Batboard

John G

Thanks, I am aware of that. It seems that an adjustable PL deviation is a novelty. I think I have seen it maybe twice. In looking at the theory book, it says in one place that PL and speech are summed in an attenuator, seemingly inside an IC. In another place, it says that PL is applied to the synth...

John G

Can PL deviation be adjusted separate to voice deviation? I tried the deviation balance adjustment and it didn't seem to do much. My problem is that PL deviation is way too high. If I lower the deviation, it lowers the voice deviation as well. I have converted an 800 MHz model to 900 MHz by putting ...

John G

Well, I thought I was asking a Windows 8.1 question that was only incidentally connected to radio programming. Sorry about that. I am using HVN9067 Professional CPS to read a MTX9250. And yes, the first thing I will do is to save the codeplug before doing anything else. This ain't my first rodeo. I ...

John G

I am using Windows 8.1 and am trying to get a USB programming cable to work. My PC does not have a regular RS232 serial port. When I look at the USB cable, it identifies as COM-* with * being a number between 1 and whatever. I go into the CPS in the "configure" option to set the serial por...

John G

I know you know what you have there, but it sounds like an MTX950, which is the non display version, I actually like the '950 better. I found the '9250 difficult to use. The '950 has just a knob and only the first 9 positions work. I wonder if someone could have somehow shoehorned a '950 codeplug in...

John G

Come to think of it, I don't recall ever seeing one with the microphone attached. I don't remember the antenna connector either. Seems it may have been a TNC, or maybe an N type. I can't recall if they were made in UHF or not. Seems all the ones I ever saw were VHF.

John G

No. it wasn't a Maxar 50. It was slimmer and wider. The case was metal and, if memory serves, it had a single LED for the channel selection. That Maxar 50 was a cute little radio. Had one briefly. Sold it before I even got a chance to check it out.

John G

Years ago, Motorola Germany made a small mobile that used either MX300 modules or something similar. I have seen a few at hamfests but it has been a long time and I can't remember the model. I seem to remember having gotten one in a load of junk once and the pot metal housing was already badly deter...

John G

900 is the only band I have any interest in. I've had a repeater on for several years now and it is almost never used. 900 does have issues, that's for sure. Not the least of which is that it, or portions of it have been licensed. My frequency, 927.7500 has been licensed to a vehicle location concer...

John G

I did pretty much the same thing with a KXN1130A UHSO I had obtained years ago. I had the whole shelf so I also had the regulator board. There are mounting tabs for the regulator board in the empty space where the oscillator fits. The only thing I had to improvise was the fine adjust. In the PURC, y...

John G

I don't have a DMP. I was using RSS to set the bit. If the station ID'ed, the bit would show active. When I set it active with the RSS, it showed active but never transmitted. I did the max. deviation adjustment like the book and you both said. I didn't have any issues with that. I didn't use channe...

John G

Bob, I am going by 68P81092E90-0. I used page 1-31 for max deviation, and tried to use 1-38 for receiver level adjustment. That was when I couldn't get the reading high enough. And, on pages 1-39 and 1-40, I couldn't tell that the "flutter fighter" adjustment did anything, so I left it at ...

John G

Thanks Bob. You certainly have more experience with these than I do. If it were a Micor, or MASTR 2, that would be different. I was trying to set that MUX bit through software. It would indicate when a bit was active, but it wouldn't transmit when I set the correct bit. Tried it several times. I fol...

John G

You are right, of course. For some reason, I had it stuck in my old man head that .0325 was a legit frequency. DOH! There are other issues with this thing. I am not an old hand with these and every problem seems huge at first. For instance, in the manual, it says to set MUX bit #1 to "on"....

John G

I didn't find the cause or a fix but I did find a work around. Don't try to program 927.0325/902.0325 MHz. I tried other frequencies and they are OK. I will just choose a different frequency for the repeater.

John G

I recently got a 900 MHz MSF5K and after having to remove the TTRC, got it up and running. I noticed the receiver seemed off frequency. So, I fed both the signal generator I am using as a temporary reference and the 8920 from my Z3801 GPS to make sure everything agreed. I programmed it for 927.0325/...

John G

Removing the TTRC and loading a conventional codeplug did it. Had to adjust the receive VCO a little. Now, to figure out where to hook a speaker and get the receiver aligned. I don't have one of those fancy metering panels. But at least no error codes.

John G

Thanks again Bob. I have received information on disconnecting the TTRC and hopefully loading a conventional codeplug. I will try that and report back.

John G

Thanks for the fast reply, Bob. All the lights on the TTRC light when powering up. I also get an error code, I believe it is DA2. When I looked it up, the explanation was something about the serial EEPROM on the TTRC. The TTRC is definitely plugged in. I even tried unplugging it. I made up a convent...

John G

I just bought a 900MHz MSF5000 model C65GFB5203AT. Others who bought the other repeaters from the same trunked system have them up and running. I must admit that I have limited experience with the MSF. I worked on a VHF base some years ago and that's about it for these. When I power it up, it displa...

John G

I recently picked up a Nucleus for the best possible price. The former owner mentioned that he thought one of the power supplies had issues. So, today I took them out of their cases thinking that I would find bulging capacitors. But, I didn't. I noticed that they have different Onan and Motorola par...

John G

Well, I have made progress but not completely solved the mystery. I tried a different pc. This time an Itronix IX550 700 Meg Pentium M. I couldn't get a satisfactory DOS installation on it so I swapped drives from the CF-27. I tried a Visar as before but got the same results. I took the cable loose ...

John G

I will try the eraser on the terminals thing. Good idea. Though they look clean, you never know. None of the PCs used have any form of windows on them. The drives were FDisked, new partitions made, reformatted, and DOS installed. I have used DOS 6.22, DRDOS, and DOS 7.1. I think I like 7.1 best. I a...

John G

Yes, it has a real RS232 serial port. So does the Thinkpad.

John G

I am somewhat embarrassed to post this since I have always been able to fix whatever problems I have encountered. About a week ago, I decided to re read some Visars I had. I got out my latest programming PC, a Panasonic Toughbook CF27. This PC worked fine when last used several months back. I also g...

John G

Cool! That is just the kind of information I was looking for. Thanks!

John G

The IF filters aren't the issue. I just modify a 900 Maxtrac which has the right ones to start with. 900 MASTR 2's. I have one and there are problems getting them to work. I fooled with the synthesizer in one for a while and did manage to program a micro to load the right code. Then, the VCO wouldn'...

John G

I definitely agree that the Maxtrac is easier. I don't need COS because I am going to feed discriminator audio into a repeater controller and I don't think that will be all that hard to find. Getting the RSS to accept 902 frequencies won't be too difficult, I hope. Getting the VCO low enough shouldn...

John G

I don't know which Spectra you have been looking at but the ones I have use a ceramic filter. It is bigger than the Maxtrac one and has less loss but it is still just a ceramic filter. I did a Google search for Spectra mods and found an article where some fellow says he uses one for a 900 repeater r...

John G

After pulling my hair out trying to keep Hamtronics stuff working, I try to avoid it if at all possible. We had a UHF autopatch link receiver that would work anywhere except at the repeater site. MASTR 2 cured that problem for good.

John G

I am a member of several of the 900 groups over there. I do have a 800 Spectra but didn't want to use anything with 25 KHz wide filters. I have converted a couple of Maxtracs but don't want to use them this time. It seems to me that the Spectra is a superior receiver. I have a couple of Tait receive...

John G

900 of course.

John G

I seem to remember some discussion about using a Spectra for a repeater receiver, but I can't find it. There is an article on Repeater builder that says it can't be done. Though I don't dispute anything said in that article, I still want to do it. I plan on bypassing the internal ceramic filter and ...

John G

I don't know if Motorola offered a case or not. Mine have belt clips which I don't much care for. If they do offer a case, Wiscomm probably has it. I tried to order an LCD for one of mine and they said it was not available. I did order some case parts which were backordered. I kind of expected never...

John G

Thanks, Wavetar for the knowledge. I have ordered one of the mini keypads because I wanted to alias a name for the unit serial. I understand that can be done. I also want to set up one private group. That's about it. I wish mine had the removable antennas but the stubby ones should suffice for my ne...

John G

I did find a sheet on how to update the firmware. Also found there is a separate cable for doing so. It is USB, not serial. Couldn't find the flashtool, however. It's time to throw in the towel on this. I ordered a case front from Wiscomm but got a message saying it was on back order. I guess I can ...

John G

My programming cable arrived today and I quickly hooked it up, hit "Read device" and got a message to the effect that my firmware was too old to support CPS. I guess I threw that money away. To eBay with it. One of my radios has a bad LCD. I asked the people at Wiscomm about a part number ...

John G

I noticed that if the battery is almost completely discharged, the radio will display "incompatible charger". I connected a variable supply to the contacts on the bottom and noticed that there is almost no current drawn for a few seconds, then it picks up to just over 300 mA. After a few m...

John G

Thanks for the knowledge on DTR's. I will post a brief report on how they work for me after I have had some time to play. I want to take one up on the mountain to see if it interferes with my 900 repeater. I have a feeling it will to some small extent. I have ordered a programming cable. I downloade...

John G

I see that the DTR510 and DTR550 both have the same FCC ID number, AZ489FT5842, which tells me the difference is features. I also found that all the web content I found for the 510 is dated around 2005. So, I assume that the DTR550 replaced the DTR510. The 510 even with the non replaceable stubby an...

John G

I just bought a couple of the 510's off eBay. They are in Canada. I did locate the user's manual on line and couldn't see anything that looked like they wouldn't be suitable for use here. I don't really have a legitimate use for them, I just wanted to play around a little. I have a pretty good idea ...

John G

Please excuse this off topic question but I have had no luck elsewhere. What is the difference between the DTR 510 and DTR550? I see references to DTR410, 510, 610 and seperately, references to DTR550, 650. I understand that only the latest models have removable antennas. True?

John G

Has anyone figured out how to disable codeplug encryption in the Visar trunked software? Sure would make tinkering easier, make that possible. I seem to recall seeing somewhere that someone had figured it out for Maxtrac trunked software. I suspect that Visars are so old no one is even interested an...

John G

If you want to do alignment, do it before you program any ham frequencies. For some reason, the ham frequencies seem to confuse the service software and you will get strange results. I had to resort to unmodifying the software, deleting all the ham frequencies, and starting over. I am not saying thi...

John G

Yes, that does help. Thanks! It was a little more than I had hoped but I suspect there is excess gain there and maybe +10 DbM would drive it pretty hard.

John G

I don't remember where my Maxtrac manual is so, what is the drive level into the PA deck? I am looking to build a high power signal source to test some circulators and cavities. I was hoping it could be driven from a service monitor.

John G

This probably isn't what you want but, I remember when I was doing some Visar hacking that the frequencies are multiples of 6.25 KHz. I seem to remember actually programming one such frequency in just to see if it took. The Visar probably isn't usable for what you want to do, however and I can't say...

John G

Thanks for that information. I'll have to try it as soon as time permits.

John G

Yes, it does appear to be 16 channels. This field can't be edited either. Is the codeplug encrypted like the trunked Visars? I would imagine so. Would it be possible to force an MT2000 codeplug into it? They are 48 channel. I really don't actually need 48 channels. I just thought it would be nice. T...

John G

I just acquired a couple of clean MTX8000 B3's and I want to program the 3 position switch to act as a zone switch so I can have a total of 48 conventional frequencies. So far, the software doesn't seem to want to let me do this. Is there an easy way to do this? Or, can I not have 48 conventional ch...

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