Trying to Read An MCS2000

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:32 pm

Ok, I've got a MCS2000 High Power that is set up as a Dual Head Radio. I have the CPS and Cable that goes to the Mic jack, But i cannot for the life of me get it to Upload the codeplug. Do i need to unhook the dual head "Y" Cable and make it a single head again just to upload the codeplug? I keep getting a "not communicating with the radio" error and the radio display never goes into programming mode. Please help I've checked the obvious things like Com port and such.

Mike

HLA · Post by **HLA** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:39 pm

if you're using the mic jack cable unplug one of the heads, if you are using the cable that plugs in underneath you shouldn't be having a problem.

Post by **wavetar** » Wed May 02, 2007 2:02 pm

I've never had a problem reading/writing a dual head MCS with both heads attached. I'd suspect the programming cable first...is it a Moto original, third party, or home-brewed? If it was built from the diagram on Batlabs, many people make the mistake of building it backwards, as they don't notice the "tab on top" written in small print on the picture. Have you successfully read other MCS radios with it? Last but not least, you're not trying to use a Maxtrac/GM/CDM cable are you? They are not the same.

Todd

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Wed May 02, 2007 2:25 pm

Brand Spanking New Motorola Original Cable. The cable is a flat looking patch cable and then it plugs into an adapter that has a 25 pin connector on it.

Post by **wavetar** » Wed May 02, 2007 4:21 pm

Yep, that's the Moto cable alright. Hmmm, don't suppose you're reading it from the 'rear' head? Just grasping at straws now. Anything's possible, it could be an issue with your Y-cable, the front head, or even in the radio drawer itself. It'll be tough to tell without parts to swap around, or at least putting the control head directly on the radio & trying it.

Todd

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:13 pm

I thought that to so i try'd reading it from both heads to see if one would work. Couldn't get it to read from either of them. One of the guys at the shop over here said that you have to bring a Single head control head cable and uplug the y cable and hook up the single head cable with one head before it will work. So now i have to find a control head Cable to use to program with.

Mike

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:49 pm

The've had nothing but problems out of this Fleet of Radio's since they were new out of the box. The latest thing that we noticed is that when the on-board battery charger/ Inverter is plugged in to the shoreline and the Radio is switched on it gives you a Fail 1/90 error on the display, but still works fine after the fail message. Just have to tell the guys to Unplug the Ambulance Shoreline before they switch on the Master Switch.

Mike

jackhackett · Post by **jackhackett** » Wed May 02, 2007 6:55 pm

I've set up a few dual head MCS2000s, it's been a while but I don't recall any trouble programming them. One thing I can think of is that you're not supposed to program them without the emergency jumper in, I don't think it would affect reading one though.
Also, do you have the heads in the correct positions? The front and rear heads are different, I remember one of our techs agonizing over problems with one installed in an ambulance, until he figured out that the heads had been put in wrong.
You said it's a Moto cable, but how about the RIB?

About that Fail 01/90 when on inverter thing.. those inverters can put out all kinds of crap into the vehicles electrical system, had a radio that wouldn't key up because there was a couple of volts worth of hash on the power leads from one.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Wed May 02, 2007 7:16 pm

I'm Using a OEM Motorola Cable and an OEM Motorola Rib, I tried to read it from both heads thinking maybe somebody put the front head in the rear and vice-versa. Still no luck. I'm not too impressed with these radio's; no wonder Motorola Discontinued them in a hurry.

Mike

Garyf629 · Post by **Garyf629** » Thu May 03, 2007 7:04 am

You could also be running into the CPS software issue. Have you had these radios read by a Motorola shop? They could have written to the radio with a newer software version, making it impossible to read with older software.

This is one of the reasons I removed almost all our MCS from service, and replaced them with CDM-1550's with Quickmounts. (I have one left, and it will be gone this month.)

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Thu May 03, 2007 7:19 am

I don't think that i'm running into that yet because it isn't even going into programming mode to read the radio to see what the version of software was that last programmed it. I'm about tempted to build the Accs. Port Programming cable off of Batlabs here and try it.

Mike

HLA · Post by **HLA** » Thu May 03, 2007 2:23 pm

when you click on the read radio icon what happens? what shows up on the screen?

Post by **wavetar** » Thu May 03, 2007 4:34 pm

Mikey wrote:I'm Using a OEM Motorola Cable and an OEM Motorola Rib, I tried to read it from both heads thinking maybe somebody put the front head in the rear and vice-versa. Still no luck. I'm not too impressed with these radio's; no wonder Motorola Discontinued them in a hurry.

Mike

I think Jack's thought was if the heads were reversed, you wouldn't be able to read it from either one...the rear head doesn't have the circuitry for the programming, and the rear portion of the cable doesn't have the wiring. It's generally easy to tell, all the ones I've seen are silkscreened on the back of the head with "front" or "rear".

Assuming no hardware issues, you should not have to do anything special to program them, the Y cable set-up works fine. I don't suppose there are any other MCS radios around you can read to confirm good cable & such.

They were hardly discontinued in a hurry...they were around nearly 12 years, just as long as the Jedi portables.