MaxTrac programming . . .

[NF9L]

I just picked up 20 MaxTrac D44 transceivers from the local police and want to sell them to the Ham community here in Kansas City. They currently show six channels, but I know I can open them up to 32. I want to program them with all the active repeaters here and a couple simplex frequencies.

I have the programing software and cable and I'm looking for a computer old enough to work correctly. Is there any way to find out the proper procedure using this software or do I need to find someone that's familiar with it? How can I learn to use the programming software. Any instructions on-line, thanks

Jerry - NF9L KC Veterans Amateur Radio Club

Repeater – KCØVA 443.550 MHz PL 151.4

 

[GTR8000]

I would suggest spending some time reading all the info and articles here:

Motorola MaxTrac / Radius / GM300 Index Page

 

[mancow]

You will need maxtrac lab. You will blank the board an reinitialize it as a 32 channel high signalling model. If I recall correctly you have to put in a code of a crystal oscillator that should be on a tag inside. It has been a decade since I've done it and that's about all I can remember.

 

[SteveC0625]

I would suggest spending some time reading all the info and articles here:

Motorola MaxTrac / Radius / GM300 Index Page

And here, too:

Maxtrac and Radius Mobiles

 

[cabletech]

You also do not need a 'older' computer. I program Maxtrac's and other older radios on WinXp if the software is windows and I use a Dell 610 1g 512 30ghd for dos programs.

No problem with any of them.

 

[Jay911]

You will need maxtrac lab. You will blank the board an reinitialize it as a 32 channel high signalling model. If I recall correctly you have to put in a code of a crystal oscillator that should be on a tag inside. It has been a decade since I've done it and that's about all I can remember.

What? Whoa. No you don't, not unless the OP was messing around swapping boards, of which there's no indication.

Just add channels (I forget the f-key for it right now). The radio is 32 channel, but will only "show" (as per the OP) however many channels are programmed. Many of the radios I used to have in service here had only 8 or 16 channels programmed but all that needed to be done to make them "show" 32 was to program in 16 (or 24) more channels.

OP - you don't necessarily need an ancient computer. You need something that will boot into DOS (I'm understanding that you can get DOS boot "disks" from various Internet sites), and it requires a real serial port instead of a USB to serial adapter. (You might have luck with serial adapters in Windows programs, but I'm pretty sure DOS won't play with them at all, let alone nicely.)

Curious - are those radios the ones which have a lower limit of 146, or are they the lower ones (IIRC 136-162 or 136-174)? I don't mean "can you program them out of band" - I mean was it originally sold being able to go lower than 146.

 

[mancow]

Interesting, I always thought you needed lab to push it to 32. I think you still do need it to get the extra signalling stuff though right?

 

[GTR8000]

I just picked up 20 MaxTrac D44 transceivers

Curious - are those radios the ones which have a lower limit of 146, or are they the lower ones (IIRC 136-162 or 136-174)? I don't mean "can you program them out of band" - I mean was it originally sold being able to go lower than 146.

D44 = 40w UHF, not sure where you got VHF from.

 

[cmdrwill]

The Maxtrac will NOT go below 449.9, the transmitter goes out of control. The firmware in the radio does support transmitting below 449.9 period. Not to mention the deviation and deviation compensation.

 

[mancow]

I have one operating on a repeater at 444.1 with no issues or mods. I didn't do anything but programming it and turn it on. The output is clean.

 

[zz0468]

The Maxtrac will NOT go below 449.9, the transmitter goes out of control. The firmware in the radio does support transmitting below 449.9 period. Not to mention the deviation and deviation compensation.

This is not true.

I have several Maxtracs operating with 440-441 MHz transmit frequencies. For alignment, I make measurements at the 441 frequencies, go to the service menu and make adjustments on the test frequencies, go back to the 441 frequencies for measurements, etc. A couple of times back and forth and it comes out just fine.

A minor tweak to the VCO slug is often necesssary to get it to lock that low in frequency.

For those who are a bit more adventurous, the e-pots can be removed from the circuits, and replaces with small trim pots, and then those adjustments are no longer made in RSS.

 

[AB5S]

You also do not need a 'older' computer. I program Maxtrac's and other older radios on WinXp if the software is windows and I use a Dell 610 1g 512 30ghd for dos programs.

No problem with any of them.

Can someone please enter a clear procedure for doing this?
I have some 32-channel VHF MAXTRACs and I've never been able
to get a Windows-based and/or fast computer running either
in a DOS window or booted to DOS 6 to recognize
either a genuine RIB box or a "RIBless" cable (which works fine
programming CDM-1550s with the Windows software).
I get the "radio must be powered" error.

Thanks!

 

[kayn1n32008]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9780; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.600 Mobile Safari/534.8+)

Can someone please enter a clear procedure for doing this?
I have some 32-channel VHF MAXTRACs and I've never been able
to get a Windows-based and/or fast computer running either
in a DOS window or booted to DOS 6 to recognize
either a genuine RIB box or a "RIBless" cable (which works fine
programming CDM-1550s with the Windows software).
I get the "radio must be powered" error.

Thanks!

You simply require a computer that has a true RS-232 DB-9 (or DB-25) serial port. Because the software ONLY runs in DOS it has no ability to deal with USB. Just make sure that the comport that the cable is on is the same as selected in the sorftware

 

[kayn1n32008]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9780; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.600 Mobile Safari/534.8+)

The Maxtrac will NOT go below 449.9, the transmitter goes out of control. The firmware in the radio does support transmitting below 449.9 period. Not to mention the deviation and deviation compensation.

NOT true, our group also has 2 repeaters that are operating with MAXTRAC mobiles that are transmitting at 441.XXXXMHz and 442.XXXXMHz at 12.5w devation and power out put are very stable. We as well only aligned them and programmed them.

 

[WX9EMS]

Mine goes down to 442.300 and works like a champ and is within spec too!