MCS 2000 model 1 Emergency alert issue

[n3qam]

We ( Chief and I) came across a MCS 2000 model 1 in one of the cabinets at the station. He couldn't remember why it was pulled from service other than a tag from the radio shop saying " not repairable" . I fired it up on my bench , hooked up my dummy load and as soon as it powered on , it went into emergency mode. Even on my dummy load, it radiated enough to affiliate and trigger the man down at dispatch........

It is a M01UGL6PW4BN M01HX+812W .


The County has a new rule that NO new radios are aloud on the system unless it is an APX. So just buying another used to replace it is out of the question right now. Is this a common issue with this model? Any ideas what could cause this to immediately go into man down mode? Stuck button, maybe replace the front panel. I've read that you can disable that feature in the programming without accessing the trunking side and needing the sys keys ( but could be wrong on that interpretation) , but unfortunately that would not be an option for the radio going back into active service.

[jackhackett]

If it goes into emergency mode right away the first thing to check would be if there is either a jumper or a normally closed switch connected between pins 4 and 9 of the accessory connector. If those two pins aren't connected and it's programmed for emergency, it will go into emergency mode when you power it up. If it's not programmed for emergency and those pins aren't connected you will get an error (I believe it's FL 01/79).

[n3qam]

There is nothing on the accy plug ( open pins) accept for the small jumper i put on to gain audio to the front speaker on pins one and two. I just used a small jumper from the back of an old IDE HDD to accomplish this ...

I know there was no error that popped up, so ( If I understand correctly, I SHOULD be able to place a jumper between pins 4 and 9 and it should not go to emergency.


I will try this at a friends place that is two counties away , so in the event it triggers, it will be way out of range to even affiliate with the system .....

[tsunami_australia]

Correct, basically you should always have the emergency jumper in place regardless unless you have an emergency switch installed or it will throw the emergency call first thing on fire up.

[n3qam]

Awesome, thanks...... WHY would they ( M ) do something like that?

[Will]

An open circuit is what triggers the Emergency Alert.

[tsunami_australia]

Will has it. I guess it is meant to stop the circuit being circumvented by attackers? Though killing the battery terminal will manage that effectively.