Help with MTR2000 station software upgrade

[arlojanis]

I need to upgrade station software to R003.04.003 to cure some problems. I have the files from System Support Center. This is my first experience with this process. Can someone give me a step by step instruction, beginning with how to get the files from the email attachment to the RSS? The email with the attachments are on a different computer from my programming computer. I have the Word Document, but I am having trouble following it.

[kcbooboo]

I haven't done it, but depending on the e-mail program you use, you need to "Save Attachments" to actual disk files, get them into a folder on the programming computer, start the MTR2000 software, read the HELP screen about Upgrading a system, and follow the directions. The software will ask for the update file and bring up a dialog box where you can navigate to the file(s) you need to use.

Bob M.

[d119]

Save the files to a disk, flash drive, etc.

Right click on the file in your e-mail program, and choose "Save As", and then specify where you want the file saved. Do this for all of the files in the attachment. If there is only one ZIP file, save it to your desktop, and then double click it to open the ZIP file and display it's contents.

Follow the steps in the word document to deposit the files on the destination computer in the proper directory that is outlined in the word document. You can then follow the instructions that outline how to perform the upgrade in the RSS.

I've done several of these upgrades and never had a problem following the directions outlined in the Word document that comes with the upgrade.

Curious, what is your station doing that you need to upgrade the firmware on it? Ours were periodically dropping PL decode and going into Carrier Squelch. Had a hell of a time with a taxi cab company showing up on a police dispatch channel.

[thebigphish]

Curious, what is your station doing that you need to upgrade the firmware on it? Ours were periodically dropping PL decode and going into Carrier Squelch. Had a hell of a time with a taxi cab company showing up on a police dispatch channel.

Ooooh! Ooooh! I know this one!? Ok, this sounds stupid, but it's a "code plug stagnation" issue. I had a UHF unit take several depot trips, FRU replacements, and I ruined several Moto techs lunch breaks here, but they figured it out. I had one that would spontaneously drop into CSQ, and considering the channel saturation in the area...innundate the PD with crap from all over.

What fixed it was taking a STOCK codeplug from the CPS, and using that to make EVERY change to the codeplug we needed. The moto guys discovered that the "load - change - save - upload" habits that we all have were corrupting the codeplug in the MTR2000, and after an indeterminate amount of time, they'd develop Alzheimers and forget what they were supposed to do. Every time this happened, the unit started dropping PL...and then it just got worse. I started just making changes to a stock template, and then uploading that to the MTR2000, and that unit has over a thousand days on it now without an issue. And it was a new unit before that, it's not even 4 years old yet.

[wavetar]

Curious, what is your station doing that you need to upgrade the firmware on it? Ours were periodically dropping PL decode and going into Carrier Squelch. Had a hell of a time with a taxi cab company showing up on a police dispatch channel.

Ooooh! Ooooh! I know this one!? Ok, this sounds stupid, but it's a "code plug stagnation" issue. I had a UHF unit take several depot trips, FRU replacements, and I ruined several Moto techs lunch breaks here, but they figured it out. I had one that would spontaneously drop into CSQ, and considering the channel saturation in the area...innundate the PD with crap from all over.

What fixed it was taking a STOCK codeplug from the CPS, and using that to make EVERY change to the codeplug we needed. The moto guys discovered that the "load - change - save - upload" habits that we all have were corrupting the codeplug in the MTR2000, and after an indeterminate amount of time, they'd develop Alzheimers and forget what they were supposed to do. Every time this happened, the unit started dropping PL...and then it just got worse. I started just making changes to a stock template, and then uploading that to the MTR2000, and that unit has over a thousand days on it now without an issue. And it was a new unit before that, it's not even 4 years old yet.

I gotta ask...how many times did you need to reprogram the station, and why? I'm curious of the number of "cycles" it took to corrupt the station, and why you'd touch a PD repeater once placed into service, other than for yearly maintenance?

[thebigphish]

Todd,

It was an upgrade (debatable, honestly) from a VHF service to a UHF service for an ambulance service, which was handled locally by the PD. Boy, were they getting mighty pissed when the p/t ambulance channel became the most talkative circuit in their console. The changes that were made were things like a PL change after a couple of days of service, reprogramming to facilitate a fulltime VHF / UHF bi-directional link, and I believe that it was something silly like a wildcard change. The codeplug saved on the computer loaded perfectly fine each time, never got a noticable change in datasets, and multiple identical copies were saved on tests. We never really got a concrete answer, but the Moto guys said that the MTR2k controller was succeptible to this kind of issue "over time with repeated reloads / changes / uploads of even slightly modified codeplugs". I have several lengthy threads here and here, which ended up being the SAME problem.

The really awful thing was that most of the conversation was over a cellphone, and nothing from Moto that resolved it ever went to paper, but after creating a fresh code plug one last time from a stock one, the unit has not acted up since.

[d119]

Todd,

It was an upgrade (debatable, honestly) from a VHF service to a UHF service for an ambulance service, which was handled locally by the PD. Boy, were they getting mighty pissed when the p/t ambulance channel became the most talkative circuit in their console. The changes that were made were things like a PL change after a couple of days of service, reprogramming to facilitate a fulltime VHF / UHF bi-directional link, and I believe that it was something silly like a wildcard change. The codeplug saved on the computer loaded perfectly fine each time, never got a noticable change in datasets, and multiple identical copies were saved on tests. We never really got a concrete answer, but the Moto guys said that the MTR2k controller was succeptible to this kind of issue "over time with repeated reloads / changes / uploads of even slightly modified codeplugs". I have several lengthy threads here and here, which ended up being the SAME problem.

The really awful thing was that most of the conversation was over a cellphone, and nothing from Moto that resolved it ever went to paper, but after creating a fresh code plug one last time from a stock one, the unit has not acted up since.

Perhaps this is something they fixed in the firmware upgrade, because Motorola stated that a firmware upgrade would fix the issue, and once I reflashed the stations with the firmware upgrade, knock on wood we haven't had any problems since.

I'm going to have to touch one of the stations again as the agency in question is preparing to change TX frequencies so they can get away from their current "space diversity" system and duplex the local MTR so it's receiver can be used.

[seapdx]

Anyone happen to know what that last version of firmware released for the MTR2000 was? Any suggestion on where to locate release notes for the firmware versions? Thanks