A MX300 TO RIB CONVERSION with BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL

[ricciticcitembo]

This is a Hack in every sense of the word. However no firmware reprogramming is required!

I built the factory rib on perfboard and stuck in in the MX chassis so it looks nice
setting next to the keyloader in the briefcase.

The only modification to the rib was a BLUE LED that is voltage calibrated with seven 1N914 diodes in series. This works excellent
As it is set to the threshold of ONE Shorted cell in an MX battery pack. So a fully charged "One cell bad" battery will NOT light the LED at 7.5 Volts. A fully charged "Good" Battery mesures 8.2 Volts and will light up the Blue LED to a Very Nice Brightness.

One cell shorted in a battery pack is probably the most common of all battery falures. And depending on the radio, may be difficult to even notice by the casual user.

Of course the Rib also has an internal 9V Duracell. The 9v is activated by the channel switch.
The MX Batt is activated with the normal On/off vol control. Both Batteries can be used at once however It will draw from the 9V a little more as It's Open circuit Voltage is a little higher.
Plugging it in will result in a slow charge to the MX Batt, and rectify the above mentioned 9V kill.

A new Top plate Around the DB25 connector can be fashioned out of a PC ISA card with a DB25 on it.
I used a serial/printer card from a 8088 computer that i had laying around.

The Speaker/mic connector was used as is for the rs-232 connection to the computer. Just made an MX to DB9 cable. Dont plug that into the keyloader!!!

I'd post a pic, But I don't have a camera handy and besides- It looks just like an MX300 with a DB25 on top anyway.

Finally of course a WARNING:
THIS WORKED PERFECTLY THE VERY FIRST TIME. IF YOU CAN NOT ASSURE YOURSELF OF THE SAME,
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BUILD A RIB.
YOU WILL DESTROY THE RADIO YOU ARE TRYING TO PROGRAM!!!!

P.S. Beta Matching the Transistors on a curve tracer or even a DVM, and 1% metal film resistors is a good idea if U can do it.

[Monty]

I will bet monies you make your
own program cables too !!

Neat work....Please upload a
photo...Never seen that approch
before.

Monty

[ricciticcitembo]

I will bet monies you make your
own program cables too !!

Neat work....Please upload a
photo...Never seen that approch
before.

Monty

Well, better late than never with the pics i guess.
And I STILLdon't have a camera. LOL. Oh well i really
don't care. BTW this RIB is the ONLY one I have. Thats pretty funny
too, as far as I'm concerned. Never needed another one yet. It
still works as fine as when I built it, and I hope It's the only one I
ever need, and I don't lose it or crush it by accident or something.

I fell on a FT-530 and crushed it one time. DOH!! busted it forever.
Anyway here's some pics of it from a long while ago, and some
recent. Didn't change anything. still looks the same.

[jcobb]

I always thought you did pretty good work. This proves it........


Good job!


Jack

[Will]

Jonathan and I are working on a new circuit board for a RIB that fully meets the RS232 standard and is short proof. Even thinking of makining it run on three volts.
The protyes have run on everything we thru at it, even a couple of computers that would not work with the Moto or Polaris RIBs.

[Susan157]

That Would Be Cool To Fool a Couple
of Big "M" Dealers.

[Robert HT220]

I think I'll swap out the red rx/tx LED on my MX340 and put a blue one in. I found a reeeeel good LED site:

http://www.superbrightleds.com

Robert

[TomSlick]

I think I'll swap out the red rx/tx LED on my MX340 and put a blue one in.

It's not Moto, but you can configure the LED on a VX-7R to just about any color you want (different colors for TX/RX on main/sub/both). If you tweak it to white, it makes a fairly good flashlight, too. Cute, but for the most part, I leave it off except for TX indication.

[TomSlick]

Oh, and by the way Ricci, that's wicked cool! The only thing I keep thinking is: What happens 20 years from now if someone finds it at a swapmeet and tries to figure out what sort of super secret special purpose MX it is.

[kf4sqb]

I, too, homebrewed a RIB, but didn't get nearly as fancy as that! I just housed mine in an old parallel to who-knows-what interface box, so it already had the 25 pin D-sub on one end. But that is a pretty sweet looking job you did there, Ricci, maybe you should patent it . By the way, I wound up with a little less than $10.00 in my RIB, what did yours wind up costing (aside from the nifty housing, that is)?

[ricciticcitembo]

Susan-

Yeah, thats another funny thing. I lent it out to the local MA/COM
Dealer for a couple of months to program up some new radios
they got, and they thought it WAS a factory item, since no one
bothered to open it and see the radio shack perf board inside.
And Over the years I've built several things that look like they
rolled out of they factory like that, but actually they are one of a
kind prototypes. It cracks me up too when people reference the
"device" even years later, since by that time so many people have
used it, and simply taken it for granted that by the time it is
discovered that "xyz company" never made a product like that.
It makes me laugh quietly to myself every time, especially If I was
the one who made the device.

But I've been fooled as well before. I was using this one piece of
test equipment (Princeton Applied Research Lock-In Amplifier) for
years, and had grown accustomed to it's plotting and D-star calculations.

But as it turns out, those functions as well as about a lot others
were added by some dude. It NEVER rolled out of the factory that
way. He laughed at me too. Oh well.

I'd say my rib has programmed hundreds of radios already now by
various people and agencies.

I actually made this thing years ago, long before I posted anything
about it. I never really thought it was worth mentioning.

The BLUE voltage monitoring LED was added a couple of years ago,
and Credit for that Idea goes to Elroy Jetson.

I've had the same UPA for over 10 years. I don't even know where
it is anymore. Haven't used it for a while now.

I like to build my sh!t strong since I have a bad habit of dropping
things on the concrete floor from time to time. I dropped the Saber
SVA more times than I can count. That darn thing is the slipperiest
thing I have ever seen. Handles repeated 10 Foot drops on
Concrete. I rebuilt that too. It was completely dead when I got it.
I made it program and keyload and work with the car stereo. And
I believe that is another Elroy Jetson Original idea. He's pretty good
at building stuff too, and makes a lot of original items, and restores
things as well.

So to sum it all up, I'd have to say that I've had the pleasure of
using and owning a lot of prototypes and one-offs. And after a
period of time elapses, eventually people just think its a normal
piece of equipment. I know for a fact that sometimes the Original
Equipment Manufacturer sometimes will actually incorporate the
"features" into a current product line. Doesn't bother me though.
Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Ive seen several
things on the market 10 years after It was already made, with the
Manufacturer claiming they invented it. Yeah right.