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I have a modded 6 meter Maxtrac and a UHF 440 MHz Maxtrac that I have hooked together with one of them double ended $10 16 pin accessory plugs TX RX for both ends so it can be a 2 way cross bander. I have programmed pin 8 to the PL DPL Carrier Squelch option and made them both low. With them hooked up I am able to go from UHF out onto 6 meters no problem but from 6 to UHF is not working. Is there anything else I may be missing?

This is just to test it out. I plan to eventually hook the 6 meter radio up to a UHF GR-1225 repeater using the 16 pin accessory jack on that.

Thank you and Happy New Year!

Hello:
I think I saw on ebay they had two types of cables.
One would allow as you just stated.
But the other would let both radios tx/rx and vice versus.
Think they called that cable bi directional.
Are you sure you got the correct cable and not just a one way repeater cable ?
Can you supply us the site you got the cable from so we could determine if correct cable and settings needed ?
Satelite

I got the cable a couple years ago and forget which one on eBay. The one I have though has TX/RX on each plug so this should be the bidirectional one. I do have one that is one way also with RX on one plug and TX on the other but that is not the one I'm using. I did just order another bidirectional $14 free ship cable from KAWA just in case mine has an issue. When I bought it a couple years ago I never did anything with it.

The one above may have been $14 also I couldn't remember the price from a few years ago.

If the cable is bidirectional you could rule it out by swapping it around the other way. If 6 to UHF now works but UHF to 6 doesn't the problem is in the cable, if it works the same as it was before it's the radios.

I switched them around and still went from 6 to UHF. I wonder what else in the radio still needs changed? It seems there are many write ups but they all seem to be about the same thing with saying about Pin 8 programming which I have done in both radios. Another interesting thing I did was I used a real R I C K from a real GR-300 and I followed the directions in the R I C K manual I found on repeater builder. I changed the dip switches to the bi directional setting in the RICK and I programmed the pins as that said in the example they gave which put the PL DPL CSQ low on Pin 14 on the transmit radio I think it was and had a couple others for like external alarm and another one. After I tried this it went one way again but this time it was only UHF to 6. This was using the to RICK cables plugged into the TX and RX accessory jacks. The center accessory jack was not used.

I received and tried this cable out today http://www.ebay.com/itm/150095375952?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT and had the same thing happen. The UHF went to 6 meters but nothing went from 6 to UHF. I'm wondering if the low band radios are different or something. Don't the 800 or 900 MHz Maxtracs have some differences (if memory serves)? Unless another pin is used or the active high or lows are different.

I tried out an actual RICK from a GR-300 the other day and I flipped the dip switches to what it said in the manual http://www.repeater-builder.com/motorol ... manual.pdf for bidirectional and hook the 2 radios up with the RICK cables in the TX and the RX jacks. I was able to get the 6 meters to UHF to work BUT UHF to 6 didn't. This says to put pin 8 to null and make pin 14 to PL/DPL/CSQ in the receive radio and in the transmit to make pin 8 PL/DPL/CSQ and pin 14 Null. The example is for two Radius M200 series radios which I am not familiar with. I'm trying to remember but I think I may have made both radios pin 14 when I tried the RICK. Since it is late, I will try this tomorrow evening and report back but if anyone sees anything else I might be able to try, I will check before I try this tomorrow. The Pin 8 PL/DPL/CSQ with active low in both radios I have already tried with the ebay cables and the RICK and that allows it to go one way from UHF to 6.

Thanks again!

Did you actually measure the PL/DPL DET pin on the radio without the cable plugged in? You will need a pull-up resistor, about 10K is good, to see the voltage when the radio is receiving.

I believe those Prog. I/O pins are pulled up internally to 5V through a 4.7K resistor. Like Will said, check with a voltmeter to see that they're working as expected.

OK. So do I measure the pins on both radios?

Which pins should I measure, pin 8?

If they are not 5 volts then a 4.7 or 10 k resistor is needed?

I get 4.6 volts on pin 8 and it didn't change when it was receiving

kb3awq wrote:This says to put pin 8 to null and make pin 14 to PL/DPL/CSQ in the receive radio and in the transmit to make pin 8 PL/DPL/CSQ and pin 14 Null.

I just reread your last post... this doesn't make sense, you shouldn't have a 'receive' and 'transmit' radio for bidirectional, both radios do both rx and tx, so I think both radio's acc. connectors should be programmed the same.

With pin 8 set to pl/dpl/csq you should measure around 5v on it in standby, and near 0v when receiving. I believe the cable then connects pin 8 of each radio to pin 3 of the other so that on receive each pulls the PTT of the opposite radio low. You should be able to look at the cable and trace the wires to see how it works, draw a schematic of it if you can and that should help you figure out what's going on.

Im not sure where unless you meant where I was talking about the real R.I.C.K. that I have and said about TX and RX jacks. 2 Maxtracs is what I have been talking about full crossbanding. It appears I will have to get some parts to continue and probably learn more of what I need to do. Seems odd why they will go UHF to 6 with the cheap cables and not the other but with the real RICK I have I can get them to go 6 to UHF but UHF to 6 just key up and drops continuously very quickly. Between the time and the cost Ive already dumped in I could have bought a China radio that crossbands to any of 4 bands lol.

My bad.. must have read it too quick, thought you were talking about the new cable.

Still.... measure pin 8 of each radio. If they don't go low on receive there is something wrong.
Are you sure you've got the correct squelch settings? Are you using PL on both radios? If you're using carrier squelch on one radio I think pin 8 on it has to be set for CSQ detect, not PL/DPL/CSQ. If set for PL/DPL/CSQ it will only go low if it sees carrier AND pl.

jackhackett wrote:[snip]Still.... measure pin 8 of each radio. If they don't go low on receive there is something wrong.
Are you sure you've got the correct squelch settings? Are you using PL on both radios? If you're using carrier squelch on one radio I think pin 8 on it has to be set for CSQ detect, not PL/DPL/CSQ. If set for PL/DPL/CSQ it will only go low if it sees carrier AND pl.

Measure the pin 8 on the radio FIRST....
As Jack says, Use the cables you have.