Maxtrac 900 programming for ATCS

[sataraid1]

I'm not converting these radios to ham use, but it still seemed like the best place to ask.

I have two 900mHz Maxtracs, D27MWA5GB7AK, that I want to use for ATCS monitoring on 935-936mHz.

From what I've read, these radios have 10 conventional channels. These channels exist alongside the trunking system? This means that it can simply be programmed with the frequencies I need, right? No blanking the board, or firmware updates, or hardware mods?

If there are other issues I need to discuss with the shop before taking them in, I would appreciate if someone would clarify them for me. The shop here in town isn't terribly excited about doing any work for me, and I will need to be able to specify exactly what needs to be done.

If all is well, once the programming is done, how does one select among the channels? This radio lacks the normal UP and DOWN buttons I'm familiar with, and my Maxtrac 300 manual does not cover this configuration.

One other minor question ... why do some radios actually say "Maxtrac 900" on the faceplate, and others do not?

Thanks in advance.

[MSS-Dave]

I don't see any reason it shouldn't work. Looking at the frequencies on the web resource I could find ( http://www.atcsmon.com/frequencies.html) these will directly program into the radio. I should say you will only be able to listen to the "BCP" side of things as the Maxtrac won't RX below 935.000 MHz without modifications. 10 channels would be the limit for a B7 trunked radio, you could change the firmware out to make it conventional only if you wanted more than 10 channels available. The shop will still need to use the trunked radio RSS to program of course. Not sure what you mean by the buttons. They don't say up / down think it's mode been sooooo long since I looked at a trunked Maxtrac but they would be the 2 buttons on the "side" of the display. If they ask about "Hear Clear", make sure it is disabled.

Only other thing I could forsee here is your receiver getting hammered if you happen to be near a Sprint/Nextel site.....

Dave

[fchrist16]

Yes the Maxtrac 900Mhz radios work fine for ATCS alongside a trunked system, just don't delete the system. I had issues at first when I did. There are Maxtrac 800Mhz radios that will work fine for the MCP side of things as well. I have 3 different setups all using Maxtrac's listening to the BCP and MCP.

Regards,

-Frank C.

[sataraid1]

Not sure what you mean by the buttons. They don't say up / down think it's mode been sooooo long since I looked at a trunked Maxtrac but they would be the 2 buttons on the "side" of the display. If they ask about "Hear Clear", make sure it is disabled.

Yes the Maxtrac 900Mhz radios work fine for ATCS alongside a trunked system, just don't delete the system. I had issues at first when I did. There are Maxtrac 800Mhz radios that will work fine for the MCP side of things as well. I have 3 different setups all using Maxtrac's listening to the BCP and MCP.

Thanks to you both for the feedback.

So am I understanding this correctly ... when programmed with conventional channels, the "System" and "Subfleet" buttons can be used to step through the available channels like on a non-trunking Maxtrac?

I need someone to do this programming for me. My local shop just told me they don't have software "old enough" to talk to these trunking Maxtracs.

I also have a pair of 800s waiting in the wings to be programmed for MCP use, if I can ever get the work done.

[fchrist16]

Yes the subfleet up/down buttons work fine for scrolling.

Regards,

-Frank C.

[sataraid1]

For the sake of completeness, I wanted to post that I was able to successfully convert the two 900 trunking Maxtracs to conventional ATCS BCP receivers. It seemed simpler in the long run to convert them and eliminate the trunking altogether.

The entire outlay for the radios, computer, and EPROM programming hardware was cheaper than the base service charge of having two radios reprogrammed alone. (Though the local shop had already told me they wouldn't work on either the 800 or the 900 Maxtracs.)

I also wanted to thank those who offered help and information both here on the forum and via email. I've spoken with so many individuals, it would be almost impossible for me to send my thanks to them all separately.

My next project will be converting a couple of 800s, and modifying them to pick up the ATCS MCP channels. But that's a whole different can o' worms.