maxtrac eprom question.

[kb2crk]

i have 1 maxtrac with the 16 pin board with a version 5.01 eprom in it. i was wondering how many channels and what functions can i program in? the rest of my maxtracs have the 5.34 and i know what it can do but i am not familiar with the 5.01.

thanks

[kb2crk]

Ok. a little background on what i have. it is a used parts built radio. on power up it is showing a y on the channel display. it has a 9313a logic board and a version 5.01 eprom in it. i tried to program it for 32 channel but it still has a y on the display and will not change channels.
is this a bad logic board or do i have an issue where the firmware is wrong for what i am trying to use it for. i did a search of the site and found tons of info on the 5.34 but nothing on 5.01. i had thought it was just an earlier version of the firmware. any info would be greatly appreciated.

thanks paul

[kcbooboo]

Is it possible that the firmware is for trunking, not conventional?

I've never seen any letters that high, even on a trunking radio; usually A-H. Maybe you're missing a segment somewhere.

Bob M.

[kb2crk]

as i have not been able to find info on the version 5.01 firmware it is possible it might be trunking. it is a uhf 40 watt radio and the firmware eprom was in the board and the radio when i got it. i had to add the rf board and face plate. i have a v.5.34 eprom i will try in it and see if there is a difference. i am trying to get at least two of these up and running for the local CERT group. thanks again.
paul

[PETNRDX]

If you have the 5.31 Prom, I would really recommend putting that in and blank logic board and re-initialize the radio, then re-align it.

[Max-trac]

5.01 was a common Maratrac eprom version. Maybe it is from a Maratrac. You could try reading it with Maratrac RSS, or get a Maxtrac eprom and blank it and initialize it..

[kb2crk]

with the maratracs i have laying around that is a possibility. the v.5.34 i have is not working. i will give the maratrac rss a shot and see what happens. thanks

[kb2crk]

thanks for the help. the firmware eprom was a maratrac chip. how it got in this maxtrac board i am not sure. maratrac rss read it but could not do anything with it as it was looking for the additional boards. time to dig thhrough my parts and find another maxtrac eprom as the one i have is no good.

thanks again for all the help
paul
kb2crk

[Max-trac]

The 5.34 chip you have may be good, you may need to put it in and blank the board, then initialize it.

[kb2crk]

The 5.34 chip you have may be good, you may need to put it in and blank the board, then initialize it.

with the 5.34 chip in i get a serial bus error radio not programmed when trying to blank the radio. when trying to initialize i get a serial bus error radio must be powered on. the radio was powered up. both maxtrac and maratrac software would recognize the radio with the 5.01 chip. i believe i pulled this particular 5.34 chip do to and issue with programming and the one that went in its place is still working fine.

[kcbooboo]

Can you make the radio transmit with a microphone plugged into the front MIC jack?

I had a radio that wouldn't program, PTT didn't work, and the volume control had no effect. A ground trace coming from the MIC jack had burnt out due to a bad ground in the power cable. It had used the RIB's ground connection at another location. My RIB operates from a battery so it didn't have a common ground and wouldn't work on this particular radio. Easy fix.

You need to get some known good and verified working pieces and substitute them into your Franken-radio.

Bob M.

[kb2crk]

Can you make the radio transmit with a microphone plugged into the front MIC jack?

I had a radio that wouldn't program, PTT didn't work, and the volume control had no effect. A ground trace coming from the MIC jack had burnt out due to a bad ground in the power cable. It had used the RIB's ground connection at another location. My RIB operates from a battery so it didn't have a common ground and wouldn't work on this particular radio. Easy fix.

You need to get some known good and verified working pieces and substitute them into your Franken-radio.

Bob M.

with the maratrac v.5.01 firmware i can blank the radio and reprogram as a maxtrac but the display shows only a y and the buttons on the face are non funtional. it will not work at all with the v 5.34 chip i have. with the 5.01 chip i can read the radio with either the maxtrac or maratrac software. with the 5.34 i get nothing. that leads me to believe that it is the firmware chip.

[kcbooboo]

The MaraTrac uses the logic board signals going to the control head slightly differently than the way the MaxTrac does. That probably explains why the buttons and display don't work properly. The MaraTrac has only a limited number of wires going to the control head, so they multiplex the buttons and send them down a serial line to the logic board. On the MaxTrac, each button goes to a dedicated pin on the logic board's connector. The code plug data is probably different as well.

I'd also bet the 5.34 EPROM is bad.

Bob M.