Maxtrac 800 trunked to conventional problem

[Josh]

I swapped firmware from Privacy Plus trunking to conventional on my Maxtrac800.

It worked, but I have no RX... per say. I programmed 851.0125 for TX into a dummy load for testing and a frequency counter pointed to 851.6375 which is significantly off.

I read about issues people had when trying to use regular firmware on a maxtrac900 and wonder if this is the same problem.

I'm clueless here.

-JOsh

[redbeard]

Assuming you then blanked your logic board and re-initialized it as a conventional radio? Then re-entered ALL your tuning values that you wrote down before blanking the board? Also entered the numbers from the labels inside the radio? I have done this with 800 radios using the HLN5569A firmware with no problem. Another consideration is whether your radio has the HLF9122A talk-around RF board. If not your xmit is stuck between 806-825 so no simplex TX is possible.

[Josh]

Assuming you then blanked your logic board and re-initialized it as a conventional radio? Then re-entered ALL your tuning values that you wrote down before blanking the board? Also entered the numbers from the labels inside the radio? I have done this with 800 radios using the HLN5569A firmware with no problem. Another consideration is whether your radio has the HLF9122A talk-around RF board. If not your xmit is stuck between 806-825 so no simplex TX is possible.

Yes I blanked it and I saved the tuning settings in the process too. Simplex board too, of course. Anyhow, all the frequencies are off significantly and I have no idea what frequencies its receiving. Judging by the audio quality when I figured out where it was TXing, it was obviously off some khz as well.

When I go back to the old firmware, all is well.

[Forts]

Apologies for jumping into an old thread but I just attempted this same project, and have the same results. I bought a Trunking Maxtrac 820 and wanted to convert it to conventional 800mhz. The existing trunking firmware ( HLN9435D) was swapped out for conventional (FVN4019A) and I'm seeing similar results. The wanted a simple talkaround channel on 857.5125, but when I transmit it's on 857.1125... I have no idea where the RX is now.

Basically I wrote down all the alignment details, as well as the info on the stickers inside the radio, blanked the board using Lab RSS, then switched the radio to a 2 mode conventional w/talkaround. Re-entered all the details but no worky. The one thing that has me puzzled is that the FVN4019A firmware is listed as '900mhz conventional' over on the Repeater Builder site. Is this maybe the problem? And if I have the incorrect firmware, what is the proper one for an 800mhz radio?

Thanks much!

Edit: So it looks like I may need the HLN5569 firmware. Anyone happen to have this tucked away somewhere that they would be willing to share?

[Josh]

I found the solution.

Reinitalize the board using conventional software, not the trunking software.

[Forts]

I've tried re-initializing it with both the Lab software and the conventional software with the same results. I'm really wondering if it's because I have the wrong firmware then... thanks for the info!

[Josh]

I've tried re-initializing it with both the Lab software and the conventional software with the same results. I'm really wondering if it's because I have the wrong firmware then... thanks for the info!

hmm, I don't really know. I used the "right firmware" for conventional radios, nothing special or fancy.

The first time I did it, I don't know why but the frequencies were all over the place

Then more recently I tried it again with total success for no explainable reason other than the source of reinitialization.

-Josh

[WB6DGN]

So it looks like I may need the HLN5569 firmware. Anyone happen to have this tucked away somewhere that they would be willing to share?

According to AccessPoint HLN5569A is still available from Motorola for $27.56 list and my Maxtrac manual shows that as the correct firmware for the 800 conventional radio. I always thought that the FVN4019 was only for the 900 radios. Whether or not that's the problem, though, I have no idea.
Tom DGN

[Forts]

Thanks for the info. There's actually a fellow selling conventional 800mhz MaxTracs on Ebay right now for $10 a piece. I'm going to grab a couple of those I think to tinker with, and I can always plop the eeprom from one of those radios into my current one to see if it fixes the problem or not.

[Greg Carttar]

Thanks to the posts on this and the 900mhz Maxtrac thread, I successfully converted a 35W Privacy Plus Maxtrac to a 16 channel conventional with apparently all functions of the 16 pin connector working and programmable.

I had a bunch of 16-pin UHF Maxtrac 300's on the shelf and I robbed the firmware chip from one of them.

Took me a couple of tries to figure out what model family I needed, finally found the "Maxtrac with accessories" entry and away it went.

Lots of guys ask questions and lurk....I just wanted to say thanks to all the wizards.

Best Regards,

Greg Carttar

[Max-trac]

Just to clarify what may have happened. If you convert an 800 maxtrac to 902 rx, you need to use the 5569 V3.4 firmware that is used in ALL bands EXCEPT 900 radios, Use the 900 only firmware only in the 900-only logic board.
Also I have run into issues converting 800 maxtracs that had Data (MOSCAD or similar) firmware when I used the "blank and save tuning data" option, the freqs were way off and I had to re-blank and clear, then do a full alignment.

[Greg Carttar]

Any way to get an 800mhz maxtrac to receive on the low end (806.xxx) so that I can use it as a repeater receiver?

[Max-trac]

Do the mods for 902rx, then program your 806.xxx freq PLUS double the IF (45.1 x2 = 90.2 if I remember correctly??).
Remove and jumper the filters too....

[Greg Carttar]

So...by removing the filters I'm thinking that it will get pretty broad....this is to be used in the NPSTC interop band and there are likely adjacent channel as close as 400khz away. Is it going to get too broad?
Also, once done, I will lose the upper part of the band (851.xxx) , yes?

[Max-trac]

Yes, you loose 851.xxx
It will be broad, but the filters are rather broad anyway, just not enough to go down to 806.
You will be protected by your duplexer, no? If only a notch duplexer, you should at least add a bandpass cavity to the rx.

[Greg Carttar]

Well, the object is agility and being able to quickly throw up a tactical repeater on any of the NPSTC 800 channels. Simplex/control station is nicely covered by the Maxtracs I have modified (two so far) I may have to go another way for the RX side of a repeater or bite the bullet and get a used MTR or something for the repeater application. Thanks very much for the information.