• 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.

CDM not programmable by remote head?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Anderegg

Enter text in this field
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
2,695
Location
San Diego
Finally got it working thanks to a decade old RR post. With radio powered up, discconect the remote cable and plug in the programming cable to the deck. Read radio was a success using Windows 11 64 bit VM on Parallels v17 USB-C to Prolific serial port adapter. :)

Paul
 

Anderegg

Enter text in this field
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
2,695
Location
San Diego
Spoke too soon...this allows READ but NOT WRITE...for the love of God... o_O

Paul
 

Anderegg

Enter text in this field
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
2,695
Location
San Diego
With the programming cable plugged into the deck the control head is not connected. I get a "write to radio failed" error. When I turn off power to the radio I get a cannot read codeplug to verify error when atempting to write back into the deck. I tried power cycling my power supply and reconnecting and disconnecting the control head to account for the previous read resetting nto a possible cold state as is the case if you connect the control head while power is hot, dead head until you cycle the 12v into the deck.

Paul
 

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
26,747
Location
United States
Maybe I'm tired, it's been a long day, so bear with me….

The control head needs to be connected to the RF deck. You should be able to turn the radio on and see something on the LCD screen. That'll tell you if the head is installed correctly. Often the error I see is the ribbon cable gets plugged in backwards.

If you set up the radio, head connected, power on, something showing on the display, then try reading the radio.
 

cpg178

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
415
Back when I ran all CDMS, I could usually get it to take the codeplug after a few attempts. Worst case, just re attach the control head directly to the radio like others have suggested above. If you are using the genuine 10pin remote head cable you should be able to program it no problem with the remote head connected to radio body, if you are using an ethernet cable it wont work.
 

Anderegg

Enter text in this field
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
2,695
Location
San Diego
Maybe I'm tired, it's been a long day, so bear with me….

The control head needs to be connected to the RF deck. You should be able to turn the radio on and see something on the LCD screen. That'll tell you if the head is installed correctly. Often the error I see is the ribbon cable gets plugged in backwards.

If you set up the radio, head connected, power on, something showing on the display, then try reading the radio.

The radio as dashmout works as expected, but the issue is with remote mount programming. There are a handful of people out there claiming they program the remote mount through the mic jack successfully. I want their secret sauce :)

I have a brand new 5m and 7m OEM remote cable I am testing with. I have an OEM RIB box if that form of communications is necessary, I would just need a RIB box compatible cable.

Paul
 
Last edited:

cpg178

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
415
The radio as dashmout works as expected, but the issue is with remote mount programming. There are a handful of people out there claiming they program the remote mount through the mic jack successfully. I want their secret sauce :)

I have a brand new 5m and 7m OEM remote cable I am testing with.

Paul
Very rarely was I able to get it to take it with the remote head connected, I always did it by hooking it directly up to the radio on the remote head jack, then plugging my remote head in after to see if it worked or not. Often times took a few tries
 

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
26,747
Location
United States
The radio as dashmout works as expected, but the issue is with remote mount programming. There are a handful of people out there claiming they program the remote mount through the mic jack successfully. I want their secret sauce :)

I have a brand new 5m and 7m OEM remote cable I am testing with.

Paul

I had an issue once, but only once. I use a Motorola RIB and a home made cable. I think some of the ribless/after market cables are hit and miss.

Have you tried making a RJ-50 to 20 pin connector for the rear? Motorola sells one for $12.75 or so. https://www.shopwiscomm.com/RLN4853B-RLN4853-Motorola-ADAPTOR-10-TO-20-PIN-EPP-P1749361.aspx
 

cpg178

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
415
Make sure you SAVE the codeplug thats in the radio prior to writing your new one. if you get an EEPROM CS error and for some reason the CPS cant recover it your gonna have a long day fixing it. That happened to me and this is why I use XPRs now.
 

Anderegg

Enter text in this field
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
2,695
Location
San Diego
Dug out my Motorola OEM RIB box and Maxtrac RIB cable...plugged into the remote head, read and write now works successfully. I never thought I would touch my old Maxtrac DOS RIB stuff again! As an added fun oddity, the radio can still be read and wrote through the control head even if I turn the power off on the control head.

RIB box + Maxtrac cable + Windows 11 64 bit + Parallels for Mac + USB-C to serial adapter = SUCCESS. :love:

Paul
 

cpg178

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
415
Interesting that CDM CPS works no issues on Win 11. Glad you got it working
 

cpg178

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
415
I use a mac as well for running Windows 10 to program my 2 XPR mobiles in the car and portables when on the go. I use VMWare
 

Anderegg

Enter text in this field
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
2,695
Location
San Diego
I have Windows 7 32 bit and Windows 10 64 bit VM's that I am transitioning to a single Windows 11 64 bit VM. I made sure to test all my CPS for proper read and write functionality first. For touching XTS3000, Astro Spectra, Astro Saber, MTS/MCS or some old Maxtracs I have laying around, I can fall back to my old Dell D630 With multiboot Windows 98SE, Windows 7 32 bit, and DOS 7.1. The only thing my VM's cannot do is read or write to an XTL1500. The control head resets on read attempt and causes the CPS to error out for some reason.

Paul
 

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
26,747
Location
United States
I'm running Windows XP on my mac using Virtual Box. Unfortunately I still have some old stuff at work that really likes Internet Explorer. I've got Kenwood software on it, but never tried programming. Didn't want to push my luck. I've got Windoze laptops for that.
 

Anderegg

Enter text in this field
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
2,695
Location
San Diego
Just wanted to update this thread. The "always works" solution I use for my remote CDM is RIB BOX WITH SERIAL PORT. Without the Rib Box, just have not found it to be possible. Specifically, using Windows 10 64 bit BootCamp on a newer intel Macbook, with a USB-C serial adapter (both Prolific and FTDI work fine), and an old Maxtrac Rib Box cable. Was not sure the Rib Box would work through an adapter or on 64 bit, but the radio doesn't seem to care.

Paul
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top