MPA/MPD quest…& sumX’s MRK!

[Drew2075]

Okay so not trying to beat a poor animal with a noodle or resurrect old stuff but, Yes, I’m still fascinated by my MPA’s and my one MPD! I get it too old and at least if I buy a battery for my MPA, it’ll work for the MPD. Now the question: I’d like to replace the plastic shroud that’s in front of the LCD on the MPD and replace the channel selector POT for an MPA. I purchased it with the snapped off channel knob. I’m 75% sure I’ve sourced a company for said parts but what I’m looking for is the manual or LBi for these radios to perform the cannibalization. I did contact NewLondon but like many many others, stuff has been tossed and I’m most likely late to this stuff but these radios have better audio than my XTS5K and I’m sorry to say that but it is what it is and that’s basically my opinion and audio matter. Any help is greatly appreciated and thanked in advance!
btw, using R18 and was able to read one MPA and one MRK but if I try a third one, it tells my error file = 2 and com not open but it did fine for previous 2! Thank you again!

 

[wa8pyr]

Okay so not trying to beat a poor animal with a noodle or resurrect old stuff but, Yes, I’m still fascinated by my MPA’s and my one MPD! I get it too old and at least if I buy a battery for my MPA, it’ll work for the MPD. Now the question: I’d like to replace the plastic shroud that’s in front of the LCD on the MPD and replace the channel selector POT for an MPA. I purchased it with the snapped off channel knob. I’m 75% sure I’ve sourced a company for said parts but what I’m looking for is the manual or LBi for these radios to perform the cannibalization. I did contact NewLondon but like many many others, stuff has been tossed and I’m most likely late to this stuff but these radios have better audio than my XTS5K and I’m sorry to say that but it is what it is and that’s basically my opinion and audio matter. Any help is greatly appreciated and thanked in advance!
btw, using R18 and was able to read one MPA and one MRK but if I try a third one, it tells my error file = 2 and com not open but it did fine for previous 2! Thank you again!

If the LBIs are on line, you'll probably find it here: Hall Electronics / GE Tech

And I do not disagree with you on the audio quality issue; every GE radio I've ever owned had better audio than any Moto I've ever owned. Don't get me wrong, the Moto products sound great, but there's something about the audio quality of a GE...

 

[MTS2000des]

Were not the MPD's and MPA's made by Fujitsu Ten or JRC for GE? Everyone I've seen said "MADE IN JAPAN" on the rear chassis. They were popular around here in the mid to late 1980s when our rapid transit system had a GE system on 450MHz. The one thing I did learn is that all the tracking data was stored in volatile RAM which had a coin cell for a backup battery. If that battery crashes, you lose your personality data AND the tuning data. If the last guy who was inside the radio misplaced the factory tracking data sheet left inside the chassis during build, you were screwed.

 

[kj4jaq]

I miss my VHF MPD. Those things were built like a tank. (Easy) end-user repairable compared to the depot or throwaways of today. Programming wasnt the most fun compared to the newer flavors of today.

 

[wa8pyr]

Were not the MPD's and MPA's made by Fujitsu Ten or JRC for GE? Everyone I've seen said "MADE IN JAPAN" on the rear chassis. They were popular around here in the mid to late 1980s when our rapid transit system had a GE system on 450MHz. The one thing I did learn is that all the tracking data was stored in volatile RAM which had a coin cell for a backup battery. If that battery crashes, you lose your personality data AND the tuning data. If the last guy who was inside the radio misplaced the factory tracking data sheet left inside the chassis during build, you were screwed.

Actually not screwed so much as just facing time at the workbench to get everything realigned per the service manual. Time consuming but doable; happened to me with a VHF MPD.

I‘ve never seen any made in Japan, but maybe the later versions were.

 

[radiotech33]

Just to add to the post ...I got mpas mpds and probley manuals from ge when on mountain view road in lynchburg va..I am sure somebody will say something smartass about this ..lol...I came from the old school...and probley have software and cable to program....

 

[merlin]

Just to add to the post ...I got mpas mpds and probley manuals from ge when on mountain view road in lynchburg va..I am sure somebody will say something smartass about this ..lol...I came from the old school...and probley have software and cable to program....

Yea, I have all that for my few M-PAs, what I need most is a battery, good, bad, no issue. These are unobtanium today.
Nothing smartazz about these radios, I love mine.

 

[merlin]

Actually not screwed so much as just facing time at the workbench to get everything realigned per the service manual. Time consuming but doable; happened to me with a VHF MPD.

I‘ve never seen any made in Japan, but maybe the later versions were.

Mine were a piece of cake to work on and re-align. Maybe made in Japan, but built like a brick outhouse.

 

[wa8pyr]

Yea, I have all that for my few M-PAs, what I need most is a battery, good, bad, no issue. These are unobtanium today.

Duck Duck Go or Google is your friend. The following list M-PA batteries in stock:

https://www.cutratebatteries.com/products/ge-ericsson-mpa-battery

M/A-Com MPA Replacement Short Case Two-Way Radio Battery

Check out the deal on M/A-Com MPA Replacement Short Case Two-Way Radio Battery at BatteryMart.com

www.batterymart.com

GE MPA Replacement Radio Battery 7.5V 1200mAh Nicad | Battery Universe

GE MPA radio battery 7.5V 1200mAh Nicad One year warranty. 30 day money-back guarantee. Fast shipping from Battery Universe.

www.batteryuniverse.com

Amazon.com

Even Amazon, believe it or not.

You can also rebuild your own; use a Dremel tool with a thin cutting wheel to cut along the seam and open the case; take it to Batteries Plus to have them make a replacement pack. You need some pretty good plastic-melting glue to seal the case back together, though. Sure wish I could find a AA clamshell for my M-PD like I can for my XTS5000.

Mine were a piece of cake to work on and re-align. Maybe made in Japan, but built like a brick outhouse.

Yeah, they're not difficult, just time-consuming. I've gotten badly spoiled by the autotune function on the Aeroflex and GD stuff I use at work; hook the radio up per the instructions, press the Go button, and 10 minutes later your radio is completely aligned to factory specs. Fortunately a lot of the stuff I work on at the personal level still requires that you do it the old fashioned way, so I haven't lost my touch; haul out the 8920A, the old-school test sets, the Simpson 260 and the tuning tools and get busy.

 

[merlin]

Hey, thanks for the links, I just have to wonder why Google and Bing never came up with these and Amazon had no listing.
Half of my M-PA batteries are rebuilds, leftover cases become replacer bench batteries..
Only problem with M-PA batteries is they run the audio through them and have the power switch.
My kingdom for an Aeroflex, 100% of my years income I can make a down payment.
I am stuck with my Agilent 8590, multimeter and Wavetek power meter til then.
Thanks again, 73s

 

[Drew2075]

Wow, good info here, sorry I took a trip to Chicago for friends wedding. Good times but back to basics. So I’ve put down my MPD for later and got busy with my MPA (all of mine were made in Japan) anyway, I was having issues trying programmer to read my MPA or even MRK and for some reason my dell bios defaulted to com 1 only and PL2303 prolific driver took over com 1 and haven’t used moto CPS since just before pandemic 😷. So uninstalled 2303 and adjusted bios and?…..well another issue: now I can’t program MRK cause ERROR: Status / message options status #0 contains an ID value of zero and there’s an actual zero in the box. What gives lol! Maybe I’ll get my dremel out and see what happens. All you guys rock and thanks. I heart radioref!!!!!

 

[Drew2075]

Well before I attempt to find parts on my MPA I’m having issues with Programmer R18B02. It reads my MRK fine but “NOT” my MPA scan or system. The MPA scan just has flashing display and suspect the ram/ battery issue and the systems one just won’t handshake. I’m using a vintage P96-A by Price Industries that works with my MRK but no dice on MPA.
Im tempted to fix it just need help on this Scan matter. As for the systems one, I really don’t know why it wouldn’t handshake but it’s fine for the MRK. I’m really wondering if I should dig out my Win XP machine for long ago (Unreal Tournament / fun times) and see if it’ll work.

 

[ElroyJetson]

Welcome to ten years ago, if not more. Yes, I had M-PDs and M-PAs. Great radios, made out of lead apparently. Good audio quality. (Motorola Sabers were better.) Ten years ago I had the spare parts the OP is asking for. Should have asked then!

Speaking of bad audio quality, anybody remember the Motorola STX? Technology was limited back in those days, so they had to stuff a speaker where they could fit a speaker. That little oval piece of garbage was functional but nobody would call it good.

I even had stock on the pin cell memory batteries used in the M-PAs. I eventually threw them out as they got so old that they leaked and corroded while still in their plastic tray.

Incidentally, the radio used on the International Space Station for amateur radio was an M-PA connected to some very specialized, and of course very expensive, antenna and battery adapters. It recently failed due to backup battery failure. Apparently NASA never saw fit to send up a replacement backup battery weighing all of 3 grams to have any of several presumably qualified astronauts with electronics experience to swap out that battery before it eventually curled up and died. No, rather than do that simple thing, they are going to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to engineer and test a new replacement for ISS usage. Or maybe they already have. I don't know the current status of that project.

If it were my project to make recommendations, I'd tell them to get a VHF/UHF Motorola APX7000 and a battery adapter and RF adapter. A spacewalk would be required to replace the external antenna with a dual bander. That way they could operate on 70cm as well as 2M.

The cost of the radio is trivial to the engineering of the battery adapter. Of course they make sure that any added electronics in the ISS are very SAFE and won't be the source of a fire or poisonous gases.

 

[MTS2000des]

Incidentally, the radio used on the International Space Station for amateur radio was an M-PA connected to some very specialized, and of course very expensive, antenna and battery adapters. It recently failed due to backup battery failure. Apparently NASA never saw fit to send up a replacement backup battery weighing all of 3 grams to have any of several presumably qualified astronauts with electronics experience to swap out that battery before it eventually curled up and died. No, rather than do that simple thing, they are going to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to engineer and test a new replacement for ISS usage. Or maybe they already have. I don't know the current status of that project.

Actually they replaced it with a modified Kenwood TM-D710GA. I had an opportunity to work the ISS last fall when it flew over.

https://amsat-uk.org/2020/09/02/iss-fm-repeater-activated/

 

[dk20001]

Okay so not trying to beat a poor animal with a noodle or resurrect old stuff but, Yes, I’m still fascinated by my MPA’s and my one MPD! I get it too old and at least if I buy a battery for my MPA, it’ll work for the MPD. Now the question: I’d like to replace the plastic shroud that’s in front of the LCD on the MPD and replace the channel selector POT for an MPA. I purchased it with the snapped off channel knob. I’m 75% sure I’ve sourced a company for said parts but what I’m looking for is the manual or LBi for these radios to perform the cannibalization. I did contact NewLondon but like many many others, stuff has been tossed and I’m most likely late to this stuff but these radios have better audio than my XTS5K and I’m sorry to say that but it is what it is and that’s basically my opinion and audio matter. Any help is greatly appreciated and thanked in advance!
btw, using R18 and was able to read one MPA and one MRK but if I try a third one, it tells my error file = 2 and com not open but it did fine for previous 2! Thank you again!

Did you find the manual and/or required M-PA pot ? It's been awhile since your post but I can attempt to locate in my "pile".

 

[dk20001]

...and I'm not a "Newbie" , despite the tag. I've been on/off Lindsay's creation here since 1998, just not a poster.

 

[Drew2075]

Well well well, if it isn’t my fav site posting about my fav radio. I’m actually holding on to my MPA’s in the event I find where the pots reside in the universe of places and things; been using my MRK’s off and on (descent radio) Both have their pro’s and con’s I suppose but somehow I lean to the heavy.

 

[Drew2075]

Greetings all….Hope everyone’s doing great! So I never got around to sourcing channel pots for an MPA But I’m thinking about opening up both MPA/ MRK (specially) batteries. MRK May seem a bit more difficult but I’m willing since it’s getting more expensive to buy new. Should I start another thread on this matter?

 

[Drew2075]

Oops never mind, I just remembered I started a thread some moons ago! My apologies!

 

[radiotech33]

no problem ...