• 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.

motorola maxtrac - whats it good for?

Status
Not open for further replies.

kf4lne

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2005
Messages
430
Location
Bristol, VA
I am about to become the owner of an 800MHz Motorola Maxtrac radio. I don't know anything about it yet, but I know its not usable in the 902-928 amateur band. Does anyone here know if this thing can be used as a dedicated trunking scanner or should I start looking for it a home?
 

rcvmo

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
433
Location
Romulus, Mi.
Howdy.
It all depends whether it's a trucking radio, or a conventional radio.
If it's just 4 buttons and no digital display on the faceplate, forget it. It's no more use than a doorstop. Other than that, there's much firmware and software finnagling you have to do before you can pick up a local Analog truck system.
It will not do any digital systems.
They are great for receiving the lower half of the 900 MHz ham band. You have to do a lot of retuning to make it TX there.
rcvmo
 

kd7rto

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
475
Location
Bountiful, Ut
Since Nextel bought up and shut down most of the business 800 MHz trunked systems, there are a lot of these gathering dust.

With rebanding, and the restrictions Motorola has built into their programming software, using it as a scanner would not be feasable.
 

jim202

Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2002
Messages
2,729
Location
New Orleans region
There are a number of flavors of this radio. It kind of depends on just
what you have. They do or can work as a monitor for analog channels.
If the firmware has been changed, it will function as a trunking radio on
the old analog channels. In this fashion, it sort of can work as a scanner.

What these radios will not do is receive the trunked splinter channels in
the trunking mode. Motorola was very careful not to allow them this
option as they wanted to sell new radios to all the system owners. They
will do some splinter channels in the conventional mode though.

Jim
 

N4DES

Retired 0598 Czar ÆS Ø
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
2,386
Location
South FL
List the model # is you can, then we can give you better advise. If it's a Privacy Plus unit there isn't much use for it other than a doorstop.
 

cg

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 13, 2000
Messages
4,578
Location
Connecticut
if you can program in conventional channels and is a 16 pin rear connector, it will make an excellent data radio for Trunker, Trunk88, etc. One of the pins puts out discriminator audio so the hookup is simple. I have one and it blows the tapped scanners away.

chris
 

WayneH

Forums Veteran
Super Moderator
Joined
Dec 16, 2000
Messages
7,521
Location
Your master site
It is quite possible to setup a Maxtrac PP model to listen to Type II talkgroups. You use sizecode A and have to convert the decimal ID to a Type I ID.

The only caveat is you'll miss traffic anytime the status bit changes.

-Wayne
 

Jay911

Silent Key (April 15th, 2023)
Feed Provider
Joined
Feb 15, 2002
Messages
9,378
Location
Bragg Creek, Alberta
I had one that worked great as a discriminator source for up to 10 800mhz frequencies... one of the pins on the 16pin accessory connector is discriminator audio.

Other than that, it holds doors open pretty well.
 

jparks29

John McClane
Joined
Nov 20, 2003
Messages
859
Location
Nakatomi Plaza
Grog said:
Awwww geez, you haven't been banned yet? :roll:

banned? for what? telling a geeky joke??

analog/PP 800 ANYTHING is pretty much a paperweight right now....... hence the "what it's good for" comment....

get a sense of humour buddy....
 

phyberoptics

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
May 12, 2003
Messages
524
Location
Orangeville, Ontario
I use a maxtrac as a dedicated scanner for my local public safety trunking system. The front-ends are rock-solid because they are dedicated, tuned, and filtered to one specific band. While this might seem limiting to some, I hear way better quality signal/audio on my maxtrac than any other scanner i've used.

I'd love to get more maxtracs, and I'd love to get one that does 900mhz so I can listen to other trunking systems in my area...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top