MT2000 won't read radio

[Nolynn3]

OK - this is so frustrating
I bought a really nice used MT2000 and took it in to the local Motorola shop about 5 months ago and had it programmed. Doing it right cause I didn't want to do anything that could reflect poorly on our dept. Didn't have many opportunities to use it, but eventually realized there was a mistake in the programming and took it back to the local Motorola shop to get it fixed. New guy works on the radio and tells me it's no good. He can't read it. He's been swapping cables and boxes and no go. Another tech comes in and says don't use that cable use this one and that box etc. There's confusion on how and what to use to do the job correctly. They programmed this radio 5 months ago but now they can't come up with the code plug, and won't agree they ever touched it, and throw their hands up and say it's no longer supported by Motorola and they can't send it in for help. The guy that programmed it originally has left, so I'm out a radio.

First Question - if they can't read it, could they program it with the original code plug if they'd saved it ?

Second - If Motorola won't work on it, is it possible these guys just don't know enough to get it straightened out, and perhaps I can find someone with more knowledge ?

I know Motorola would like to see these radios disappear, but at our level with volunteers out in really rural areas, access to these inexpensive radios is necessary.

 

[IAmSixNine]

Sounds like a shady shop to me. No one wants to take responsibility for working on a customer radio.
Sounds like they just dont know enough to do the job right.

 

[N4KVE]

To the OP. If you live in South Florida, I would be glad to help you, but I have no idea where you live. Maybe someone reading this thread lives near you & could help. But we need to know where you are. GARY N4KVE

 

[Nolynn3]

Updated the info in my profile. I'm up in Washington State.

I believe the original tech that originally programmed the radio, was familiar with these, at least enough to get it done. I'm also guessing that when he did the work he didn't save the code plug, cause they say they can't find it. He's now gone on to bigger things. But they've contacted him and he said he'd had a tough time of it the first go around. The second tech couldn't get it to read and has tried all he knows, but my guess is he's not all that familiar with these and no one else in that office is either. Now, it's being sent out to another site, where they think there may be someone who can work on it. About five weeks into this now.

 

[cmdrwill]

I also can program the MT2000 radios. In So. Cal.

 

[Duster]

A couple of things...

1. I'm willing to try for you if you like. I live near Sacramento, in Northern California. I have several MT and MTS2000's, in both VHF and UHF, so I've done quite a bit of programming on them (conventional only...I don't do trunking). I also have both DOS and CPS software, although if you have an MT, it'll be DOS only. PM me if you would like.

2. I have had the same problem with one of my radios. I read and wrote it just fine the first time, and then a few months later I needed to update a frequency for a department that changed, and it wouldn't read. I poked and prodded, and asked a lot of questions, and finally determined that there was likely a problem with the ribbon cable in the CASE of the radio that connects the side contacts to the board. The radio would function ok, but it wouldn't read or write. I swapped the internals of the radio (the Jedi series come apart like a clamshell, with the back part being the radio and the top controls, and the front part having the keys, display, and connections) with another one that would read, and lo and behold! It worked. So now, until I can find a refurbishing kit or another used full-keypad Jedi in good shape, I have to swap that radio out to program it.

I mention that long story because your situation sounds very similar. So, if you have another radio (exact match only--I don't think you can take a full-keypad model and plug it into a top-display model) that is working, and you are comfortable separating it, swap it out and see if that fixes it. If it does, you likely have a problem in a ribbon cable on the front half of the non-working radio that connects from the side connector to the board. If you do try to separate them yourself (and have never done it before), be very careful when you separate them, because there is a ribbon cable between the radio halves as well.

NOTE: With that in mind, if anyone reading this knows how to refurbish my malfunctioning radio, I'm sure both myself and the OP would be very interested.