Anyone got the special RSS that allows you to enter freqs in the 902-928 band.
It's mentioned in the Batlabs Spectra Info area.
Programming Spectras in 902-928 band.
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radiorandy
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- Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2001 4:00 pm
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radiorandy
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2001 4:00 pm
This RSS that I'm talking about was developed
with the sole purpose of allowing 900 Spectras to be programmed in the 902-928 ham band. The regular Spectra RSS won't allow this. This RSS is for hobby purposes only.
This forum was created for people interested in converting 900 Spectras for Ham use.
With out this software this task is impossible! Someone out there must have this RSS!
with the sole purpose of allowing 900 Spectras to be programmed in the 902-928 ham band. The regular Spectra RSS won't allow this. This RSS is for hobby purposes only.
This forum was created for people interested in converting 900 Spectras for Ham use.
With out this software this task is impossible! Someone out there must have this RSS!
I have "seen" this RSS. I believe that it was created by Motorola for someone, or a group, but it is not available for purchase, as it does not have an identifiable partnumber to look up. The other rumor is that someone just hacked it and they put that in there... Either way, you still need to make the hardware mods...(from what I have heard)
The rss you mention is a // product that was developed for a one time specific task. From my sources on the edge of the inner sanctums of the BIG // it was done to allow a spectra to cover about 890 to about 940 with no gaps. The usage was to do coverage surveys throughout that range using the reciever rssi function to give signal
strength readings. It is the same part number as the normal rss except that it has a .10 and a "sp" in the version.
something like ver 6.10.00 SP
it has a disclamer right on the opening page as it is booted up that says that no performance specs are guaranteed and that
it is for special application. As for copyrights and how the asking relates to this board it is still very much a //
product even if not a available one. As to the comments that the radio is useless without it, this is not true. From YOUR viewpoint maybe so. From //'s view they dont care since it is still perfectly usable for its intended function which is 900 mhz commercial communications. The fact that "you want it since you have a radio" doesnt cut it legally. No one forced you to buy the radio, it was your choice. //
is not obligated to do something for you specifically unless you make a contract agreement with them to do it for compensation. I too have several of these 900 spectras and am in the same position but // "owes me" nothing. I will work it out on my own somehow.
strength readings. It is the same part number as the normal rss except that it has a .10 and a "sp" in the version.
something like ver 6.10.00 SP
it has a disclamer right on the opening page as it is booted up that says that no performance specs are guaranteed and that
it is for special application. As for copyrights and how the asking relates to this board it is still very much a //
product even if not a available one. As to the comments that the radio is useless without it, this is not true. From YOUR viewpoint maybe so. From //'s view they dont care since it is still perfectly usable for its intended function which is 900 mhz commercial communications. The fact that "you want it since you have a radio" doesnt cut it legally. No one forced you to buy the radio, it was your choice. //
is not obligated to do something for you specifically unless you make a contract agreement with them to do it for compensation. I too have several of these 900 spectras and am in the same position but // "owes me" nothing. I will work it out on my own somehow.
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radiorandy
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2001 4:00 pm
Well thanks for clearing up the origin of this RSS.
This board and website are full of "hacks" for both hardware and software of Motorola products. I don't think anyone expects any sort warranty from any of the postings.
And yes I bought the radio with the thought of using it on the 902 band but I can just as easily sell it as is for what I paid for it.
Anyway I'll give up on my project and go on to other things!
This board and website are full of "hacks" for both hardware and software of Motorola products. I don't think anyone expects any sort warranty from any of the postings.
And yes I bought the radio with the thought of using it on the 902 band but I can just as easily sell it as is for what I paid for it.
Anyway I'll give up on my project and go on to other things!
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Tom in D.C.
- Posts: 3859
- Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2001 4:00 pm
- What radios do you own?: Progreso soup can with CRT
Randy: Maybe the easiest way to get on 902/928 is via contact with a group which operates a repeater on that band. Where I live these repeaters are scarce, but in California, for example, the Repeater Directory tells me they are extremely common and easy to find. Just a thought.
Good luck.
Tom, W2NJS
...in D.C.
Good luck.
Tom, W2NJS
...in D.C.
Hello.
You will find that motorola is not as "hard-nosed" about ham radio, the concern I have found is one of people doing things that, perhaps should not be done.
There is RSS, for just the ham bands, available to legit hams, for cost and legal agreement.
The Spectra CAN be put on ham 900, but removing the filtering leaves the radio open to lots of harmonic and spur noise, nothing I have been happy with, and I know of no one who has been able to retune the filtering.
Thank You.
You will find that motorola is not as "hard-nosed" about ham radio, the concern I have found is one of people doing things that, perhaps should not be done.
There is RSS, for just the ham bands, available to legit hams, for cost and legal agreement.
The Spectra CAN be put on ham 900, but removing the filtering leaves the radio open to lots of harmonic and spur noise, nothing I have been happy with, and I know of no one who has been able to retune the filtering.
Thank You.
JMR964, the Spectra mod does work, the instructions just aren't very clear. I just finished converting four Spectras in less than an hour. The resistor is added to the negative steering line to lower its voltage (toward 0v) thus allowing the positive steering line to go higher. Without the mod, if you program an out of band (i.e 927.xxxx) frequency, the positive steering line can't go low enough to lock, so the radio will say "FAIL 001". You don't need any fancy test equipment to do this, just a DVM. Program in your new frequencies, tack on a 100k resistor to start, then see what the positive steering line voltage is. It should not try to be less than 1.0v or more than 8.5v. If not in that range try changing the resistor to 150k or even 220k.
As far as taking the filters out of the radio, the mod does not call for doing that and as long as your objective is to use the SCRRBA frequency plan (902.xxxx tx/927.xxxx rcv) you will be fine. The front end filter doesn't roll off until below 927.00.
Regarding the LAB version 5 RSS allowing out of band programming, I don't believe so. Like many others, I have chased these rumors for years. I think any version that is floating around that actually goes out of band has been hacked, which brings us to the subject of Batwing's post. You will soon be able to fix the standard Spectra RSS that you already have to allow out of band programming. This has been a long time coming. The secret is the way the program was coded. For those who can't wait - the band limits are in the SPECTRA1.EXE file in IEEE double precision floating point format.
As far as taking the filters out of the radio, the mod does not call for doing that and as long as your objective is to use the SCRRBA frequency plan (902.xxxx tx/927.xxxx rcv) you will be fine. The front end filter doesn't roll off until below 927.00.
Regarding the LAB version 5 RSS allowing out of band programming, I don't believe so. Like many others, I have chased these rumors for years. I think any version that is floating around that actually goes out of band has been hacked, which brings us to the subject of Batwing's post. You will soon be able to fix the standard Spectra RSS that you already have to allow out of band programming. This has been a long time coming. The secret is the way the program was coded. For those who can't wait - the band limits are in the SPECTRA1.EXE file in IEEE double precision floating point format.
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radiorandy
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2001 4:00 pm
Walt,
You use a regular hex editor like Hex Workshop or Norton Utilities. For example, if you follow the directions on Batlabs to alter the MTSX RSS, you will find that the band limits are stored as ASCII text. ASCII is simply a standard way of representing characters in ones and zeros. IEEE is the organization which created a standard way for computers to represent numbers in ones and zeros.
If you look for the band limits in the Spectra RSS as ASCII text, you won't find them. That is apparently because the programmer that created the RSS declared the limits as numeric variables in double precision floating point format. The particular compiler used apparently employs the IEEE standard format for storing the numbers as opposed to some languages that use other formats - Microsoft for example at one time used a proprietary format in their products.
Just use an internet search engine like Google to look for "IEEE double precision numeric format" and you will get lots of information. There are many items at the Microsoft online knowledge database.
Here is another: http://www.physics.utah.edu/~p573/hamle ... s/IEEE.txt
The method of conquering the Spectra RSS band limits took a long time to discover and is too involved for a short explanation here, but Bat should have it down to a simple process soon.
How are you doing with your MTX9000? I have put upwards of 20 of these on the 902 ham band (SCRRBA band plan) and they all went fine. A couple of them had VCO's that would not lock for talk-around transmit at 927.xxxx. Someone posted that they had a problem with the front end filters, but I measured the receiver sensitivity of these units and never found any evidence of a 6db roll off at 927 frequencies. I have two on the bench right now and they make 12db sinad and 20 dBq spec at both 940 and 927. Every unit I have had has been several years old however, so it is possible that Motorola changed suppliers of the front end filters and newer units are different.
73
You use a regular hex editor like Hex Workshop or Norton Utilities. For example, if you follow the directions on Batlabs to alter the MTSX RSS, you will find that the band limits are stored as ASCII text. ASCII is simply a standard way of representing characters in ones and zeros. IEEE is the organization which created a standard way for computers to represent numbers in ones and zeros.
If you look for the band limits in the Spectra RSS as ASCII text, you won't find them. That is apparently because the programmer that created the RSS declared the limits as numeric variables in double precision floating point format. The particular compiler used apparently employs the IEEE standard format for storing the numbers as opposed to some languages that use other formats - Microsoft for example at one time used a proprietary format in their products.
Just use an internet search engine like Google to look for "IEEE double precision numeric format" and you will get lots of information. There are many items at the Microsoft online knowledge database.
Here is another: http://www.physics.utah.edu/~p573/hamle ... s/IEEE.txt
The method of conquering the Spectra RSS band limits took a long time to discover and is too involved for a short explanation here, but Bat should have it down to a simple process soon.
How are you doing with your MTX9000? I have put upwards of 20 of these on the 902 ham band (SCRRBA band plan) and they all went fine. A couple of them had VCO's that would not lock for talk-around transmit at 927.xxxx. Someone posted that they had a problem with the front end filters, but I measured the receiver sensitivity of these units and never found any evidence of a 6db roll off at 927 frequencies. I have two on the bench right now and they make 12db sinad and 20 dBq spec at both 940 and 927. Every unit I have had has been several years old however, so it is possible that Motorola changed suppliers of the front end filters and newer units are different.
73
First off... Thanks xmo...
I will keep watching bat for more on this. I have one Spectra working but it is a royal pain to program it.
The MTX moved to the ham band without a problem. It works just fine in talkaround also. I have a GTX that I like a little more because it has DTMF. I also have a few GTX mobile radios that I use as base rigs at home and work. The interest is growing here in Southern AZ.
Walt
I will keep watching bat for more on this. I have one Spectra working but it is a royal pain to program it.
The MTX moved to the ham band without a problem. It works just fine in talkaround also. I have a GTX that I like a little more because it has DTMF. I also have a few GTX mobile radios that I use as base rigs at home and work. The interest is growing here in Southern AZ.
Walt
It was quiet at work today so I did some work on this project and made some progress.
Just like it said in the batlab instructions, I made these changes and got my spectra to move into the ham band. I also have talkaround.
Here it is!
FIRST!! backup your file first!!!!
4B48A 900 896 935 902 941 902 941 896 941
4B7B2 900 892 895 935 902 941 935 941 892 941
Do a checksum...
Also look on the web for a free hex editor called XV132. It is free and has a IEEE converter in it BUT it will not do a check sum.
Walt
Just like it said in the batlab instructions, I made these changes and got my spectra to move into the ham band. I also have talkaround.
Here it is!
FIRST!! backup your file first!!!!
4B48A 900 896 935 902 941 902 941 896 941
4B7B2 900 892 895 935 902 941 935 941 892 941
Do a checksum...
Also look on the web for a free hex editor called XV132. It is free and has a IEEE converter in it BUT it will not do a check sum.
Walt