New b with some Questions

[k2cav]

Hi All,
I am new to Motorola Radios, I recently Purchased a Syntor x 9000 LowBand Radio,
It came with a HCN1041C COntrol head and a Cable that did not even work with the control head( a Data Cable? )
Anyway, I purchased a MOTOROLA SYNTOR X9000 RADIO CONTROL HEAD CABLE off EBay, It connects to the radio at least.
Anyway, I connect the cable to my Radio,Control Head and power supply and I get nothing.
I am getting 12 volts through the cable , So I wondered if I even have the right control head to go with this radio?
Where does the speaker connect to?
Sorry for all the new b questions, but have looked and can find any help. nobody in my small town does Ham radio ( there are a few but no help with commercial units )
Any help would be gratefully appreciated.
Thanks

[FireCpt809]

the orange and black wires need 12+ the speaker connects to the 2 black wires that should have a 2 pin white molex connector

[jmr061]

The ORANGE and GREEN (not black) that come off the rear of the control head need power.

Jason

the orange and black wires need 12+ the speaker connects to the 2 black wires that should have a 2 pin white molex connector

[FireCpt809]

thats what i said. orange and green 12+ black go to the speaker

[Tom in D.C.]

The Board that you're reading right now grew originally out of a Board called
Batwing Laboratories (www.batlabs.com). At that site you can find a lot of
information about your particular radio (http://batlabs.com/syntor.html). A
Google search for your particular radio might also turn up additional information.

[Tim]

If you really want an information overload, check out Mike's page:

http://www.onfreq.com/syntorx/

Tim W5FN
Utopia, TX

[k2cav]

Thanks all for the quick reply, I was wondering what the fused green and orange wires were for, they were wrapped up all nice and neet and tied off with a zip tie, and not wanting to start hooking things up randomly I neglected to hook thoose 2 wire up. Thanks again, and will let you know if it works!

[Will]

Remember to FUSE the Green lead at 5 amps. And the Orange lead at 1 amps.

The Green is battery to the receiver/exciter/control head section of the radio.
The Orange lead is Ignition control .

[k2cav]

Ok, I hooked up all the wires as directed, All wires are fused ( fuse all check with meter to ensure good ) Still nothing, IS there a button combination I need to push? I cant read any of the buttons other than mode, but I pushed them all and nothing, not even a glimmer of life. So how to I tell if it is Radio or Control head? Thanks for all the help everyone!

[Jim202]

Well, fill us in. Have you got the radio fired up and stuff showing up on the control head. Doesn't matter what it is unless you are getting an error code.

What do you have in the way of the ability to program the radio? At a minimum, you will need a SLOW clock speed computer (150 MHz or less) that is running DOS. A RIB (radio interface box) to be able to interface the radio to the slow computer and a programming cable.

You will also need one of the Syntor X9000 software programs that are floating around.

The radio as was built would do 32 channels. However, with a simple change of the EEPROM, this can be greatly be increased to upwards of 150 to 250 or so channels. There is a limitation of only 64 channels that can be scanned. Again there is a firmware upgrade that is floating around that will allow a whole bunch more. Depending on which control head and if it was modified, you can have the same amount of upgraded channels in the control head. Some of the newer heads come with the larger EEPROM and others require you to change out the EEPROM to a 28C64 version.

There is a wealth of information on the web in several sites. You have your homework in front of you.

Jim

[k2cav]

Ok, Here is the update:

All wires hooked up, fused, voltages check and double checked Still nothing.
Tomorrow I will tear into the radio it self and start checking things.
Again I want to thank everyone for the Help, You guys are great. And I know that with help from you
all I will get this thing working, or make a great boat anchor out of it!
Will keep you posted! If you have specifics I should check in my quest, Please let me know!

73
Mike
K2CAV

[Will]

The ON /OFF slide switch is under the lower right edge of the control head.

[racerman1cars]

+1 for the power switch.
Steve

[Tim]

Thought about that... it's not real obvious if you aren't familiar with the head.

Tim

[k2cav]

So true, Never saw it!
but when you move it, IT WORKS! kind of.
All wires hooked up, and Turned on, I get lights on the control
head but nothing on display, key the mike and it sounds
like it is keying the radio.
Nothing on the readout , which I guess maybe is blank if it is not
programmed ?

[Tim]

You might cycle through all of the modes (channels). One may be programmed. If you hold the 'home' button down, it goes to the channel that is specified in the programming to be home. However, the head may have all of it's contents wiped.

Connect it to a dummy load with a swr/watt meter & see if you get any power out when you key it. if you do, you could snoop around with a frequency counter & see what freq it is, then program a handheld or some other receiver to see if you have any transmitted audio.

Sounds like you are getting there! Sorry I didn't suggest the power switch earlier... I thought about it right off, but didn't listen to that 'still, small voice' and say anything!

Tim

[FireCpt809]

its been ages.. But dont x9000 heads have to be programmed seperate?

[jmr061]

Did the cable that came with the head connect to the head and have a db25 on the other end? If it did your head is probably programmed for a spectra. It will need to be reinitialized for use on a X9000.

Jason

[Tim]

Head programming - CHPROG.EXE
Radio Prog - RDPROG.EXE or HAMRD.EXE.

maybe more too!

Good point on the Spectra possiblities. How do you re-init for the X9k? Just re-program?

tim

[k2cav]

Will hook it up to my Bird meter and see if it is putting anything out,
It does not have a DB25 connector on it, it has a plug for the control head and a connector to the
radio.
I do have a Extra cable that came with this radio, it has the Syntor connector on
one end and several connectors on the other,but no control head type plug,
if somebody wants it, shipping is all I am asking for it.
Well, I have my do try list set for tomorrow, Will ley you know how it goes.
Thanks again everyone, really appreciate it .

Mike

[WB6NVH]

The vacuum fluorescent display on the head should show something whether it's programmed or not. Unfortunately what is often found these days is that the display is very dim from age, and they can also get cracked from being dropped when removed from a vehicle, because they are glass. If they get cracked, the vacuum is lost and the display is toast. These displays have a finite lifespan and a lot of the original users left the equipment turned on 24/7 at full brightness.

Try leaving the setup turned on for a few minutes and see if there is any display showing in dim light or a dark room. I have some with displays so worn out that you can only see them like that. Wound up making good heads from several because of that.

Could always be something else, but that comes to mind.

[k2cav]

Thanks will give it a try

[Tim]

Hi NVH,

I've got several modes on my x9k (low band) that aren't programmed, and they are blanks. I suppose they have spaces in them. Think I started by reading in the original plug, and they only had 4 modes that had anything on them.

If you power up the system with the large power lead disconnected, I think you will get an error code. Could check the display that way.

tim

[k2cav]

Ok, Here is what I have done based on everyones input so far.
Powered up radio and left it for 5 min to see if it just has a weak disply on control head, White buttons are illuminated, but no display,
I also tried power up with the main power lead ( thick red one ) disconected, no errors on control head.
Rehooked all wires back up and hooked it up to my Bird meter, When keyed, shows 50 watts out, also noted that if I keyed it for 5-10 seconds and released, I heard what sounded like a squelch tail from a repeater.
So, at this time I assume ( I hate to do that ) that is is likely to be a bad display in the control head. But I leave it up to all thoose that have helped me so much, What would your assumptions be?
Thanks again everyone, You rock!

[Pj]

What you need to do is get a programming setup.

If you are actually transmitting, then the radio is generally working.

You most likely have a bad display. Even if the mode names were put in as blanks, you should still be able to see "volume" if you hit the keys, "squelech" if you hold down the MON button (if programmed) etc.

Although I don't think it will help, hit the DIM button a couple of times just for haha's...but if the key are backlit, then there should be something on the display. They do last a long time, but not forever.

Heads are pretty easy to come by.

[Jim202]

In the upper right corner, if I have it right, is a small black rectangular button. The front panel is labeled "DIM". You might try pushing this button a few times and see if by some chance the head was defaulted to no light. There are three steps if I remember correctly. The first is high, then med, then low light. Think the last step shuts it off all together. I always default mine to medium and just leave it there. So I don't play with that button very much.

You could have a bad head with the display not working. Take a look on Ebay and see what they have. You should be able to scoop a head for $20 or less. Don't fall for these guys trying to sell heads for $50 or more. There is a glut of them around. Plus there is going to be a ton more as we get into full swing of all the re banding radio upgrades.

A Spectra 9000 head will work just fine on the Syntor X9000. You will just need to program it to match the radio channels and features.

Jim