VXR-7000 Questions

[kf4sek]

Our radio club recently purchased a VXR-7000 VHF repeater and I have a few questions. Hopefully someone can help me out.

1. When programming the unit with the CE-27 Windows Software, I keep getting a Time Out error when trying to dowload the repeater's programming. I then get an error that says something like the interface box has failed or has an error. I am transferring at 9600 baud and can upload programming just fine. What am I doing wrong?

2. When using our externally controller (CAT-300DXL) the receiver CTCSS tone stops working and anyone not using our tone can key-up our repeater like we don't have one programmed in there. However, if we remove the controller, the receiver tone works properly. Any thoughts on this issue?

3. What exactly does the BTLO in the LOUT column do?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Nick, KF4SEK

[jwb8734]

Originally Posted by kf4sek

Our radio club recently purchased a VXR-7000 VHF repeater and I have a few questions. Hopefully someone can help me out.

1. When programming the unit with the CE-27 Windows Software, I keep getting a Time Out error when trying to dowload the repeater's programming. I then get an error that says something like the interface box has failed or has an error. I am transferring at 9600 baud and can upload programming just fine. What am I doing wrong?

Are you doing this from a DOS prompt or throught Windows. If you are doing it through Windows you may need to use DOS you can get a DOS boot disk at Bootdisk.Com

JOHN

[W9RXR]

I think BTLO is Busy Tone Lock Out. If you have BTLO set and the radio is receiving the correct tone (CTCSS or DCS), the radio will not transmit until the tone goes away. There should also be a BCLO which is Busy Carrier Lock Out--if there's a carrier on the receive frequency, the radio won't transmit.

[kf4sek]

John,

I am using the Windows version of the CE-27 program. I tried the DOS version using the DOS Prompt both in Windows XP and Windows 2000 Pro and the DOS version said that the download file was corrupted or invalid. I have never tried using a DOS boot disk. I will have to try that.

Thanks,
Nick

Originally Posted by jwb8734

Are you doing this from a DOS prompt or throught Windows. If you are doing it through Windows you may need to use DOS you can get a DOS boot disk at Bootdisk.Com

JOHN

[kf4sek]

Thank you. I read the manual and that is what it said about BTLO. However, I did not exactly understand it.

Nick

Originally Posted by W9RXR

I think BTLO is Busy Tone Lock Out. If you have BTLO set and the radio is receiving the correct tone (CTCSS or DCS), the radio will not transmit until the tone goes away. There should also be a BCLO which is Busy Carrier Lock Out--if there's a carrier on the receive frequency, the radio won't transmit.

[silverbk]

Originally Posted by kf4sek

John,

I am using the Windows version of the CE-27 program. I tried the DOS version using the DOS Prompt both in Windows XP and Windows 2000 Pro and the DOS version said that the download file was corrupted or invalid. I have never tried using a DOS boot disk. I will have to try that.

Thanks,
Nick

Which cable are you using? If you have the serial port cable you will need a real serial port. I haven't had any luck with any USB to serial adapters except the one from RT systems.

The DOS prompt will NOT work with any RSS windows does not take complete control of the hardware.

[kf4sek]

I am using the serial port cable from Vertex-Standard. It has the serial port RS-232 connector on one side and the microphone modular plug on the other. I am using a USB to Serial Adapter from MFJ as my laptop does not have a serial port.

If the DOS prompt in Windows XP will not work completely, will booting my PC from a DOS boot disk work? If not, I can try and find an older laptop with a real serial port and Windows 3.1 and older version of DOS and try that.

Thanks for everyones help. Hopefully, with your help, I can figure this out.

Originally Posted by silverbk

Which cable are you using? If you have the serial port cable you will need a real serial port. I haven't had any luck with any USB to serial adapters except the one from RT systems.

The DOS prompt will NOT work with any RSS windows does not take complete control of the hardware.

[silverbk]

You need a real serial port and a computer running Windows 98 or older. Windows 98 is the latest version that allows you to boot into DOS.

If downloading an image from bootdisk.com and burning it is in your skillset, that will work also, but there is no USB functionality in DOS, so you will still have the serial port hurdle.

Personally I have an old Pentium 1 laptop that I recycled. It runs Windows 98 and I have it dedicated for programming radios. It has an old fashioned serial port on it. I can program in both dos and windows if necessary.

The only USB to serial converter I have had any luck with it the one the RT systems sells. They say it has special hardware to make it a true serial port and it's guaranteed to work with any programming cable they sell.

I believe that Vertex does sell a USB cable for this radio, but a $10 laptop from Ebay would probably serve you better.

73

[lbfd09]

Originally Posted by kf4sek

Our radio club recently purchased a VXR-7000 VHF repeater and I have a few questions. Hopefully someone can help me out.

1. When programming the unit with the CE-27 Windows Software, I keep getting a Time Out error when trying to dowload the repeater's programming. I then get an error that says something like the interface box has failed or has an error. I am transferring at 9600 baud and can upload programming just fine. What am I doing wrong?

If by upload, you are trying to read from the repeater, I suspect that you might have something corrupt in the configuration. I would try rebuilding the settings and download the parameters to the repeater. Congratulations on getting that Windows version. Be careful not to up load the settings for the wrong band to you unit. We did that the first time we plugged in, thankfully we had another backup repeater to copy and regain software access to the repeater.

Originally Posted by kf4sek

2. When using our externally controller (CAT-300DXL) the receiver CTCSS tone stops working and anyone not using our tone can key-up our repeater like we don't have one programmed in there. However, if we remove the controller, the receiver tone works properly. Any thoughts on this issue?

I am thinking that the controller disables the pl tones in the radio when it's plugged in.

Originally Posted by kf4sek

3. What exactly does the BTLO in the LOUT column do?

From pg9 of the DOS programing book (located here - http://www.repeater-builder.com/yaes...ertex-ce27.pdf) "BTLO" inhibits xmiting when tone is not present. "BCLO" will inhibit when the carrier is present.

BTW - the Repeater Builder Site has some great materials on the repeater.

[Ray_Air]

Originally Posted by silverbk

You need a real serial port and a computer running Windows 98 or older. Windows 98 is the latest version that allows you to boot into DOS.

If downloading an image from bootdisk.com and burning it is in your skillset, that will work also, but there is no USB functionality in DOS, so you will still have the serial port hurdle.

Personally I have an old Pentium 1 laptop that I recycled. It runs Windows 98 and I have it dedicated for programming radios. It has an old fashioned serial port on it. I can program in both dos and windows if necessary.

The only USB to serial converter I have had any luck with it the one the RT systems sells. They say it has special hardware to make it a true serial port and it's guaranteed to work with any programming cable they sell.

I believe that Vertex does sell a USB cable for this radio, but a $10 laptop from Ebay would probably serve you better.

73

The computer I use to program my Vertex radios runs Win 98 and has a 500MHz P3. I turned the COM port speed down to 1200bps in order to get it to work. I just boot up in MS-DOS. I kept getting the interface error until I turned down the speed on the COM ports.