Batboard

I am attempting to read a code plug from a donated vehicles radio. The radio is a Spectra (T43KMA7JA9AK) and the remote mounted control head is an HCN1041C Syntor X9000.

Are these two suppose to work together? I am using DOS spectra RSS and it starts to read but when it gets to block 6 is stops and indicates a button on the control head may be stuck. Then it says control head check sum error.

The setup looks like it has been in the vehicle for awhile so I pretty sure the radio is working.

Dave wrote:I am attempting to read a code plug from a donated vehicles radio. The radio is a Spectra (T43KMA7JA9AK) and the remote mounted control head is an HCN1041C Syntor X9000.

Are these two suppose to work together? I am using DOS spectra RSS and it starts to read but when it gets to block 6 is stops and indicates a button on the control head may be stuck. Then it says control head check sum error.

The setup looks like it has been in the vehicle for awhile so I pretty sure the radio is working.

If the head was previously programmed and used on a Syntor X9000, it will not work on a Spectra without some tweaking. More specifically, you need to clear its EEPROM (or at least corrupt it), and then reprogram it with the appropriate Spectra codeplug image while it is attached to the Spectra you want to use it with.

See this thread for further details.

http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.p ... ring+heads

Happy tweaking.

The head may indeed have a button stuck, dirt gets built up inbetween the buttons and the face. Remove the head, dissasemble it and clean, and put back together. That is if it looks dirty, if it looks ok just give each button a few taps with the radio off to free anything up that might be stuck and try again!

And yes they are supposed to work together, the remote mount Spectra can be used with a head that looks like the Syntor X9000 head, there is many different model numbers of that head.

Ok, The buttons were not stuck. I removed U1 from the control head and followed the procedure. When powering up with the chip removed the button lights flicker but there was no display gibberish or otherwise.

I reinstalled the chip and powered up the radio again and the display just showed all the previously programmed channels. I did not "clear" the EEPROM. Maybe the control head model will not work with this procedure.

Maybe I just have a bad control head?

Thank you for the info.

The HCN1041 is a dip head, are you sure you removed the right chip? The firmware is the inner one, the EEprom is the outer one near the edge.

If nothing else since it's a DIP head you can just replace the EEProm with a blank one and start fresh.

Yes, I removed the inner 64 pin chip (U1) or the longer of the two after checking the manual. Tomorrow I will look into ordering a blank EEProm. Or maybe I will toss the whole thing in the garbage and install a different radio. Thank you!

kb0nly wrote:The HCN1041 is a dip head, are you sure you removed the right chip? The firmware is the inner one, the EEprom is the outer one near the edge.

If nothing else since it's a DIP head you can just replace the EEProm with a blank one and start fresh.

I'll pay shipping for you to toss it in a box and send it to me rather than toss it in the trash!

Get a 28C64 EEprom for it, that's the 8k chip, and see what happens.

I did some experimenting. According to the Mouser book I looked up the 8K EEProm in, it shows it being a 28 pin chip. The EEProm (0180746T80) I have in the control head has only 24 pins but the socket will hold a 28 pin chip. I am guessing that the chip I have is not an 8K EEProm (a prerequisite for the procedure). Knowing that the procedure will NOT work on an HCN1033 control head I performed it anyway with a spare head I had laying around and I had the same outcome. The EEProm in the 1033 is also a 24 pin chip (0180743T61). My guess is that the HCN1041 and the HCN1033 are closely related.

My next question is, since they both have the same “firmware” chip (0180747T32) is this not going to work when I get the new 8K EEProm? AND, how in the world could this setup been programmed in the first place? Other than turning on the radio and switch through the channels, I never tested to see if the radio was actually working. I can only assume it was working because it looks like it has been in the vehicle for some years.

kb0nly wrote:I'll pay shipping for you to toss it in a box and send it to me rather than toss it in the trash!

Get a 28C64 EEprom for it, that's the 8k chip, and see what happens.

Dave wrote:I did some experimenting. According to the Mouser book I looked up the 8K EEProm in, it shows it being a 28 pin chip. The EEProm (0180746T80) I have in the control head has only 24 pins but the socket will hold a 28 pin chip. I am guessing that the chip I have is not an 8K EEProm (a prerequisite for the procedure). Knowing that the procedure will NOT work on an HCN1033 control head I performed it anyway with a spare head I had laying around and I had the same outcome. The EEProm in the 1033 is also a 24 pin chip (0180743T61). My guess is that the HCN1041 and the HCN1033 are closely related.

Yes, the 8k chip is a 28pin, and the 2k chip is a 24 pin. Just a warning, if you put in an 8k chip you also need to change a jumper in the control head. This is how to upgrade a 2k head, and as long as your going to replace the EEprom you might as well put in an 8k chip since there isn't much price difference. Have a look here for info on that:

http://www.open.org/~blenderm/syntorx9k ... html#x9k64

Under the 32-64 conversion info you find the information on the head jumper, remove JU4 and install JU5. It's just a zero ohm chip jumper on the opposite side of the EEprom under that flat shield. I usually just move the chip jumper, but if your not experienced at surface mount stuff just desolder and remove the chip jumper and solder a piece of resistor lead or similar sized solid wire across JU5.

I haven't played around with the clearing procedure yet myself, it's possible it only works on surface mount heads.

My next question is, since they both have the same “firmware” chip (0180747T32) is this not going to work when I get the new 8K EEProm? AND, how in the world could this setup been programmed in the first place? Other than turning on the radio and switch through the channels, I never tested to see if the radio was actually working. I can only assume it was working because it looks like it has been in the vehicle for some years.

It should work just fine with a new EEprom and changing the jumper. When you power up you will get an error since the EEprom is blank, then just reprogram and go. It was probably programmed and working fine for a long time and then something failed or the codeplug was corrupted somehow. Wish i could give you more to go on, but trying a blank EEprom would be my next logical step. Or i would remove the EEprom from the head and use my Eprom burner's software to erase it.