Motorola GP300 / Triton MP100 Marine Portable - RSS?

[g8tzl2004]

I have a Motorola marine VHF portable - its a Triton MP100 which looks like a GP300 display version but with dedicated "marine" keys such as channel 16 etc

The specs says it can operate between 146 - 175 MHz.

Does anybody know if there is a dedicated RSS for the Motorola Triton marine portable?

I have checked the archives and 15 years ago somebody asked the same question but the short reply was "its not programmable" - I presume the original poster had tried standard GP300 RSS.

I'm just checking again whether it is possible to program a Triton MP100...if you can't why would the specs say that the radio can operate between 146 - 175 MHz rather than just the standard 156 MHz marine band?

Thanks

[RFguy]

From what I recall, it's pre-programmed from the factory for the standard marine channels (just like most marine radios) and not field programmable. I had a manual at one time, but not sure I could find it now (if I still have it).

[RFguy]

I found the service manual. Dated 1993. There is no reference to programming anywhere. I'm sure the frequencies are hard coded into it.

[g8tzl2004]

I did some more searching and RSS is meant to exist but it was only used in the factory...so maybe it was DEPOT or LAB RSS?

I also read that very early versions of GP300 RSS is meant to work but you need to "trick" the GP300 RSS somehow?

[g8tzl2004]

My "new old stock" Motorola Triton MP100 arrived today.

The radio is mint in its box and was manufactured in 1997.

The battery is a "Made in the USA" FM / IS "GP300" battery and was also manufactured in 1997. After sitting in the box for 22 years, the battery voltage is 4.67 volts and the battery terminals all look perfect with no leakage...so I am hopeful that the battery will charge OK!!! A "Made in China" GP300 battery would probably be useless after 2 years never mind 22 years

[fineshot1]

My "new old stock" Motorola Triton MP100 arrived today.

The radio is mint in its box and was manufactured in 1997.

The battery is a "Made in the USA" FM / IS "GP300" battery and was also manufactured in 1997. After sitting in the box for 22 years, the battery voltage is 4.67 volts and the battery terminals all look perfect with no leakage...so I am hopeful that the battery will charge OK!!! A "Made in China" GP300 battery would probably be useless after 2 years never mind 22 years

Don't expect much performance from a rechargable battery that has been sitting that long.
I had some batteries that were sold to me as normal and found out later when i could not
get them to take a full charge that they had been sitting on a shelf for about 6 years.

Rechargable batteries that do not get excersized normally do not take well to sitting for long periods, so good luck with it.

[g8tzl2004]

I have quite a few 10 - 15 year old Saber, Jedi and Waris batteries which still work OK..maybe not 100% original capacity...but the charger lasts about 45 minutes before the green light..so the batteries are taking quite a bit of charge!!

With "new" old batteries I have found that it takes up to 7 cycles before the capacity builds up to maximum...with the first charge only lasting a few minutes. I also sometimes need to zap a battery to get it going.

With the Triton/GP300 battery I would have expected the battery to read zero volts after 22 years...so that fact that its reading 4.6 volts gives me some hope!! I just need to find my GP300 charger..I also can't remember if my GP300 fast charger is a "Delta V" type or just a "useless" timed charger...I'm sure it should be a Delta V type.

[fineshot1]

With "new" old batteries I have found that it takes up to 7 cycles before the capacity builds up to maximum...with the first charge only lasting a few minutes. I also sometimes need to zap a battery to get it going.

If they are that far gone I start with new batteries - all that fussing and zapping around is almost always useless as the batteries
almost NEVER get back to maximum capacity.

[d119]

See if you can read it with GP300 RSS... Let us know what happens. I'm damn curious... I also wonder if it uses the European GP300 RSS... Those had displays IIRC...

[g8tzl2004]

No zapping required with the 22 year old GP300 battery!!

I could not find my "fast" GP300 charger so I have been using a GP300 "10 hour" charger and the battery seems to be charging OK...with a voltage while charging of around 8.6v....so all the cells are OK. The radio scans for around 12 hours before the low battery alert. I've not tried TXing.

I'm wondering if the "10 hour" charge is a standard 10% trickle charge (so it should actually be a 14-16 hour charge??) or whether its more than a 10% charger rate...it also assumes all GP300 batteries are the same capacity

I'm wondering if anybody has ever used the actual Triton RSS... or knows of someone who has used it...we would then know that the RSS is out in the wild.

[KitN1MCC]

i have one there neat radios

[g8tzl2004]

Have you ever used the Triton RSS to program additional channels or align the radio?

[KitN1MCC]

nope