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HT1000 Ribless Cable with USB to Serial adapter
- Thread starter BlueDevil
- Start date
- Status
RegionalComNet
Member
Well, with the USb serial adapter requires you to download the driver so it can work properly, then run DOS on you computer. What computer are you using??? Let me know and I'll help you step by step.
RegionalComNet
Member
Check your PM........
RegionalComNet
Member
Pm sent again, are you running DOS???
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
Not going to work. HT1000 uses DOS RSS. DOS RSS does NOT and will NOT work with any USB anything. Not XP in a DOS box, real command line DOS.
Do yourself a favor, find a machine with a real serial port and a DOS boot disk. Or expect frustration and headache. The choice is yours.
When the HT1000 program executes it opens the MS-DOS but I am not booting the system up in DOS. I have tried slowing my bit rate down on my USB cable and even tried different USB to Serial adapters with no success. I have a RIB but it requires a serial port as well which I don't have on my laptop and I don't have a HT1000 RIB Cable either.... I have confirmed that the ports are consistent and matching up. I have tried different ports as well. I will try it tomorrow on an XP machine at work that does have a serial port. I found a couple old laptops at work the other day that may be helpful, they do have serial ports, however I don't know the password to log into them. If it's not one thing it's another!
RegionalComNet
Member
First, go on Ebay and look for the Floppy Boot disk. Let us know.
w1rc
Member
I concur. HT1000 is early 1990s technology but still a great radio. Some of the models are capable of narrow band emission as well.
Best advice I can give you is to pick up an OLD laptop form the same time frame, preferably a 486 that runs true DOS and dedicate it exclusively to programming radios. A 50 ~ 75 MHz machine will work perfectly. l use an IBM ThinkPad 701,
Good luck,
W1RC
Last edited:
I agree. I kept a few HT1000s around that are DN models that do narrow. Idk if or which BN or the C models are narrow capable I know the AN wasnt glad I ditched those long long ago. As for the USB serial cable, No. I got one once for something else though it claimed one could use it to program the HT1000. I tried it on a BN model I had I didnt care much for but nothing and wasnt a surprise. I did switch stuff around for it to detect the USB as a com port but nothing. It also claimed to do some other stuff that never worked. No surprise lol. But I thought I would try because you never know lol. I use a old compaq using windows 3.11 of course using MSDOS 6.22 if I recall. I also picked up a old Toshiba Monochrome Satellite T series with windows 3.10 and run under DOS also using both serial ports.
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
One of the main reasons (other than sales people pushing new radios) perfectly good HT1000 DN's are being surplussed is the inability to program (and subsequently tune/align) them using modern computing hardware.
Motorola stopped supporting the HT1000 about 4 years ago, the last RSS version was written in 2001. The radio (as well as others in the Jedi family) first debuted when Bill Clinton first took office 20 years ago and the fastest computer was a 486-DX2 at 66MHz running MS-DOS 6.22.
Trying to use incompatible programming hardware (USB) and operating system software (XP,Win7, etc) can not only be pointless, but can even damage the radio by putting a corrupted codeplug into it. There are few and fewer shops that will even ATTEMPT to service these radios, and the Motorola factory depot will not even repair them under time and materials, let alone flat rate, as they did in the past.
If you plan to use these (and other) Motorola radios of the past (e.g. MTS2000, MT2000, Maxtracs, GM300's, etc) it is *STRONGLY* advised that you get the CORRECT programming hardware and software. A genuine MOTOROLA Radio Interface Box, RLN4008E, is the most compatible. There are some decent aftermarket clones, the Sandy Ganz RIB is one of the most electrically compatible if you can find one. RIB to radio cables can be home made using schematics readily available. AVOID using "RIBLESS" cables from China with these OLDER radios. Yes, they MAY work- most of the time they don't, and if they do, they may not be reliable.
Finding a good older PC that works is becoming harder as years go on. Good thing about the HT1000 RSS is that it can run off a bootable floppy disk, the later (and last) versions were "Pentium compatible" and had timing routines adjusted for faster UART and CPU's of later (at the time) PC's, but they STILL REQUIRE AN MS-DOS ENVIORNMENT TO RUN PROPERLY. Much of this has to do with Interrupt requests that the RSS relies on to gain control of the serial port during read/write operations. ANY INTERFERENCE WITH THE READ/WRITE PROCESS CAN RESULT IN CODEPLUG CORRUPTION and an INOPERABLE RADIO. This includes attempting to read/write radios in DOS emulators under Windows operating systems such as XP, Windows 7, etc.
I would advise finding an old laptop with a WORKING FLOPPY DRIVE, as the hard drive will eventually fail and finding a replacement will be difficult. Make it bootable with MS-DOS 6.22 using any variety of utilites on the Internet. Copy your HT1000 RSS onto the diskette and run it from there. Always SAVE codeplugs BEFORE you WRITE BACK to the radio you are programming in case something gets hosed. Use a good quality RIB and RIB to radio cable. Make sure to disable any POWER SAVING in the BIOS of the machine.
Motorola stopped supporting the HT1000 about 4 years ago, the last RSS version was written in 2001. The radio (as well as others in the Jedi family) first debuted when Bill Clinton first took office 20 years ago and the fastest computer was a 486-DX2 at 66MHz running MS-DOS 6.22.
Trying to use incompatible programming hardware (USB) and operating system software (XP,Win7, etc) can not only be pointless, but can even damage the radio by putting a corrupted codeplug into it. There are few and fewer shops that will even ATTEMPT to service these radios, and the Motorola factory depot will not even repair them under time and materials, let alone flat rate, as they did in the past.
If you plan to use these (and other) Motorola radios of the past (e.g. MTS2000, MT2000, Maxtracs, GM300's, etc) it is *STRONGLY* advised that you get the CORRECT programming hardware and software. A genuine MOTOROLA Radio Interface Box, RLN4008E, is the most compatible. There are some decent aftermarket clones, the Sandy Ganz RIB is one of the most electrically compatible if you can find one. RIB to radio cables can be home made using schematics readily available. AVOID using "RIBLESS" cables from China with these OLDER radios. Yes, they MAY work- most of the time they don't, and if they do, they may not be reliable.
Finding a good older PC that works is becoming harder as years go on. Good thing about the HT1000 RSS is that it can run off a bootable floppy disk, the later (and last) versions were "Pentium compatible" and had timing routines adjusted for faster UART and CPU's of later (at the time) PC's, but they STILL REQUIRE AN MS-DOS ENVIORNMENT TO RUN PROPERLY. Much of this has to do with Interrupt requests that the RSS relies on to gain control of the serial port during read/write operations. ANY INTERFERENCE WITH THE READ/WRITE PROCESS CAN RESULT IN CODEPLUG CORRUPTION and an INOPERABLE RADIO. This includes attempting to read/write radios in DOS emulators under Windows operating systems such as XP, Windows 7, etc.
I would advise finding an old laptop with a WORKING FLOPPY DRIVE, as the hard drive will eventually fail and finding a replacement will be difficult. Make it bootable with MS-DOS 6.22 using any variety of utilites on the Internet. Copy your HT1000 RSS onto the diskette and run it from there. Always SAVE codeplugs BEFORE you WRITE BACK to the radio you are programming in case something gets hosed. Use a good quality RIB and RIB to radio cable. Make sure to disable any POWER SAVING in the BIOS of the machine.
RegionalComNet
Member
Awesome, well said.........
Dang... I may have to eat crow on being able to programming these for the local PD. They want and need them programmed by the end of the month for narrowband.
Any specific version of DOS that I need?
Thanks for all the help!!
Any specific version of DOS that I need?
Thanks for all the help!!
6.22 will work just fine.
RegionalComNet
Member
Brandon, at the end of the month???? Well, I have extra boot disk, let me know i'll send it to you monday....
RegionalComNet
Member
Pm me with your info.
I just found an old IBM laptop at the Fire Station. It's running windows 98 or 2000. It has a Pentium III 600MHz processor. Has a 3.5" floppy drive and a CD Drive. It also has a serial port.
Would this work you think?
Would this work you think?
That should work. Again, boot it straight to DOS and you'll be fine.
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