Radio archaeology, Rangr mobile VRS, M-PA, mobile adapter

[ElroyJetson]

How could I resist? For free, I just picked up an old, but apparently unused, GE Rangr VRS system, or part of it. It consists of the two radio cabinet, the low power UHF Rangr, and a standard 800 MHz EDACS Rangr, all in mint condition. It's something I knew I'd pick up if I got it for free.
My idea is to acquire the rest of the system to make an actual functional 800-to-UHF VRS.
I'll need a few things, starting with the instruction manuals that tell me exactly what parts I'll need and how to configure them.

I'm pretty sure, from past experience more than a decade ago, that I need to find an M-PA radio and its vehicular adapter, and associated cables,
in order to build a classically correct unit. And an S850 control head and cable to a Rangr. There is a Rangr with S850 on ebay, it might be easiest to just buy that.

Software can be had, it takes the really old EDACS 3 or EDACS 4 software that runs in true DOS mode on a slow computer. The programming cable is
a pretty easy thing to make, and once upon a time I had one. Not anymore.

I'd like to figure out how to interface radios other than an M-PA and vehicular adapter into it so I could actually use a different radio.

This is strictly for radio archaeology and fun. Just to play with old school gear because I can.

I'm not even sure if an 800 MHz RANGR will work on a rebanded 800 system. But I think it will. That'd be kind of funny, because if it will, then it could still
be used on my local system which after all its upgrades is still plain old EDACS, not even EDACS EA.

If you've got any of the parts, manuals, or knowledge on how to put this all together, please feel free to contact me about it.

 

[nueces162]

Let me look in the garage the next few days - I have a RANGR 800 Mhz radio with cables still in the box and an 850 head, as well as a bunch of MPA's in various flavors AND a new still in the box MPA convert-a-com - I may still have the cable to run a Motorola PAC-RT off of a RANGR too - will have to do a lot of digging and hope the wife has not been recycling again

 

[ElroyJetson]

I just checked on ebay and it's possible to find M-PDs but there's not an M-PA or M-TL to be found. And I'm not confident that working batteries for them can be found at any price. As I recall, any of the three will work in the convertacom.

 

[wa8pyr]

How could I resist? For free, I just picked up an old, but apparently unused, GE Rangr VRS system, or part of it. It consists of the two radio cabinet, the low power UHF Rangr, and a standard 800 MHz EDACS Rangr, all in mint condition. It's something I knew I'd pick up if I got it for free.
My idea is to acquire the rest of the system to make an actual functional 800-to-UHF VRS.
I'll need a few things, starting with the instruction manuals that tell me exactly what parts I'll need and how to configure them.

I'm pretty sure, from past experience more than a decade ago, that I need to find an M-PA radio and its vehicular adapter, and associated cables,
in order to build a classically correct unit. And an S850 control head and cable to a Rangr. There is a Rangr with S850 on ebay, it might be easiest to just buy that.

Software can be had, it takes the really old EDACS 3 or EDACS 4 software that runs in true DOS mode on a slow computer. The programming cable is
a pretty easy thing to make, and once upon a time I had one. Not anymore.

I'd like to figure out how to interface radios other than an M-PA and vehicular adapter into it so I could actually use a different radio.

This is strictly for radio archaeology and fun. Just to play with old school gear because I can.

I'm not even sure if an 800 MHz RANGR will work on a rebanded 800 system. But I think it will. That'd be kind of funny, because if it will, then it could still
be used on my local system which after all its upgrades is still plain old EDACS, not even EDACS EA.

If you've got any of the parts, manuals, or knowledge on how to put this all together, please feel free to contact me about it.

If you need S850s I've got several in a box in the garage. Also some VHF and low-band Rangr or Delta radios. If you need them you can have them for the cost of shipping.

 

[ElroyJetson]

I'd like to get one S850 and a Rangr cable to go with it. Still looking for the relevant manuals as well.

 

[wa8pyr]

I'd like to get one S850 and a Rangr cable to go with it. Still looking for the relevant manuals as well.

Send me a PM....

 

[merlin]

I have an M-PA up for grabs, no battery. I also have a few Rangers.
The 800 Mhz is a very different radio than the lower bands.
I would love to get my hands on an S-850, S-950 head.
for low/high VHF and UHF radio.

 

[merlin]

I'd like to get one S850 and a Rangr cable to go with it. Still looking for the relevant manuals as well.

Manuals I have, and think a cable. Let me do some digging.

 

[merlin]

FWIW, the head will program with the DOS software but the radios proper uses "Deltaprog"

 

[ElroyJetson]

From what I remember, back when I used to run a Rangr and S850, I used the "edacs4" software and as I remember it, you only had to program the S850 head, which would then dynamically reprogram the very limited memory of the radio unit itself dynamically, as required.
As I recall, the Rangr had something like a 16 channel memory capacity. So the S8xx control heads reprogrammed the radio as needed.


I also remember that the S825 and S830 are conventional heads, and the S840 and S850 are for EDACS trunking, and should never be mixed or it will cause damage to the radio, or head, or both. And the control cables are also specific, trunked vs. non-trunked versions.

 

[merlin]

Yea, that is how they work. I would have to ferret for the head documentation for specifics.
I have the front programming cable for the brick, depends how many eeproms are in the radio.
32 channel max if I recall.

 

[ElroyJetson]

If it's an EDACS version S8XX head, that'd be an S840 or S850, then it should have enough memory for a fairly large codeplug. It has been many years since I ran a Rangr but I wasn't at all shy about setting up every department and talkgroup that interested me and never had a memory limitation problem. I do think that the conventional versions (S825 and S830) had less memory in them. EDACS naturally requires more.

Never mix and match conventional S8xx heads with EDACS heads. Or the programming cables. This WILL release smoke. That applies with the radio unit as well. The conventional and EDACS versions of radio, cable, and head are all not to be intermixed. The VRS is the only exception, but it has its own special cable system between the two radio drawer units.

What I don't know is whether or not a RANGR will work on the rebanded 800 frequencies, all of which were shifted down by 15.000 MHz during the rebanding project. The public safety allocations went down 15 MHz, the commercial allocations went up 15 MHz. But I THINK that those radios could be programmed to operate in the "old" commercial segment of the band. So it'd work post-rebanding. I think. I may be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time!