• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

900 IR Quantars

Status
Not open for further replies.

WB5ITT

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
42
Location
Beaumont, TX
I picked up 7 900MHZ IRs from a P25 single site trunk system replaced by a Mototurbo system...Want to use them on 902/927. I THINK only one has a 10MHz reference as they were all cabled together via coax to the BNCs on the back...NO external reference I could see (I got EVERYTHING but the trunk controllers)....
There is a UHF Quantro at my rptr tower site with an external GPS driven 10MHz reference I COULD tap onto to use but prefer to use my own/internal ...especially since I intend to sell 5 of the 7 I have....(maybe less....I am working on a 1500ft site and may locate one there).

SO what do I need to do to use this as a 927 rptr?? Do I need to do anything to the SCM or just reprogram the rptr as a CONV in the RSS? Everything I have found so far is confusing and its been YEARS since I touched trunked Quantars (going back to 1996 and the worlds largest SZ system at the time, operated by Entergy) Please be detailed as much as possible...I don't want to make a mistake 😁

I intend to connect it to an external RLC controller but want to get it on air using the internal controller asap. Feedline and antenna already at site. Duplexer made from two Celwave 5044 BP filters...(also called Celwave 5043)

Thanks,

Chris
 

prcguy

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jun 30, 2006
Messages
16,483
Location
So Cal - Richardson, TX - Tewksbury, MA
I would check the model of your Epic card and I believe an Epic IV is for trunking and will not work as a conventional repeater. Otherwise just program and use it. If the old system was analog you will probably have to do an alignment for P25 waveform but its not difficult. Here is some info on hardware part #s and what they do. Quantar - W9CR

I have two 900 Quantars running as dual mode conventional repeaters and both have internal reference cards. I have played with external reference and mine seem to like a sine wave source and had problems locking to a square wave source even though the levels were correct. I found most 800/900 duplexers are designed for a 45MHz split and some don't do amateur 25MHz splits very well. I found a model of Bird-TX/RX Systems duplexer designed for about a 3.6MHz split at 900 and they work really well.
 

Project25_MASTR

Millennial Graying OBT Guy
Joined
Jun 16, 2013
Messages
4,369
Location
Texas
The BNC with factory T on the back which all of the Quantars should have been cabled together with is 10BASE2 Ethernet IIRC. Been awhile since I've done much with that connection.
 

WB5ITT

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
42
Location
Beaumont, TX
Well, I guess I was not clear enough....I DONT KNOW which repeater of the 7 has the internal reference.....I thought I made that clear earlier (this was a P25, not analog, single site trunked system at a plant)....The 10BASE2 cable goes from Rptr 5 with no T, thru the other 5, then to rptr 1 which has the T and terminator....so is Rptr 5 the one with the reference?? or is Rptr 1 it??? I guess I need to get 10MHz ref for the others....plenty for sale on EBay, etc...... The two Celwave 5044 filters are also sold as a duplexer (5043)..and can handle the 25Mhz split....at 25MHz, they are 85db down at least......1db insertion loss...just need to make the T cable from antenna to TX and RX side... I just need to make ONE work right now...Guess I'll check the Epic card...is that next to the SCM???
 

mikewazowski

Forums Manager/Global DB Admin
Staff member
Forums Manager
Joined
Jun 26, 2001
Messages
13,764
Location
Oot and Aboot
Do you have a UHSO module (labelled as REFERENCE) on any of the units? The 10Base2 connections were most likely so the units could talk to each other. Which ports were connected up? Here's a reference: Quantro/Quantar-Backplane - W9CR

The EPIC card is the SCM.
 

prcguy

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jun 30, 2006
Messages
16,483
Location
So Cal - Richardson, TX - Tewksbury, MA
Do you have a UHSO module (labelled as REFERENCE) on any of the units? The 10Base2 connections were most likely so the units could talk to each other. Which ports were connected up? Here's a reference: Quantro/Quantar-Backplane - W9CR

The EPIC card is the SCM.
The internal UHSO reference will have some vent holes near the bottom of the front panel to the left of the receiver and if there is no reference module it will be a solid blank panel. Be aware the 900 Quantar with will take about 10 minutes from power on until you can use it, that is to allow the ovenized oscillator to reach temp and get on frequency.
 
Joined
Aug 27, 2022
Messages
35
All Quantars (if pointed to the UHSO FRU) will lose the "exciter" lock LED if the UHSO
is power cycled due to that warm up period (as many a site tech has discovered by
accident when they inadvertently crash the site - fix: blame it on Verizon).

However, if RSS is connected to the host Quantar with the UHSO, you can override
the warmup period - under service > alignment > UHSO

If you can't identify the UHSO (and no reason why you can't - it'll be pretty obvious
as described by others), disconnect the jumpers on the back of each station. If you
lose exciter lock, the stations are expecting that reference.

If there's no UHSO in your Quantars, it was "probably" configured to work off an
external GPS as the reference. Still salvageable though, go into RSS and point them
to their internal references. They're pretty accurate standalone.

If your exciter lock LED's are lit - then it's fine, original question is totally moot.

If you "tap" into someone else's GPS, if it were *my* GPS and I found bootleg taps,
they're getting cut (with extreme prejudice). Had a site owner that would routinely
pull AC power on deadbeat repeater owners.

("what business is bad ? F U pay me !" , "house burned down ? F U pay me !)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top