Motorola Desktrac tone remote compatibility

[bob-the-scanner-man]

I've got a little project I'm working on and could use some info. I recently bought a VHF Desktrac and would like to set it up in my garage/workshop with a tone remote for remote operation in my office in the house.

Is the Motorola MC3000 compatible with a Desktrac? My research says the MC1000, MC2000, and MC2500 are compatible but I can't find anything on the MC3000.

 

[R8000]

MC3000 was a digital remote intended to be used with the XTL series consolette using SB9600 protocol.

 

[bob-the-scanner-man]

Thanks for the info. Are there any other desksets that would work aside from the MC1000, MC2000, or MC2500? It's hard to find one of those three at a decent price.

 

[R8000]

No. For some reason, tone remotes have been priced at a bar of gold for 30 +years. You also don't need a Motorola remote to do what you want. Any tone remote using industry standard keying tones will do the job. Motorola, Midian, CPI, IDA...etc.

 

[jeepsandradios]

Also verify the desktrac has the TRA board built in. Many did not. I used a CPI TRA on mine in my garage to CPI remotes. Remember you can only TX/RX on the channel selected but its not bad for a single channel.

 

[bob-the-scanner-man]

No. For some reason, tone remotes have been priced at a bar of gold for 30 +years. You also don't need a Motorola remote to do what you want. Any tone remote using industry standard keying tones will do the job. Motorola, Midian, CPI, IDA...etc.

That's good to know, it might be cheaper to find a non-Motorola remote instead. Would love to find a MC2000 that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Also verify the desktrac has the TRA board built in. Many did not. I used a CPI TRA on mine in my garage to CPI remotes. Remember you can only TX/RX on the channel selected but its not bad for a single channel.

Mine does have the TRA board, since that's the case would it just be a matter of getting a tone remote and making the proper connection/programming?

 

[jeepsandradios]

Correct if it has the TRA board then any TRA will work from any company

 

[petnrdx]

Just make sure it is the TRA adapter board, not the DC remote only board.
The tone remote / local is option L146.
The DC remote / local is option L139.
They did make a digital local / remote option L791, but I have never seen one.

 

[rescue161]

I have an MC2500 connected to 4 radios (2 Quantars, 1 XPR5550 with external TRA and 1 Desktrac). You can find MC2000's much easier than the 4 radio MC2500 and they work fine to channel steer. Programming the MC2000 is a little cumbersome as there is a button sequence to place it in programming mode before you can read or write to it.

Programming the Desktrac is a pain as you can use regular Maxtrac RSS to program the radio, but you will not have access to the tone board in the radio. To program the tone functionality, you must use Desktrac RSS. Some versions of Desktrac RSS are not OOB friendly, so I typically would use Maxtrac RSS to program my OOB freqs and then assign the channels for tone control using Desktrac without selecting the frequency.

On top of all of that, the old Desktrac tone control radios are OLD. I have a stack of them to keep mine up and running. They do not like static discharges from near by lightning strikes. I have a bunch of failed tone boards (that I haven't gotten around to repairing). Just be warned about that.

 

[tommynoodle]

A little off topic. Does anybody know if when using Mototrbo Digital on an MC1000 deskset - Does the PTT Talk Permit Tone go through the MC1000 speaker or just the Radio itself? We have an issue with a non-motorola deskset which only has the RX audio through the deskset speaker. Because the PTT Talk Permit Tone is not coming through the deskset speaker, our user has no idea when to begin speaking. For background, because of the Admit Criteria and usual radio traffic, It can take 1-3 seconds of holding the PTT to be able to connect to the Radio Repeater.

 

[rescue161]

I know that when using 2-wire, the PTT tone does not come through the speaker of the tone remote (MC1000, MC2000 and MC2500 were all tried). I wish it did, because I'm using an XPR5550 as one of my base stations that is connected to my MC2500. It is one of 4 radios connected to that remote and it is frustrating not know whether the transmission went through. I did try different settings in the MC2500, but nothing worked. I have not tried in a 4-wire configuration, but I'd suspect that you still won't hear the PTT tone. If someone knows a way to make the PTT tone come through, I'm all ears.

 

[R8000]

Does the PTT Talk Permit Tone go through the MC1000 speaker or just the Radio itself?

The remote and remote adapter must be configured for 4 wire full duplex. Then you will hear any tones the radio makes while transmitting. Some remotes and adapter or "tone panel" would allow jumpers to be set to do this, some did not.
The MC1000 should be configurable for 4 wire through its programming.