Help with Optoelectronics Xplorer

[edsmiley]

Hello all,

Picked up an old Optoelectronics Xplorer (single knob) fairly cheap and am trying to figure out some things and hope that someone can help out.

1. Does anyone know of free/low cost software to interface with the unit? The floppy (yes floppy) disk that came with the unit contained Radio Manager for Windows v3.06. I could probably dig up an old floppy drive somewhere, but I assume that this is not going to be working on any modern operation systems so probably not worth it. I did find the Radio Manager Master XT (Radio Manager Master XT - Copyright © Ben Saladino www.Bensware.com) from the same author, but that seems to do nothing for pulling frequency data off of the device. I know Opto sells Optosuite on their site, but hoping I can get by a bit cheaper (since I paid half that for the device itself ). Also found Optosuite Lite on Ebay that is a bit cheaper (Optoelectronics Software Spectrum Digital Scout Xplorer | eBay), has anyone used that? I have tried to use a simple terminal interface (Putty and Hyperterminal) and have not been able to get anything out of that either, so I am kind stumped as to how to interface with this.

2. The battery replacement. Of course, as with a lot of Opto devices, the batteries are shot. Anyone have any tips on doing a replacement? Everything I have found is mostly posts of I have done it, with not too many details. Any help would be great!

Please bare with me, I picked up my first scanner last month and branched out to this. So by no means am I a radio expert, but am very willing to learn!

Thanks so much in advance for any help,
Ed

 

[fineshot1]

Hello all,

Picked up an old Optoelectronics Xplorer (single knob) fairly cheap and am trying to figure out some things and hope that someone can help out.

1. Does anyone know of free/low cost software to interface with the unit? The floppy (yes floppy) disk that came with the unit contained Radio Manager for Windows v3.06. I could probably dig up an old floppy drive somewhere, but I assume that this is not going to be working on any modern operation systems so probably not worth it. I did find the Radio Manager Master XT (Radio Manager Master XT - Copyright © Ben Saladino www.Bensware.com) from the same author, but that seems to do nothing for pulling frequency data off of the device. I know Opto sells Optosuite on their site, but hoping I can get by a bit cheaper (since I paid half that for the device itself ). Also found Optosuite Lite on Ebay that is a bit cheaper (Optoelectronics Software Spectrum Digital Scout Xplorer | eBay), has anyone used that? I have tried to use a simple terminal interface (Putty and Hyperterminal) and have not been able to get anything out of that either, so I am kind stumped as to how to interface with this.

2. The battery replacement. Of course, as with a lot of Opto devices, the batteries are shot. Anyone have any tips on doing a replacement? Everything I have found is mostly posts of I have done it, with not too many details. Any help would be great!

Please bare with me, I picked up my first scanner last month and branched out to this. So by no means am I a radio expert, but am very willing to learn!

Thanks so much in advance for any help,
Ed

I can't help you with your software problem but i have replaced the battery in my explorer and other
optoelectronics frequency counters by looking over and purchasing similar batteries on ebay and
slightly modifying the purchased similar batteries and installing them myself. The optoelectronics
purchased batteries are at least several times what they should cost and have usually been lying on a
shelf for a long time and are lousy performers. Good luck and have fun with it.