• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

Motorola Maxtrac programming

Status
Not open for further replies.

wconn

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 17, 2004
Messages
29
Wondering if there is anyone out there that can program some Maxtracs for me. I bought a UHF and VHF off of Ebay, was set up as a crossband amateur repeater. Local Motorola dealer cannot program due to age of radio. Would be willing to ship and pay for programming.
 

jim202

Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2002
Messages
2,729
Location
New Orleans region
Wondering if there is anyone out there that can program some Maxtracs for me. I bought a UHF and VHF off of Ebay, was set up as a crossband amateur repeater. Local Motorola dealer cannot program due to age of radio. Would be willing to ship and pay for programming.

You might want to consider acquiring the needed components to be able to do it yourself. You will need a slow DOS computer with a serial port. A RIB and the interface cable to go to the Maxtrac radio. The interface cable you can make yourself. The RIB can be had from a number of sources, like Ebay or maybe someone on one of the chat groups. Then you will need a cable to go from the RIB to the computer.

The software is floating around on the Internet in a few places. There are several versions out there.
 

davidgcet

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Aug 17, 2010
Messages
1,321
are you going to use these for amateur radio? if not then they are useless anyway.

you need to get them checked out fully before investing any money in them. the reference osc is likely bad unless it has been replaced in the last year or two, and they are about 60.00 per radio, plus labor. if your dealer can't program them, they can't replace the osc since you have to warp it in via the software. there is a pot in the radio, but it is more of a wide warp than a fine tune warp.

i can program them, but honestly the cost would be 40.00 per radio. if you wanted it checked out and/or repaired the cost would probably end up around 200.00 per radio(including the programming), which makes it not worth the cost.
 

RodStrong

Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2007
Messages
1,170
Location
West
Maxtracs are good radios, but virtually worthless. I'd strongly consider the advice you are given here before investing much into them. Good luck.
 

wconn

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 17, 2004
Messages
29
Thanks, I have about 100 bucks invested in already. Sounds like I may be money ahead to just to forget about the project. I was going to use them for amateur use.
 
K

kb0nly

Guest
Thanks, I have about 100 bucks invested in already. Sounds like I may be money ahead to just to forget about the project. I was going to use them for amateur use.

Great for amateur use, using them for links and repeaters everywhere around here, since the got cheap they have been commonplace. I have a UHF repeater here made from a pair, another ham has one that i made from a pair, and two other repeaters i built and maintain use maxtracs for link radios, many other local hams use them for APRS.

Very good and durable radio. Don't let the other posts scare you off.. For around $20-$30 you get get a RIB cable from eBay and your set. You don't need an ancient computer. I run the Maxtrac RSS on a modern 1.8ghz desktop with a dual boot to DOS. You could even just use a DOS boot disc or CD and boot to DOS then run the RSS as well. Its not as picky as other RSS packages.
 

davidgcet

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Aug 17, 2010
Messages
1,321
yeah for commercial use they are junk due to NB, but amatuer they are still a solid radio. my comment about the osc is meant only to show that the cost to use them at most another 20 months is not worth it, but since they are good for years it is worth it for amatuer use. you can usually warp the old crystal in up until they get to either -4khz off or so unstable they won't stay on freq more than a few minutes after warping. if it is off to the + side, it is NOT due to an old crystal, as the crystal grows it always shifts negative, so you can usually warp them in or just replace a cap. once set they generally hold within +/-100 hz, usually less than 10hz!

as to the software, the maxtrac RSS has a feature most don't that allows you to adjust the speed it communicates/times out and this lets it work on most any DOS based machine no matter how new/old it is.
 

gary123

Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2002
Messages
2,200
even with NB they can be "upgraded" to function (althopugh they wont meet type acceptance). I have replaced the IF xtals in several maxtrac VHF for narrow band RX. the pl decoder has no troubles with the slightly lower pl deviations.

for tx its just a matter of setting up the deviations in the alignment menu.
 
K

kb0nly

Guest
yeah for commercial use they are junk due to NB, but amatuer they are still a solid radio. my comment about the osc is meant only to show that the cost to use them at most another 20 months is not worth it, but since they are good for years it is worth it for amatuer use. you can usually warp the old crystal in up until they get to either -4khz off or so unstable they won't stay on freq more than a few minutes after warping. if it is off to the + side, it is NOT due to an old crystal, as the crystal grows it always shifts negative, so you can usually warp them in or just replace a cap. once set they generally hold within +/-100 hz, usually less than 10hz!

as to the software, the maxtrac RSS has a feature most don't that allows you to adjust the speed it communicates/times out and this lets it work on most any DOS based machine no matter how new/old it is.

I have literally gone through hundreds of Maxtracs in the last year alone. I bought a pallet of them from an auction here, i had two radios out of nearly 200 radios that had bad crystals. Sold some, kept some, donated some. All the ones i have been keeping track of are running strong. They do suffer from a failed crystal now and then. But thats easy to fix. I ordered a lot from ICM a while back, the more you buy the cheaper they are, down to my last two as spares. I bought a lot of dead radios cheap from eBay and fixed them, seems like all the dead ones showing up on ebay were due to a dead osc.

FYI a lot of the articles on the RBTIP website were written by yours truly or in cooperation with another ham, WA1MIK.
 

davidgcet

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Aug 17, 2010
Messages
1,321
i've never tried an off brand xtal for a reference osc, i may order one to try it out as we use maxtrac 800's on our own trunk systems and i have several of our own units with bad ref osc that i have not got around to fixing. got quite a few of the 800's myself a few years back, and the only 3 issues you ever really see are ref osc, 2nd if, or the keyed 9.6 transistor failing. other than those easy fixes(and they are not frequent failures just the most common ones) they seem to take a licking and keep on ticking. heck, my 32ch UHF maxtrac base has not been touched in 15+ years and it is still dead on freq.
 
K

kb0nly

Guest
i've never tried an off brand xtal for a reference osc, i may order one to try it out as we use maxtrac 800's on our own trunk systems and i have several of our own units with bad ref osc that i have not got around to fixing. got quite a few of the 800's myself a few years back, and the only 3 issues you ever really see are ref osc, 2nd if, or the keyed 9.6 transistor failing. other than those easy fixes(and they are not frequent failures just the most common ones) they seem to take a licking and keep on ticking. heck, my 32ch UHF maxtrac base has not been touched in 15+ years and it is still dead on freq.

ICM and Bomar both make them, they sell them as a replacement specifically for the Osc or 2nd IF, whichever you need they have. I got a hold of ICM when i needed some more and my MOL account showed NLA for them.

Motorola replacement crystals and channel elements from International Crystal

Maxtrac is at the top of the list, a very popular product for them. When i ordered them the lead time was less than a week due to stock on hand!
 

KD8EGV

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2011
Messages
4
Rss

I to have recently acquired a box of 10 MaxTrac D43MJA77A3CK radios. All but 1 appears to work properly however they are transmitting around 200 Mhz. I had originally thought I could program with a DTFM mic (all my amateur equipment is modern). My goal was to play around and try to build a repeater since I had found a dual rack mount. I spent days gathering web information about the tweaks and even built a interface cable. I looked forward to the project until spending the last 3 days trying to find the Maxtrac RSS. I turned to our local Motorola Dealer/Tech who said he knows he had the software but can't find it. I found a guy on Ebay that programs the radios for a fee however he does not set up repeaters. Can anyone point me in the direction for a RSS.

KD8EGV
 

KD8EGV

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2011
Messages
4
To KC9ODJ, Thank you for the info. I purchased 9 Maxtrac D43MJA77A3CK and 1 Maxtrac D33LRA7PA5BK at a city auction. I am working on getting a Motorola RICK for the repeater build. I am not used to this older equipment. I was hoping to do the programing with DTFM mic until I found out different. I do have ribless grograming cable however I have not built the DOS hard drive for the PC part of it. I am hoping to use Widows Me or 98 with a boot disc. I need to do some reading and on the subject while I wait for the rest of the equipment I ordered. I have a feeling I will learn alot in this build. Once again, thanks for the info.

KD8EGV
 

ramakc

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
15
Location
Overland Park, KS
Maxtrac Users Guide for licensed amateur radio operators

Good evening: Several amateur operators in the Kansas City area are working on a users guide for the MaxTrac 300, 16 and 24 channel transceiver. We are in the final stages of putting this guide together. There will be pictures and detailed information available in a few days. There will be a link on Larrylist.info that takes the reader to a pdf file that can be printed. Please check <www.larryslist.info/index.html> in a few days. In order to get this information, you may have to subscribe to Larrylist, there is no charge. Please note that we are amateur radio operators, not professional technical writers or professional journalists. We hope the Users Guide will be published within a week of 3 OCT 2012, and will be a useful guide to amateur operators. Please do NOT send me an email asking questions as that will just slow down the process of finishing the User Guide.

Ross Taggart, WØRCT
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top