Programming Low Band MT1000

[sefrischling]

First off ... no, I do not want software, software downloads or hacked software ... I have the software, I just no longer have a DOS machine, nor does my radio shop.

Does anyone here program the standard 6-channel MT1000/P200 radios? I have three radios I need reprogrammed for my fire department, in the 33mhz band, and none of the local shops are capable of doing this any longer.

If you happen to program these radios please drop me a line. I am not looking for a hand out, if you're shop, great. If you're a HAM, that's great also. I just need these radios all programmed to

1: 33.94
2: 33.96
3: 33.80
4: 33.90
5: 33.44
6: 33.78

PL 179.9

Low Band is very much in use around here, although my department is now on 800/Phase 1, we still need to access these channels.

Thanks

 

[petnrdx]

I can program them, but I am in Nevada.
Are you sure they are the correct split and tuned up and such?

 

[brndnstffrd]

Email sent

 

[petnrdx]

No email received.
I sent you a PM here. (conversation they call it)

 

[petnrdx]

Sorry, I sent the PM to the wrong person.
Please ignore...

 

[sefrischling]

Petnrdx

Check your messages

 

[GTR8000]

Strange timing, I literally "retired" my last MT1000 just yesterday! Went so far as to wipe the hard drive clean on the ancient 1998 era laptop I was using for old RSS programming, and that laptop is now sitting on the top of the pile of stuff going for electronics recycling this weekend.

 

[petnrdx]

sefrischling, I sent you a PM.

 

[2wayfreq]

I have a few (2/3/4)-86 DOS computers, old cables and Rib Boxes in my shop just for older radios. Very handy!

 

[petnrdx]

I have a few (2/3/4)-86 DOS computers, old cables and Rib Boxes in my shop just for older radios. Very handy!

Pretty much everything I have is OLD.

 

[Golay]

Try programming it on a Windows machine. I know there is going to be a slew of people come out of the woodwork saying it can't be done.
But I run the software for HT600's and P200's on a Windows 95 machine just fine. I have the program (the same software programs both) as an icon on the desktop, open it up in Windows and it will open up, read, program and write no problem. I can't tell you what the processor speed is on the computer, about the only time I use it is for programming, like I said the HT600's and P200's. I don't boot in DOS. I don't run the software from the command prompt window. It works. I've never bricked one yet.

And a note (not related to the OP's question) I also program GP300's with the same machine. When I do, a window comes up and says there is a problem, and has three choices. I choose "IGNORE" and the radio will read, program and write. It takes a bit for the computer to read and write to the radio. As in quite slow. Slow enough that you think at first the percentage bar isn't going to move. I think it's parity bit's not getting along, but I'm not sure. And when doing the GP300's on my Windows 95 machine, the service menu is a no go. If I hit F2, the program will just sit there dead in the water until I close the program. But as long as I don't hit F2, everything else works fine.

 

[petnrdx]

That's because Win95 is not really Windows as it exists today. It was really the "next" version of DOS.
And I have noticed the same thing. A few (maybe a lot) of the OLD DOS RSS would run under Win95 & 98.
Won't work with Win2000 and up. Maybe once in awhile someone will get a FEW RSS programs to work.
But certainly not the dozens of DOS RSS programs that are out there.
The best solution if you have some hardware that will run 95 or 98 is to just put plain old DOS on and run the RSS from a batch file. That is what I do.

 

[katt02]

does anyone know where to get the cables for these radios and if they need a rib box? I actually happen to have 6 of them that we are trying to phase back in as we cross band patch our system, and we would want to change some of the programming in the radios.

 

[n3obl]

You need a rib box and a cable to program. Not sure if the cable is still available from Motorola.. Also the software requires a DOS computer. I have DOS installed on a 2gb usb stick and use that with a panasonic toughbook to boot DOS and can program older stuff.

 

[GTR8000]

Buy a ribless cable on eBay, they can be had for around $20 and work just fine, especially for these old radios. They connect directly to the serial port, no RIB needed (if you could even find one anymore). The only other thing you need is a 9v battery connected to the cable (for the MT1000 version).

 

[katt02]

how well does everyone else's MT1000 work? I have tested mine on simplex locally and it works fine, but I think the receiver is shot because it could not pick up a 200 watt transmission from about 6 miles away. All of our other low band stuff picked it up but not the portables.

 

[radioman2001]

Quote"
"could not pick up a 200 watt transmission from about 6 miles away"

Don't forget to "tune" the antenna. Take the cap off the top of the antenna and with a non metallic diddle stick use either a field strength meter or spectrum analyzer to tune for best signal out. Found out the hard way long time ago about this. A FD bought new antenna, and couldn't figure out why they couldn't get 2 blocks.

 

[mm]

There is no top tuning slug on the stock nab6064, mt1k/p200 low band antenna.

There are some aftermarket ducks with a side capacitor adjustment but my experience has shown a simple chart cut Motorola NAB6064 ANTENNA TO be superior than others used.

You are probably thinking of a GE PE LOW BAND HT, which I have several of, with a top tuning slug to fine tune the antenna and a base capacitor adjustment on the PE HT for course frequency centering.

The LB P200/MT1000 HT'S use the NAB6064 LOW BAND ANTENNA and for ~33.75 MHZ MID-BAND your antenna should be ~10.75 inches long.

To cut the antenna to frequency see this.
www.repeater-builder.com/motorola/.../mt1000-low-band-heliflex-cutting-guide.pdf

To align the radio.
Go to repeater builder Genesis series Index Page

At the bottom download my document on the mt1000/p200 lb named>
Stretching the 42-50 MHz MT1000 or P200 to the 6-meter amateur band

http://www.repeater-builder.com/motorola/genesis/pdfs/mt1000-6m-rev6.pdf


Although this doc pertains to 50-54 MHZ CONVERSION, towards the end of this document you will find the description of a 50 ohm homebrew RF pigtail connector used to align the receiver along with alignment info which can be used for any split.

If you happen to have the real Motorola RF ADAPTER then this will be better but either way I have used both methods to connect RF IN/OUT of my MT1K'S/P200 LOW BANDERS with good results.

As to range>
I use my 29 MHZ MT1000 and my 50 MHz p200's daily with repeaters 15 to 25 miles from me with the proper tuned NAB6064 ANTENNAS.

On sparodic E ,

MY farthest stock duck range is a repeater in Prescott Arizona on 6 meters ON 52.56 MHZ with my p200 and a ~ 6 inch NAB6064 ANTENNA and on 29.6 MHZ FM SEVERAL memorable QSO'S IN 2013-2014 with BV2DQ in Taipea Taiwan, RA0FF IN RUSSIA and ZL2OK IN NEW ZEALAND using my MT1000 10 METER HT with an uncut NAB6064 ~11, 9/16 inch ANTENNA.

I still do some limited, infrequent tuning, programming and conversions on low band MT1K'S/P200 at times but nothing like the time period when I did the initial conversions in the mid 2000's.

 

[radioman2001]

You are probably right as the department bought the antenna, not us the shop. It doesn't hurt to look and make sure you don't have the aftermarket antenna with the tuning slug, as it makes a big difference before and after.

 

[petnrdx]

Yes, try the aftermarket ribless cables online. VERY likely to work fine. The Motorola cables are on there pretty often too. Same with real Motorola RIB boxes or even the Polaris RIB.
As for receive, remember that on low band the "bandwidth" where the radio receives well is only about 800 khz to MAYBE 1 mhz. So if your radios came from more than 600 to 800 khz of where you want to use them, they will need retuning.
And they should have the spot where the antenna connector attaches to the circuit board get re-soldered.
Its an easy solder job do do with very basic soldering skills.
That is the first thing I would check. Its not hard to get the radio apart.
And I would certainly recommend only the real Motorola antenna cut to the right length like the others discussed above.