Motorola Syntor X9000 Programming Cable

[MatthiasTHM]

Hello! I am trying to figure out how to program a friend’s Syntor X9000. All I have is the regular cable that goes from the unit to the control head and the unit itself and the control head.

I saw a Syntor X9000 cable on eBay that had a DB-9 female port with it and I was wondering if that was a type of programming cable (file attached).

I am also struggling to find the RSS software for the Syntor X9000 as well.

What can I do to get this programmed?

 

[buddrousa]

When you power it up hit the key to get into the bios set the bios to boot to harddrive and save it should boot then.

 

[ElroyJetson]

You need a special programming cable that fits between the radio unit and the main cable to the control head and accessories. It can be made by modifying a Systems 9000 siren interface cable, probably the easiest way to make one. Instructions on it are at batlabs.
You'll need a properly working ancient PC, 386 class CPU.
Better and easier to find someone who actually does this already and pay him to do it. It'll cost you a lot less in time, money, and hassle.

 

[george-1]

To program an X9000 drawer, you need ham version 5.02.
This version will allow 64 channels and gives custom ranges for low band, VHF and UHF.

For example, range 1.5 allows a range 2 VHF to dip down to 144 where normally it stops at 145.

The UHF range allows a 450-470 to drop to 440.

IF you need MORE channels, version 4.06 allows up to 128 to be programmed.

The control head can be programmed up to 210 channels with version 7.

The problem with the hacked version of version 6 is the scan table is not extended out beyond 64 modes. 4.06 will allow setting up modes 65-128. Keep in mind you need the T52 firmware OR an OLD T14 version to allow scanning beyond 64. Sorry, T32 or T53 do not support this.

As for the verify error mentioned before, do you have a mismatch between the size of the EEPROM in the radio and what you selected?
2K (2816) will only do 32 modes. 8K (2864) will do up to 128 OFFICIALLY but go beyond that.

I use a thinkpad X20 series with the cache disabled and it works totally fine. Have done so for years. It's a P3-800 up to P3-1000.
No MOSLO or other nonsense required.

 

[george-1]

I was able to obtain a Compaq SLT 386 laptop. The hard drive is still operable, but the CMOS (battery chip, I think) is dead and it will not be able to boot on the hard drive. It tries to boot on the floppy drive even though my floppy disk is blank. I was thinking about putting DOS on the floppy drive as well as the RSS.

I was also able to acquire the ham version of the Syntor X9000 RDPROG radio service software. I noticed that one of my two VHF Syntor's has 128 channels. I experimented with the regular and ham version of RSS, but cannot figure out how to get 128 channels since it limits me to 64 channels on the software.

Are there any other considerations I should take? Any advice or tips?

Thanks!
KE9CKT

What version of ham software do you have? 5.02? 6.hacked? 4.06?

This is an important detail.

 

[MatthiasTHM]

What version of ham software do you have? 5.02? 6.hacked? 4.06?

This is an important detail.

For the radio programmer, I have the 5.02 ham. For the channel program, I have the regular 6.

 

[george-1]

For the radio programmer, I have the 5.02 ham. For the channel program, I have the regular 6.

5.02 will not support beyond 64 modes.

What you need is a code plug that is initialized with more than 64 modes. 5.02 will not allow that. So you need 4.04/4.05/4.06.

I don't play with 6.hacked because it's an abortion and can get the needed features from 4.0X or 5.02.

Version 2.something will allow it but that's really old.

I don't remember for certain if 5.02 will open a 128 mode code plug. it may not. That's why 4.06 was developed.

The big plus in 5.02 is it leaves any bits it doesn't understand alone. This makes it perfect for working with dual drawer installations.
It doesn't twiddle with primary or secondary drawer bits. But to program in such an installation, you CANNOT SELECT A DRAWER so you MUST PROGRAM ONE DRAWER AT A TIME WITH THE OTHER ONE DISCONNECTED.

You can use CHPROG version 7 for any control head application EXCEPT dual drawer.

 

[MatthiasTHM]

5.02 will not support beyond 64 modes.

What you need is a code plug that is initialized with more than 64 modes. 5.02 will not allow that. So you need 4.04/4.05/4.06.

I don't play with 6.hacked because it's an abortion and can get the needed features from 4.0X or 5.02.

Version 2.something will allow it but that's really old.

I don't remember for certain if 5.02 will open a 128 mode code plug. it may not. That's why 4.06 was developed.

The big plus in 5.02 is it leaves any bits it doesn't understand alone. This makes it perfect for working with dual drawer installations.
It doesn't twiddle with primary or secondary drawer bits. But to program in such an installation, you CANNOT SELECT A DRAWER so you MUST PROGRAM ONE DRAWER AT A TIME WITH THE OTHER ONE DISCONNECTED.

You can use CHPROG version 7 for any control head application EXCEPT dual drawer.

Sounds good! I don't have 4.0X, so I'll need to find it. If I can't find it somehow, I'll just stick with 5.02 since I would like to get these Syntors running as soon as possible.

 

[BrhatWeed]

As for the programming shell I've been known to hard solder a DB25 directly to the personality board connector itself using a length of cable that allows me to tuck the works under the cover when I'm done. Programming is via Pentium-133 w/4MB RAM with the cache off booting SCSI with DOS6.22,CHPROG & RDPROG on a Syquest-88 drive where I keep all my DOS based RSS.

 

[MatthiasTHM]

I have RSS on the Compaq and when I tried to write the information to the radio and the control head (separately), the RSS says "Verification Error" when it gets to the verifying EEPROM part. What am I doing wrong?

 

[petnrdx]

Can happen from computer speed to high, cache, UARTS, or even the EEPROMs in the radio being too small for the number of modes. But since it sounds like you are having trouble with both RDPROG and CHPROG, my best guess is the various computer issues.
Can you READ both radio and control head? (I haven't read thru all the entries in this thread)

 

[MatthiasTHM]

Can happen from computer speed to high, cache, UARTS, or even the EEPROMs in the radio being too small for the number of modes. But since it sounds like you are having trouble with both RDPROG and CHPROG, my best guess is the various computer issues.
Can you READ both radio and control head? (I haven't read thru all the entries in this thread)

I am able to read them both. However, they just won’t write to the radio whatsoever.

I’m using a Compaq SLT386s/20 that boots in DOS on a floppy drive since the hard drive doesn’t boot up after configuring it with the Setup Utility floppy.

 

[MatthiasTHM]

Problem solved! I was able to get the Syntor X9000 to verify. I used 14-16 gauge wiring between J1 Pin 27 and DB25 Pin 2 to allow a better flow. It turns out it solved the verification issue. The problem I would guess is that I was using 30 gauge wiring between all the pinouts between the J1 connector and the DB25. Apparently, the wiring is too thin for the MIC-HI because it wasn't able to short it to ground and activate the write-enabled.

I figured this out by looking through the old Syntor X9000 service manual and through the help of Google Gemini AI.

 

[petnrdx]

Interesting solution.

 

[MatthiasTHM]

UPDATE: I found out that the wire has to go directly to Pin 27 and not spliced with the Control Head cable because the MIC-HI is paired together with BUS+ in the plug.