I posted this one about 2 weeks ago and this radio has been B I G problems yet. It's a lowband CDM that's in a 2001 Pierce Dash fire engine. The power/ground wires are going straight to battery and pin 10 is switched on/off with the master switch. Sometimes, when you power up the vehicle OR crank the engine, the CDM displays "SYNTH UNLOCK" and does nothing else. If you hit HOME or cycle the radio's power switch, the radio will reset and function properly. Now.......sometimes when you turn off the master switch, it does this same thing. Someone on this forum told us that there was a firmware upgrade to solve this problem that just came out. We contacted "M" and they knew nothing about this upgrade. The firmware version is currently V4.02.01
I checked everything at least three times on the install and there is not any problem other than something with these radios. "M" gave us another lowband to replace the "bad" one and I installed it today- it does the exact same thing. I installed MANY VHF/UHF CDM radios and never hae had any problems whatsoever until these lowbands came out recently. Does anyone know what is really going on here? Did "M" release a bunch of lowbands with this problem? If there really IS a firmware upgrade for this, can somebody provide me with the version or some other information on what it is?
Thanks!
Junk CDM lowbands!
Moderator: Queue Moderator
Well Jim, You have been told correctly!
Mota IS aware of this and DOES offer a firmware upgrade, R04.02.08 to correct the problem. I know, I was talking with them about some other CDM problems that I've been experiencing... they brought the unlockijng problem to MY attention. BTW, the temp fix is to do a P.O.R. (power on reset... just turn it off and back on) or change the channel.
Talk to the tech support folks at 1-800-927-2744, menu 3 and then 1 for access to the upgrade.
Now I've got one for you:
How do you hang one of these lo-band puppies under the dashboard, without mounitng the radio upside down, that is? I worked around it for the school busses that I've installed them in, but Mota is "afraid" that it might fall on someone if you suspend it... or at least that seems to be their reason why the support hole in the rear of the trunion is offset... to make it "impossible" to do.
Stan, Stanley Communications, [email protected]
Mota IS aware of this and DOES offer a firmware upgrade, R04.02.08 to correct the problem. I know, I was talking with them about some other CDM problems that I've been experiencing... they brought the unlockijng problem to MY attention. BTW, the temp fix is to do a P.O.R. (power on reset... just turn it off and back on) or change the channel.
Talk to the tech support folks at 1-800-927-2744, menu 3 and then 1 for access to the upgrade.
Now I've got one for you:
How do you hang one of these lo-band puppies under the dashboard, without mounitng the radio upside down, that is? I worked around it for the school busses that I've installed them in, but Mota is "afraid" that it might fall on someone if you suspend it... or at least that seems to be their reason why the support hole in the rear of the trunion is offset... to make it "impossible" to do.
Stan, Stanley Communications, [email protected]
OSHA doe NOT recoment overhead mounting of radios due to them comming loose and striking someone in a collision. The Low Band radio has the bigger heatsink and uses the fixed slide-in bracket. It is WAY TOO HEAVY....
As for the original question of powering up, you need to have the heavy power lead going to the battery all the time and switch on the "Ign" lead, pin 10 when the truck is fired up. The small, very small trickle current keeps the radio's last channel and scan settings in memory. It is only about 10ma or less and will not drain the batteries in a week or more. Someone also came up with a clever fix, adding a small battery to the keep-alive circuit in the radio, just like the older scanners have to keep the settings.
I know fire truck and ambulance people do not like to have anything connected to the batteries when the veheciles are not in use.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Will on 2001-10-27 18:38 ]</font>
As for the original question of powering up, you need to have the heavy power lead going to the battery all the time and switch on the "Ign" lead, pin 10 when the truck is fired up. The small, very small trickle current keeps the radio's last channel and scan settings in memory. It is only about 10ma or less and will not drain the batteries in a week or more. Someone also came up with a clever fix, adding a small battery to the keep-alive circuit in the radio, just like the older scanners have to keep the settings.
I know fire truck and ambulance people do not like to have anything connected to the batteries when the veheciles are not in use.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Will on 2001-10-27 18:38 ]</font>
I never mounted a lowband by hanging it yet. The three lowbands that I installed were in fire engines and I fabricated a bracket to mount the original bracket so it sits on the top of the dash- which is a convenient area for these vehicles.
I hung many lowbans Max's and M216's underdash with no problem using the standard bracket, although "M" does not reccomend it.
The firmware upgrade is bulletin #SRN1348
Anyone who has a lowband better get this upgrade!!
I hung many lowbans Max's and M216's underdash with no problem using the standard bracket, although "M" does not reccomend it.
The firmware upgrade is bulletin #SRN1348
Anyone who has a lowband better get this upgrade!!
Jim, thanks for asking!
I suspect that it may fall into the same catagory, as the Synth unlock. Various behavioral problems, "Won't power up" either via the Ign Sns or the push button, Loss of Carrier Squelch when the mic is taken off hook (it roars at the operator and is only quiet when the repeater is keyed up), one radio would only power up when the Ign Sns lead was high and then would only respond to the push button. I don't remember if the Ign sns would turn the radio back off.
All of these radios are installed in school busses, which the tech mentioned seems to be the worst environment for these kinds of failures.
They were originally tied to the battery side of the main disconnect solenoid (which comes up in Accessory or Run) the Ign Sns to the load side of that same relay. Now, I'm tieing both leads to the load side to possibly save the radio from "hearing" the noise (spikes, etc.) from the starter... making the assumption that the noise on the electrical bus is worst during start-up). We don't have to worry about last channel or scan lists... and given the state of technology, I'm surprised that they opted to use such an ancient method of memory retention. What happens when the battries are changed, do we have to plug a nine volt battery into the cigarette lighter socket like they do at Pep Boys to keep it alive?
Also, many of these new busses do not take well to top-o-the dash mounting, between the soft plastic and the claim (by state inspectors) that the radio is blocking the driver's view, below the dash, in this case seems the best location... so it looks like I'll need some bailing wire.
One other thing, and I'll probably be shot by the purists out there, I'm connecting pins ten and four, the Alarm Out, together as a way to eliminate the need for the Ign Sns altogether. We do not use the Alarm function and it's a convenient, current limited source of Filtered A+. It turns the radio on reliably every time the "Battery" lead is powered, just like the venerable Radius with its volume control turned always on.
Stan
I suspect that it may fall into the same catagory, as the Synth unlock. Various behavioral problems, "Won't power up" either via the Ign Sns or the push button, Loss of Carrier Squelch when the mic is taken off hook (it roars at the operator and is only quiet when the repeater is keyed up), one radio would only power up when the Ign Sns lead was high and then would only respond to the push button. I don't remember if the Ign sns would turn the radio back off.
All of these radios are installed in school busses, which the tech mentioned seems to be the worst environment for these kinds of failures.
They were originally tied to the battery side of the main disconnect solenoid (which comes up in Accessory or Run) the Ign Sns to the load side of that same relay. Now, I'm tieing both leads to the load side to possibly save the radio from "hearing" the noise (spikes, etc.) from the starter... making the assumption that the noise on the electrical bus is worst during start-up). We don't have to worry about last channel or scan lists... and given the state of technology, I'm surprised that they opted to use such an ancient method of memory retention. What happens when the battries are changed, do we have to plug a nine volt battery into the cigarette lighter socket like they do at Pep Boys to keep it alive?
Also, many of these new busses do not take well to top-o-the dash mounting, between the soft plastic and the claim (by state inspectors) that the radio is blocking the driver's view, below the dash, in this case seems the best location... so it looks like I'll need some bailing wire.
One other thing, and I'll probably be shot by the purists out there, I'm connecting pins ten and four, the Alarm Out, together as a way to eliminate the need for the Ign Sns altogether. We do not use the Alarm function and it's a convenient, current limited source of Filtered A+. It turns the radio on reliably every time the "Battery" lead is powered, just like the venerable Radius with its volume control turned always on.
Stan
What was causing the "loss of carrier squelch" when you take the mic off the hook?
This same radio I'm working on supposedly did this once, but I couldn't reproduce it. The county dispatch uses no PL tone and I have the radoi programmed properly, but the department says that more than one time they had to hit the "monitor" button to receive dispatch. I never had a bit of problem with VHF/UHF CDMs, but these lowbands plain suck. Thankfully, most people out here won't get to experience this because lowband is no longer in their area, but around here, it's still alive and strong.
As for memory, you won't need to keep the power alive during a battery change or other vehicle service. I did, however, see a CDM that was put in a PD's command vehicle that gets used about once a month and has a battery master switch that shuts ALL down. If you'd be on a certain channel, park the truck, and go back a month later the radio would be on a different channel. SImply wire the power leads straight to battery.
This same radio I'm working on supposedly did this once, but I couldn't reproduce it. The county dispatch uses no PL tone and I have the radoi programmed properly, but the department says that more than one time they had to hit the "monitor" button to receive dispatch. I never had a bit of problem with VHF/UHF CDMs, but these lowbands plain suck. Thankfully, most people out here won't get to experience this because lowband is no longer in their area, but around here, it's still alive and strong.
As for memory, you won't need to keep the power alive during a battery change or other vehicle service. I did, however, see a CDM that was put in a PD's command vehicle that gets used about once a month and has a battery master switch that shuts ALL down. If you'd be on a certain channel, park the truck, and go back a month later the radio would be on a different channel. SImply wire the power leads straight to battery.
WEll, let's see...
It was suggested by the M tech to use the Tuner RSS to reset the Carrier Squelch. That I do not like hearing! It suggests to me that there might be a drift problem in some of them. If you give that a try, we might be able to compare notes as I'm going to give that a try on our next trip to that site this week.
As regards the mounting question:
First let me state that I do not like to mount radios above the driver's head... sometimes there's no other choice so the "T" screws see the wrench, or I'll use the little Torx head screws supplied with the MaxTrac and Radius trunion kits.
But with regards to mounting the Lo-Band CDM under a dashboard, one of the "M" techs suggested a way too simple trick (that's why I missed it) "just mount the radio and trunion upside down, and then turn the front panel upside down to make it look right... duh! Their responce was in reply to their being made aware that school busses don't have "Humps" (as in transmission humps where the install manual tells you to put it) on which to mount the radio onto. They were also reminded of how many of these "rolling yellow roadblocks" there were, probably more in a town than police cars and fire trucks combined... and in this area they just about all have 2-ways in them... a large market to over look!
Stan
It was suggested by the M tech to use the Tuner RSS to reset the Carrier Squelch. That I do not like hearing! It suggests to me that there might be a drift problem in some of them. If you give that a try, we might be able to compare notes as I'm going to give that a try on our next trip to that site this week.
As regards the mounting question:
First let me state that I do not like to mount radios above the driver's head... sometimes there's no other choice so the "T" screws see the wrench, or I'll use the little Torx head screws supplied with the MaxTrac and Radius trunion kits.
But with regards to mounting the Lo-Band CDM under a dashboard, one of the "M" techs suggested a way too simple trick (that's why I missed it) "just mount the radio and trunion upside down, and then turn the front panel upside down to make it look right... duh! Their responce was in reply to their being made aware that school busses don't have "Humps" (as in transmission humps where the install manual tells you to put it) on which to mount the radio onto. They were also reminded of how many of these "rolling yellow roadblocks" there were, probably more in a town than police cars and fire trucks combined... and in this area they just about all have 2-ways in them... a large market to over look!
Stan