The General forum is where users can discuss any topic regarding Motorola communications equipment - hardware, software, etc. There are also several focused forums on this board, so please take the time to ensure that your questions doesn't fall into one of those categories before posting here!
KG4INW wrote:Now, if only there were clear batteries, curl cords and antennas! Very cool, I'm super jealous!
Oh, man. I'd kill for those!
NSPD wrote:Thanks for posting pictures of some of the more interesting items from that lot!
It's my pleasure! I've been busy with my regular job and photography gigs, but I plan on photographing all the radios I've acquired over the years. The plan is to shoot them all in my light tent from every angle- eventually submitting these to the main batlabs site. They'd all be 'floating' on a white background. Figured it'd be nice to have high resolution images for as many portable Motorola radios as possible. It'd be my small way of giving back to batlabs community.
There are clear batteries to be found, but just like everything else- you have to know someone. Even the aftermarket battery manufacturers have them at trade shows, so they might be more prevalent than the clear radios.
Regarding the photos, some of your more 'original work' doesn't have a plain white background. I suggest more of those.
"TDMA = digital and same great taste, half the bits"
resqguy911 wrote:
There are clear batteries to be found, but just like everything else- you have to know someone. Even the aftermarket battery manufacturers have them at trade shows, so they might be more prevalent than the clear radios.
Regarding the photos, some of your more 'original work' doesn't have a plain white background. I suggest more of those.
Very interesting, I need to keep my eyes peeled! As far as my 'original work' goes, I definitely need to make some more of those
Oh My God - did someone call for a BRICK? A prototype HT220 they call it? The only DTMF HT220 I have came with black rubber buttons
Type: CC4094E
Serial: M94JLY
Model: M24FFN3171D SP20
imgs saved to my pc should they disappear
Last edited by chrismoll12 on Sat Apr 13, 2013 10:01 pm, edited 3 times in total.
-SP does not mean "prototype." Special Products made things for well-heeled customers who wanted some unusual feature or configuration. Prototypes generally did not have model numbers or serial numbers. One of the most prolific SP modified radios seems to have been the MX300S, the -SP numbers ran into the hundreds.
On that HT220, curious that the front housing was so huge. There must have been something inside other than just a DTMF encoder and tone decoder.
Speaking of HT220's Here is a mystery. This is a factory DTMF HT220 - Model H33FFN1100E TYPE CC3540 SERIAL L68J49
There is a 2 chip board w/switches and , the 3 wires simply clip on to that board, possibly added later on to operate something?
I wonder if this HT220 is something more than just a DTMF
Your HT220 was a carrier squelch radio, the 1100 in the model number confirms this.
Very common to add the Com Specs board and a lot cheaper that the PL encoder from /\/\. And you could change the PL code without buying a new tone reed.
wow ok, a plugin programmable tone encoder - thanks fellas its good stuff!
I'll check in if I have more - Next project is breaking into the Medical HT220 I have -
I'm not crystal guy, but I keep this stuff for nostalgia
Gotta know where it all came from
Last edited by chrismoll12 on Thu Apr 18, 2013 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
not exactly an oddball but at the time
The $700 CB Radio? I'm sure most were aware Motorola did manufacturer Citizens Band radios during the "1970's CB craze" well....today...
A NOS (New Old Stock) CM540 Electroscan went for over 700 Bucks on ebay ladies and gentleman - start checking your old boxes!
Who was watching it? my god did it go, go, go http://www.ebay.com/itm/171059612165
Good News is the owner of this rig will have , 10, T-E-N User programmable memory channels- that lucky dog
I have a Mocat 40 in my closet, got it years ago. It works but doesn't transmit any modulation. Looks like it was made for Motorola by someone else, Uniden maybe? Board looks Japanese.
Motorola also made marine radios, there was a white one off of a GP300 that had a display, IIRC did some form of basic form of voice inversion encryption, recall seeing them in the early 1990s.
The views here are my own and do not represent those of anyone else or the company, the boss, his wife, his dog or distant relatives.
Speaking of oddball radios, I read here a LONG time ago that M had produced a few ( protoype versions, since Motorola never offically made an "R" version of the Jedi housing ) Ruggedized versions of the MTS / Jedi radios. I wonder if any of those will actually get into the wild, or of they are all now destroyed, or if they even REALLY existed ???
These were SP for the Japanese SMR market. Trunked. Notice everything is bass-ackwards.
Or perhaps the MIB 9000? (Another JSMR product)
<dead links>
Those look more like somebody else's rebranded radios. All of the other JSMR mobiles I've seen were MCS variants. They even made a Visar variant.
Motorola's Japan wing has always fascinated me. The 900 MHz JSMR trunking protocol was just one of the wacky things they churned out for that market - at one time (early 2000s) there were XTS3000 variants with JP model number prefixes. Now they just sell the same XTS5000s that we get, though I have no idea who's buying them over there since public safety and government uses mainly ICOM stuff.
mikegilbert wrote:A good friend of mine knows my love and obsession over oddball Motorola gear, so he snatched these up at a hamfest. Single channel w/PL.
I believe those are Motorola HT10's with a different label on the front...
I have been told by several people that my MW300 mobile data terminal is an oddball also. Lots of people know about the MW520 and 800/900 series computers used by public safety and fire departments. It was sold to me as new old stock coming from Israel and running WinCE 2.12. It isn't much of a computer, and a black and white LCD display makes for limited usefulness.
Everything I had read pointed to it being an MCX but I couldn't find out for sure. They were fixing to trash it at work so I picked it up. Seems to work just fine. Does anyone know if they have issues like the spectas with leaky caps? Also have a spectra clean cab.
mikegilbert wrote:A good friend of mine knows my love and obsession over oddball Motorola gear, so he snatched these up at a hamfest. Single channel w/PL.
mikegilbert wrote:A good friend of mine knows my love and obsession over oddball Motorola gear, so he snatched these up at a hamfest. Single channel w/PL.
Picked up this DataTAC modem the other day. No reason, I just remember seeing these on the old Motorola LMPS page in the late nineties. One more for the display cabinet.
I came across what appears to be the third XTS3000 made. It is interesting in several ways. Its physical S/N has an APC code for the XTS3000 and is from early June 1996, three months before the XTS3000 was announced, apparently on September 12, 1996. However, the codeplug has a S/N with an APC code for the Astro Saber from early September 1993, three years before the XTS3000 was announced. The host firmware is cp_d 00.09.00, and the DSP firmware is R05.0.18. It is programmed with only test frequencies of 851.0625, 868.0625, and 851.05. It doesn't say ASTRO on it anywhere, even though one of the 851.0625 conventional personalities is programmed as ASTRO. The sticker on the bottom instead says FLASHport. The FLASHport sticker on the back is blank. The main info sticker on the back has MOTOROLA in all-caps thin italicized type. The FCC ID is the correct AZ489FT5774 for an 800MHz XTS3000. The model number is the correct H09UCH9PW7AN, as it is an 800MHz Model 3.
The case is interesting. It has a very fine texture, so fine it is almost smooth. The plastic feels more like ABS than polycarbonate and is very thin, so thin that it cracked at the bottom, where the case is supposed to snap together. The XTS3000 sticker on the top of the front has the purple XTS3000 much larger than usual and in an italicized font. Even the purple top side button and the PTT button are smooth. There is a circular recess just above the contacts on the accessory connector. The knobs are smooth, too. Circular machining marks are barely visible on the channel selector knob. Only the outer two battery contacts are present.
Reading the codeplug gives a warning that it is "an old pre-release prototype." It was written on July 10, 1996, using Labtool. The codeplug version is 000A, showing firmware 03.20.00.00 (probably for lack of knowledge of cp_d 00.09.00 firmware) and DSP software R05.00.18. Its flashcode is 040008-000000-8 (H869 hardware multikey encryption and H38 SmartZone systems operation), but it doesn't show an EMC in service mode.
Given all of the above, it looks to be a legit super-early engineering prototype of the XTS3000.
We have all been lead to believe that all XTS3000's came with a 1 meg board, but because that prototype was made so early, did it come with a 512 K board? GARY
That's a great question, which this early 800MHz Model 3 XTS3000 can answer. I took a quick look under the hood, and the controller label and IC markings are as follow:
X15060124 05/29 NCN6128A
5105457W33
TCNH005NP02
CNNO9607
JAPAN
TE28F008
BVB90
U6090630A
intel
FLASH
ATMEL
28C256E
20TI
9611
Note the "008" of the TE28F008 flash memory IC, identified elsewhere as the U727 1M host ROM, which denotes 8 megabits, better known as 1 megabyte, in an 8 x 1M configuration. So even this early specimen has a "1 MEG" controller. As would be expected, this is a NCN6128A controller, and there should be nothing earlier than an "A" revision. The DSP firmware should be stored in the U404 DSP ROM of the vocoder board, so the size of the DSP firmware should not detract from the capacity of the U727 1M host ROM. Therefore I think it's safe to conclude that all XTS3000's have a "1 MEG" controller, as has been the general understanding.
I ran across an older Motorola speaker at Dayton Hamvention. The speaker is the same style that was with the Motrac series except this one is a low gloss black cabinet finish with a chrome speaker grille and a chrome mounting bracket. This speaker has a powered amplifier in it which I have learned puts out about 15 watts and the speaker itself is a "weatherproof" design. I have seen Motorola powered speakers and the old metal "motrac" design, but never with the black and chrome scheme. I thought the speaker looked pretty cool so I bought it and didn't really pay much for it. I checked and the amplifier portion does work. The speaker is actually in pretty good condition for its age.
I remember the motorcycle speakers but they were a bit before my time as it pertains to actually working with radios. Just remember seeing them on the bikes as a lad. Seems I remember the MC speakers had a volume, squelch and an on/off switch, as well as a handheld mike. Nothing like the helmet mounted boom mikes of today.
I looked up the p/n on this speaker and appears they may have been used on firetrucks. Probably back when open cabs were the norm.