want this you'll need help to set it up and get it going.
It is easy if you know how and I rarelly look at a manual (I've been through Centracom I, Centracom II, Centracom II+, Centracom II+ CRT, centracom Elite CRT and finally Centracom ELITE the full beast) as I've done lot's of these.
If it is a II and not a II+ you need an eprom burner to program.
It may be a II+ programable by RSS.
Just looking at it and the card lists ther are lots of conventional Bims
some LORI's and LOMI's, The usual OMI's with the required RS232 board, the 2 timers and some BIM relay boards.
I might buy it if I could use it but If you are asking advice on the board about it I recommend you forget it. Centracom II is a beast if you don't know what your doing and the manuals are not great.
Now if it was an Elite Centracom no problem although again not easy to program unless experienced.
The other option is the power supplies are good for various purposes. although again these are the old ones. The racks are worth a hundred bucks but again if you really want this you'll need help to set it up and get it going.
It is easy if you know how and I rarelly look at a manual (I've been through Centracom I, Centracom II, Centracom II+, Centracom II+ CRT, centracom Elite CRT and finally Centracom ELITE the full beast) as I've done lot's of these.
I am looking at this mainly as a project and something that could be fun to tinker with. I dispatched on one of these for a while, and like the layout of them. Basically I just came across it here on ebay and started getting ideas. Also, with these can anyone tell if the transmitters/receivers are included with this? From what I remember when I worked one of these, we had all of the racks with the CEBs upstairs, but there was a radio room downstairs. Could anyone possibly elaborate on that a little? Thanks, Ryan
This would just be for the "backroom" equipment which intefaces the consoles with the outside world. If there were transmitters etc, the auction would most likely be starting off a whole lot more.
This equipment is something that you can't just "tinker with" like ham radios or lego's. Its specifically built for each customer and the required configuration.
Essentially if you were to plug it in, it would sit there with lots of pretty lights shooting an error code / link down on the CCM. You'd have a $100 + lots of high shipping costs for a neat looking red clock.
The cabinets themselves could be pretty neat to play with if you desire to have your own personal home EOC setup, but thats about it. There are essentially no "user servicable parts" or customization at the console. Everything at that conole talks back to the CEB/cardcage over a 25? pair cable which translates all the commands that the console sends it.
Plug and play is not in the Centracom library!
Although cool and neat to a point, its like buying a machine with DOS 5.0 on it and trying to get it to do something.
This equipment is something that you can't just "tinker with" like ham radios or lego's. Its specifically built for each customer and the required configuration.
Essentially if you were to plug it in, it would sit there with lots of pretty lights shooting an error code / link down on the CCM. You'd have a $100 + lots of high shipping costs for a neat looking red clock.
The cabinets themselves could be pretty neat to play with if you desire to have your own personal home EOC setup, but thats about it. There are essentially no "user servicable parts" or customization at the console. Everything at that conole talks back to the CEB/cardcage over a 25? pair cable which translates all the commands that the console sends it.
Plug and play is not in the Centracom library!
Although cool and neat to a point, its like buying a machine with DOS 5.0 on it and trying to get it to do something.
Lowband radio. The original and non-complicated wide area interoperable communications system
II'll just add that it is extremely configerable if you upgrade the proms to EEproms, then you can use RSS to make changes much easier than using the original prom burners, and I beg to differ with PJ in that is highly customizable and that's what makes it a beast. It is easy to add to and expand and can be made to operate almost any base station with little or no interfacing. The problem is you need to know what your doing as it can be made to do so many things. Think of a Motorola XTS5000. It can be programmed in 1000 different ways, Well Centracom can be programmed in 100,000 different ways and not one of them is in the manuals.
Do I think you would get it to work?
Probably not.
The Motorola course is 2 weeks in Schuamburg and teaches you most things but the course is now based on the Elite although covers most of the cards except the OMI's ehich are now Coim's and the programming is Windows based and much easier. The old RSS is also not that staight forward and not designed for the casual user. (mind you neither is the windows based especially if you have the Ambassador switch as well.
As PJ said you'll have a great digital clock (even then to change it to 24 hour is an RSS function)
Sure I could come over and customize it for you but I charge $160 hour + expenses and if it is a version II without EEProm's it's a lot of hours.
Do I think you would get it to work?
Probably not.
The Motorola course is 2 weeks in Schuamburg and teaches you most things but the course is now based on the Elite although covers most of the cards except the OMI's ehich are now Coim's and the programming is Windows based and much easier. The old RSS is also not that staight forward and not designed for the casual user. (mind you neither is the windows based especially if you have the Ambassador switch as well.
As PJ said you'll have a great digital clock (even then to change it to 24 hour is an RSS function)
Sure I could come over and customize it for you but I charge $160 hour + expenses and if it is a version II without EEProm's it's a lot of hours.
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440roadrunner
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It will hook up just about any radio.
I have mine hooked up a maratrac, MTR2000 radios, Nucleus, Quantar/Quantro and even an air/ground scanner and a Micom II SSB.
Actually my quantars/Quantros are now connected via DIU's and the Ambasador switch for SZ but they used to be connected via TBIM's.
Also work with MSF's. Any radio can be configured to work.
I've seen maxtracs, MCS2000, and various other unknown radios, even an icom HF set at one location.
They can be controlled via DC loop, direct control or tone.
Like I said, easy if you know how. You won't find anything much of interest in the manuals though. These are items that need the expertise to configure them.
I have mine hooked up a maratrac, MTR2000 radios, Nucleus, Quantar/Quantro and even an air/ground scanner and a Micom II SSB.
Actually my quantars/Quantros are now connected via DIU's and the Ambasador switch for SZ but they used to be connected via TBIM's.
Also work with MSF's. Any radio can be configured to work.
I've seen maxtracs, MCS2000, and various other unknown radios, even an icom HF set at one location.
They can be controlled via DC loop, direct control or tone.
Like I said, easy if you know how. You won't find anything much of interest in the manuals though. These are items that need the expertise to configure them.
Oh of course Bruce you can get it to do anything. In fact, I'd love to have this over the Gold Elite just for the whole push button thing!
I guess what I was getting at, is that if you have absoultey no clue about this equipment other than pressing the PTT etc, it will become a big dissapointment when it arrives by box truck.
This would be an awesome steal for a PD wishing to upgrade from using desksets and control stations kind of thing.
As for radios that would hook up to them, they would be any radio that can be controlled by DC or tone remote. From most base stations (MSF5000's, Quantars, MSR2000's etc) to certain mobile radios in their proper configuration.
The as-built configuration and subsequent reconfigs for my last setup (7? radios, doors, remote DC controls etc) was something like 5 4" binders overstuffed.
The documentation is key. Makes life MUCH easier.
I guess what I was getting at, is that if you have absoultey no clue about this equipment other than pressing the PTT etc, it will become a big dissapointment when it arrives by box truck.
This would be an awesome steal for a PD wishing to upgrade from using desksets and control stations kind of thing.
As for radios that would hook up to them, they would be any radio that can be controlled by DC or tone remote. From most base stations (MSF5000's, Quantars, MSR2000's etc) to certain mobile radios in their proper configuration.
The as-built configuration and subsequent reconfigs for my last setup (7? radios, doors, remote DC controls etc) was something like 5 4" binders overstuffed.
The documentation is key. Makes life MUCH easier.
Lowband radio. The original and non-complicated wide area interoperable communications system
I'll take that as sarcasm. Give me my Gold Elites and ambasador switch anyday.Pj wrote:Oh of course Bruce you can get it to do anything. In fact, I'd love to have this over the Gold Elite just for the whole push button thing!
Programming is a breeze. Especially the multiple screen select.
You can Fire, Police Hospital all from one terminal, it just depends who logs on and has the right password to open a screen. (My favourite is Engineering, it is programmed with every talkgroup in the system, man it took a long time!)
But you have to admit a BIM (still the same as the centracom II, well the C and D versions are) can be configured into so many ways especially if you have the optional DC relay card on top.
It will work with anything i've tried sofar although everything is now remote from the CEB so I had to add tone adaptors where required, The scanner comes in on a DRM module so that was simple.
My last Centracom 2 setup was 7 position, 28 trunking MSF5000 (through TBIMS of course), 2 DRM's with various stuff, a dictophone tape logging recorder through the LORI and LOMI boards and various doors as well, the consoles were all remoted so there was ROCI's and other crap as well.
It was a royal pain for any changes.
Then we made it a II+ by changing the PROM's to EEPROMS and that was heaven, added a couple of CRT's and then finally upgraded to ELITE.
I'll say one thing though, I remember training at Schuamburg when Centracom II came out and it just killed the Centracom I's I used to look after. Full off hard jumpers to configure anything and was way limited without a CEB.
Lots of operators feel more comfortable with the B&L and the change to Elite took a little getting used to by them, however with touch screens and the on screen logging they soon got the hang of it.
When we did the upgrade each week I changed over a console to Elite so the operators could get used to it bit by bit. By the last week I found out that one operator when they came in went straight for the B&L and by the time the last console was replaced they had zero time on the Elite.
Do you remember the call check with the dictaphone box and the endless piece of tape?
When we did the upgrade each week I changed over a console to Elite so the operators could get used to it bit by bit. By the last week I found out that one operator when they came in went straight for the B&L and by the time the last console was replaced they had zero time on the Elite.
Do you remember the call check with the dictaphone box and the endless piece of tape?
Had one...sorta worked. Then got the whopping 60sec or so digital verison. That stopped working after awhile. The backlit LCD's never lasted. The callchecker software with the new recorder (Racal) was sorta ok, but was a PITA to the dispatchers.
I went with the Motorola software in with the Elite upgrade and that worked out pretty well. As always, overpriced - but works.
I went with the Motorola software in with the Elite upgrade and that worked out pretty well. As always, overpriced - but works.
Lowband radio. The original and non-complicated wide area interoperable communications system
We stopped using call checker and just do logging on a DRM so it's easy for the supervisor to replay something.
I looked at the software and thought do you really need it. The answer was no.
Now I need to price a Nice recorder to capture the radio properly.
I looked at their booth at APCO last week, good stuff, easy to intergrate and easy to administer.
Logs the actual talkgroup id's, radio id,s as well as the voice. Real simple to find a call on the system from a particular officer or EMS unit. Just need a rough time and the radio alias or proper id.
No wonder it's called Nice!
I looked at the software and thought do you really need it. The answer was no.
Now I need to price a Nice recorder to capture the radio properly.
I looked at their booth at APCO last week, good stuff, easy to intergrate and easy to administer.
Logs the actual talkgroup id's, radio id,s as well as the voice. Real simple to find a call on the system from a particular officer or EMS unit. Just need a rough time and the radio alias or proper id.
No wonder it's called Nice!