Hi guys,
is there any way to reprogram the MCU (HD63A01) with the original firmware?
I've a MC Micro that was malfunctioning and to access the bottom part of the PCB for the SMD components i had to disassemble the radio. Unfortunatly i let the two pcbs touch for brief seconds near the eeproms, enough for the radio to die. Now i turn it on and only a series of beeps come out from speaker, LCD blank and cannot use RSS to program it.
I found the MCU datasheet and have info on it but lack the original firmware to try to program it.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Mike
MC Micro/ M110 Firmware
Moderator: Queue Moderator
The scenario is this:
A friend asked my help on a non working Sel.5 MC Micro (with LCD). After some testing i could see that two small SMD Resistors were not working 100%. They should be 10 Ohms and they were measuring more than 1k. This was near the voltage regulator, so the 5V was not going to the digital board.I soldered a 10Ohms resistor there and the radio powered up. The LCD showed [ 99 1], after i checked with the RSS and as able to read the codeplug, was working at 170,050 MHz. After i edited the codeplug and changed the frequency to 145Mhz and used 8 different frequencies around that value. After this i went to the RTX Coils and tuned them for 5V at SL test point. Until here no worries but after when i tried to tune the LO (Local Oscillator) Coils "thru" LO testpoint nothing changed. The radio transmitted but without power and reception was basically dead (only received signals very near, i mean a couple of meters). So i took out the chassis as the SMDs are on the bottom part of the PCBs but when i was measuring a signal i made a little pressure on the PCB and the two PCBs touched. They touched near the eeproms and after this the radio went dead. Now it does not show nothing on the LCD and a strange beep mixed with static noise comes out from the radio.
I think the MCU (CPU) have a problem and i'm not sure if one is able to reprogram the ROM contents. I mean not the codeplug on the eproms but the basic firmware from the radio inside the MCU (HD63A01).
I already swapped a HD63A01 from one M110 and it works ok with the 2ch control head so i know the problem comes from there.
The lack of power and reception still is an unsolved problem.
Is there any way to get the firmware for the HD63A01 Sel.5 Model and program it on the mcu?
Any ideas about the RF board problem?
I also found a website were the author changes the HD63a01 for an atmel processor. The link is here.
A friend asked my help on a non working Sel.5 MC Micro (with LCD). After some testing i could see that two small SMD Resistors were not working 100%. They should be 10 Ohms and they were measuring more than 1k. This was near the voltage regulator, so the 5V was not going to the digital board.I soldered a 10Ohms resistor there and the radio powered up. The LCD showed [ 99 1], after i checked with the RSS and as able to read the codeplug, was working at 170,050 MHz. After i edited the codeplug and changed the frequency to 145Mhz and used 8 different frequencies around that value. After this i went to the RTX Coils and tuned them for 5V at SL test point. Until here no worries but after when i tried to tune the LO (Local Oscillator) Coils "thru" LO testpoint nothing changed. The radio transmitted but without power and reception was basically dead (only received signals very near, i mean a couple of meters). So i took out the chassis as the SMDs are on the bottom part of the PCBs but when i was measuring a signal i made a little pressure on the PCB and the two PCBs touched. They touched near the eeproms and after this the radio went dead. Now it does not show nothing on the LCD and a strange beep mixed with static noise comes out from the radio.
I think the MCU (CPU) have a problem and i'm not sure if one is able to reprogram the ROM contents. I mean not the codeplug on the eproms but the basic firmware from the radio inside the MCU (HD63A01).
I already swapped a HD63A01 from one M110 and it works ok with the 2ch control head so i know the problem comes from there.
The lack of power and reception still is an unsolved problem.
Is there any way to get the firmware for the HD63A01 Sel.5 Model and program it on the mcu?
Any ideas about the RF board problem?
I also found a website were the author changes the HD63a01 for an atmel processor. The link is here.
Since it is sure that the mcu fails = bad news! 
There is no economical way of reading the pre-programmed (actually mask-programmed) mcu.
It is also bad that you cannot use an mcu from a 2-chan radio since they have different firmware.
If you had the hi chann capacity version, then things could much better since that version
employs an mcu that has no internal firmare; it resides in an external eprom...
It is advisable to keep the radio for parts or just in case you find another blown one with good mcu or go for the modification mentioned.
I could send you a logic board along with a no-lcd head from the data version I have,
but I'm not sure wether it would be useful since as-is it will stay as 2-chann or you have to install a channel selector to access all 16 channels...
Unless you want to place it for packet/aprs service.
There is no economical way of reading the pre-programmed (actually mask-programmed) mcu.
It is also bad that you cannot use an mcu from a 2-chan radio since they have different firmware.
If you had the hi chann capacity version, then things could much better since that version
employs an mcu that has no internal firmare; it resides in an external eprom...
It is advisable to keep the radio for parts or just in case you find another blown one with good mcu or go for the modification mentioned.
I could send you a logic board along with a no-lcd head from the data version I have,
but I'm not sure wether it would be useful since as-is it will stay as 2-chann or you have to install a channel selector to access all 16 channels...
Unless you want to place it for packet/aprs service.
There are 10 kind of people: Those who understand binary and those who don't.
Hi again Paul,
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, the problem is the MCU so the MC Micro is dead. The radio was to be used for a APRS digipeater (144.800) on a mountain but the MCU is not the only problem.
When tunning the radio, at the time it worked, the SL point voltage was ok but on the LO point there was no change when i tweaked the coils.
Did you saw the sq6ade website? It's a nice mod he did to the Micro's.
The logic board would be nice and 2ch is no problem but if the LO problem still persist would be difficult. TX power was almost zero and RX was poor.
Looking forward to your MC Micro website
Mike ct1enq
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, the problem is the MCU so the MC Micro is dead. The radio was to be used for a APRS digipeater (144.800) on a mountain but the MCU is not the only problem.
When tunning the radio, at the time it worked, the SL point voltage was ok but on the LO point there was no change when i tweaked the coils.
Did you saw the sq6ade website? It's a nice mod he did to the Micro's.
The logic board would be nice and 2ch is no problem but if the LO problem still persist would be difficult. TX power was almost zero and RX was poor.
Looking forward to your MC Micro website
Mike ct1enq