MRK Programming ERROR

[KD6MHO]

I am trying to program a 6-Button MRK II for a friend. (800 MHz EDACS) I tried sucking the codeplug out of my MRK II (Full Keypad) and putting it into his radio..BUT I get a strange message that says "The feature set string must be even". I poked around in the features menu and was not able to figure this out. The help menu did not provide any assistance.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Thanks
KD6MHO

 

[jeepon02]

In radio maintenance, read the tracing data from the radio, edit tracking data and under "radio type number" drop down box select the type of radio you have. which i believe you said is a 6 button which is MRKII scan.

good luck
ken

 

[KD6MHO]

Thanks Ken for your reply, I'll give it a try and let you know how it turns out!

 

[KD6MHO]

I read the radio in the service menu and it correctly identifies the radio type. I pulled the feature string up and the help menu said that only a service technician should alter it and that it must contain an even number of bytes. THe string in written in Hex. I am afraid to alter it unless I know what I am doing because I know this could "fry" the radio and it will have to be re-flashed by the depot. I tried to recover the radio but it does not recover sucessfully and when I try to program it...I still get the "Feature Set data string must be even" message.

 

[wiliki46]

What you need to do is to change the radio type. In the drop down menu select the six button scan model. Save the information. Now you have your codeplug converted to be in a scan model radio and not a systems radio. This should solve your problem.

 

[KCrADIOgEEK]

wiliki46 is correct... can't force a personality from a SYSTEM MRK into a SCAN MRK.

Save your SYSTEM MRK personality. Change the RADIO TYPE from
MRK II to MRK Scan.

Save the personality under another name & shoot it back into the 6 button radio... All should be well.

Don't ever mess with your Feature Data String unless you back up all of those numbers beforehand :!:
Leaves you with a brick in short order if you don't know what you are doing :evil:

 

[WCRadioGuy]

Another suggestion. If you have read the personality out of the radio, it puts a copy of the feature encryption and tracking data on your hard drive. If the radio is reading an error and will not correct, try recovering the radio. First, go to radio maintenance and get the radio information. Write down the ROM serial number. Go to the macom folder on your hard drive and look in the backup folder for the rom S/N ending in .enc and .trk. If these are there, a recovery of the radio can be performed taking it back to the original tracking and encryption state.

 

[KD6MHO]

Thank you all so much. I will try this process and let you know how it works!

Thanks Again!
AB