Batboard

This thing is driving me freakin' nuts. Nothing works like the manual says its supposed to.

I have a Motorola MSF Limited (C64RLB) that I'm trying to interface a SpectraTAC comparator to. The station has the TTRC board installed, and the comparator has the Tone Keying Module installed.

Everything is working correctly but for the fact that the audio level from the receiver out LINE 2 to the comparator is basically inaudible. I've verified EEPOT settings for LINE 2, Jumper settings on the TTRC, etc.

What am I missing?

It's possible my TTRC is damaged. I spent a good 3 1/2 hours working on this, went through the manual, checked the EEPOT settings for Line 2 Output, and while the level does change, at its maximum setting it's barely audible. Thoughts? Anyone have a TTRC board they'd sell me cheap so I can swap it out and see if that's truly the problem?

Thanks!!

D119

My two bits worth:
I would suspect the jumpers on the TTRC need to be set for 4 wire operation.
The Spectra tac status tone should be -13DBM0
That is the status tone is set 13 DB lower than your test tone.

I have verified the jumpers are set correctly for 4-wire operation.

Are there different boards for 2-wire and 4-wire operation? I have the TLN3112A board in my station.

The manual says "An optional 4-wire tone remote control module provides separate paths for transmit audio and for receive audio."

At this point everything is working normally, except that the audio from the receiver to the comparator is inaudible. The status tone is there and being generated properly, and I can change the level on the status tone, but the repeater audio isn't there (well it is, but BARELY even at full deviation on the EEPOTS).

what's going on here?

OK. So after being driven FREAKIN NUTS by this thing, I asked Bernie for his phone number.

After a bit of time on the phone with Bernie, he suggested to me I reload the station codeplug with the SpectraTAC options.

I did so, and VOILA! There it was. Audio levels as normal.

So if anyone out there is attaching a SpectraTAC comparator to an MSF 5000 repeater, you *MUST* load the CONVSTAC.DEF or CVSTAC_3.DEF codeplugs into RSS and load them into the repeater for SpectraTAC operation to work, otherwise you're never going to get it working correctly.

For the record, I'm using 4-wire tone keying with the comparator output going into LINE 1, and the RECEIVER output going into the comparator on LINE 2. All is well.

A special, hearty thanks to Bernie for helping me, otherwise I'd be crawling towards the thing with a sledgehammer and an evil grin on my face.


D119

I think there are a couple of other settings that Motorola provides codeplug files for, and you must load one of those first to activate or at least tickle the option settings, then you can load your own codeplug. Seems there are a few things that RSS doesn't allow you to access, but loading the provided codeplug sets things straight.

Bummer.

I wonder if there's a "lab" version of MSF5000 RSS that actually gives one the ability to get to everything in the radio?

But glad you got it working finally. By the way, I _still_ haven't gotten my 2nd MSF5000 - hoping to get it before Christmas !

Bob M.

My two bits worth:
To the best of my knowledge there is no "lab RSS" for the MSF.
It seems that part of the operating system for the micro resides in the code plug.
This allows certain software updates with out replacing the firmware chip.
The firmware must match the version RSS or you will have compatibility problems.

Motorola included the .def files in most of the MSF RSS versions.
The .def files are first loaded into the programmer, then modified for the application at hand.
You can also use an old archive from some other MSF, but in any case the new CP must be modified to match the firmware version with the CP update screen (Get/Save F9)
There are too many differences to just have a bunch of options fields.
Then there are many things that are best left alone.
I have seen references to "SP" station programming, but have never seen one.
I do know that there is a "back door" where it is possible to enter data to modify the operation of the station, however I have only done this once, which was to solve a problem with Secure operation. The problem was solved in RSS V5.21