Programming a Minitor Pager on the Cheap - DIY Style Write Up

[tjacks34]

yes first class is right i wasted a bunch of time trying different things, but yes you need around 3.5 volts for the tx, rx, like i said earlier just get the usb to ttl converter, here is the cheapest i found but takes a little longer on shipping
2 x PL2303 USB/TTL/RS232 Convert Serial Cable Connector [TTLcable] - $12.00 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce

 

[jaymez99]

Well guys, i managed to figure out my programming interface using the 8-pin USB version KPG 46 cable. It already had the TTL converter built in, so all i had to do was figure out the pinnouts. It seems there is a color coding standard so this should help out anyone else who buys a generic USB-TTL cable to build their own cradle.

From what I have found, the color codes are as follows:

Black = Ground
Green = Tx data
White = Rx data
Red = +5V

The pin-out for the KPG 46 cable is as follows:

Pin 1 - open
Pin 2 - GREEN
Pin 3 - open
Pin 4 - open
Pin 5 - WHITE
Pin 6 - BLACK
Pin 7 - RED
Pin 8 - open

I tried to attach a picture of what I have got, so let's hope it works. Any questions, or comments, i would like to hear them.

 

[Wrench1]

Well guys, i managed to figure out my programming interface using the 8-pin USB version KPG 46 cable. It already had the TTL converter built in, so all i had to do was figure out the pinnouts. It seems there is a color coding standard so this should help out anyone else who buys a generic USB-TTL cable to build their own cradle.

From what I have found, the color codes are as follows:

Black = Ground
Green = Tx data
White = Rx data
Red = +5V

The pin-out for the KPG 46 cable is as follows:

Pin 1 - open
Pin 2 - GREEN
Pin 3 - open
Pin 4 - open
Pin 5 - WHITE
Pin 6 - BLACK
Pin 7 - RED
Pin 8 - open

I tried to attach a picture of what I have got, so let's hope it works. Any questions, or comments, i would like to hear them.

Let us know if it works I have a bunch of the kenwood cable and would like to do the same as you if it works.

 

[jaymez99]

Wrench,

as long as it looks similar to the one in the picture i attached, it will work... you just need the USB KPG-46 8-pin cable, what I used on the end of that was a RJ-45 "union", broken apart and pinned out to the right connectors on the pager. I am going to work on the stand part so that i dont have to touch the cable ends to the pagers manually.

 

[Wrench1]

Yeah I have a kpg-46 8 pin usb cable. I am thinking of getting a old charger and turning it into my program base. Then all I need to do is find the minitor III/IV windows based software

 

[andy1974]

bump..... will the lastest ver of the RS cable work for this set up ?

 

[warnersta7]

I am going to use an Amplified Charger Base for a Minitor V Programmer because it already has all the pins and I happen to get one for free. I have tried to hook this up using a serial cable and keep getting "Serial Communication - Pager Read FAILED" after the bar moves across. I have switch the TX and RX to make sure I had them correct and I get the same both ways. The serial port on my Laptop is COM1 and 1200 baud and so is the PPS Software. Has anyone gotten this to work without the USB to TTL cable or is that what I'm missing here and the straight up serial cable won't work.

Thanks

Mike

 

[tjacks34]

Mike,
If you remove the battery from the minitor and place it in the charger does the minitor power on? If so that means you have a good ground and power source. Next check the voltage on the tx or rx cable it should be 5 volts i believe. You can email me directly tjacks3441@gmail.com

 

[tjacks34]

andy,
i wouldnt see why the rs cable wouldnt work but for about $7 you can just buy a usb to ttl adapter off ebay and it will do the same thing only cheaper

 

[tjacks34]

mike sorry 3.5 volts

 

[krokus]

I'm in the process of converting a broken amp base into a programming cradle, using the information from this thread. While seeking out information, I noticed a lack of pin-out information, for other pins. There is another thread, which utilizes the diagrams from this post, has a little more. (Some of which, I just verified.)

http://forums.radioreference.com/motorola-forum/232214-minitor-v-external-antenna.html

I will post the information I find for the conversion. It looks like this will be easier than I originally thought. Naturally, I didn't figure that out until, unnecessarily, ripping apart a connector.

 

[robinson_220]

I was wondering, I have an old cell phone usb cord. Would that be able to program my minitor V pager if I added the extra pins to the charger and did the mods to the circuit board?

 

[krokus]

The Minitors are programmed via a serial interface, not a USB interface. The cord you have could be used to build a USB <=> serial interface, but not to program by itself.

 

[robinson_220]

Kenwood KPG-46 8 pin to program motorola pager

I have a kenwood kpg-46.. it has 8 slots so im assuming its an 8 pin. Although the previous post by jaymez99 shows the layout of the wiring of the kpg-46... mine looks nothing like that. It has three wires one red, one white, and one black. I use it to program my Tk-7160 so I know it works.. but I can't find anywhere to figure out which one of the wires are tx, rx..

It may be simple.. but I cant figure it out. Can anyone help??

 

[zrulli]

Thanks So Much for this! After no time I had it up and running. Purchased everything from that horrible shack store but it was one stop shopping at least. Remember to reverse the Tx and Rx!

My Setup
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/1181/20120616223451460.jpg

 

[WV8VFD]

With mine, I just took a CP2102 USB to TTL Adapter, and cut the ends off the wires on one side. I then plugged them in to the adapter. On the cut off side, I just hold them to the correct pins on the minitor. It's crude, but it works. Dont forget to download the drivers for the adapter, and set the baud rate to 1200, and make sure you set the correct COM port in the PPS. On mine, I had to go to the advanced options for the adapter in the device manager and set the FIFO buffers to 1, the lowest settings.

 

[SCPD]

I had bought a ebay programming cradle that uses USB, is silver on the outside and the inside is brown on the base some time ago. I never had problems with it if anyone has ever wondered about this kind I mentioned.

 

[SCPD]

Here is a picture of what Im talking about.

 

[louis2322]

For sp0tz:

How did you get PPS into engineering mode?
I want to see if I can modify some of my depts fives for dual freq so our drivers know which trucks are responding.

 

[NCFire11]

For sp0tz:

How did you get PPS into engineering mode?
I want to see if I can modify some of my depts fives for dual freq so our drivers know which trucks are responding.

There are write-ups available, a quick search should tell you.