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Re Crystal a motorola Minitor II

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twenglish1

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I recently acquired an old minitor II, and i i would like to learn how to reprogram it, i understand that this involves unsoldering and swapping out a crystal and then re-aligning the receiver, my question is, how is this done? i have found a few sites that sell the crystals, and tone reeds, i am interested in learning how these work, i have always had a fascination with older technology
 

rescue161

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You have to make sure that the new crystal/frequency is within the range of the pager. Once you are sure that it is within range, you desolder the old crystal and solder in the new one. Then, you use a service monitor and inject a tone on frequency and tune the pager for greatest receive.

You can use a frequency generator to inject the tone and just tune it by ear, but I like using the SM better as you can get a SINAD reading.

Motorola used to sell a case that allowed access to the tuning pots, but you can use an old case and cut out an area on the front.
 

mikepdx

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easy to find info

A simple Google search for Minitor II gleans
multiple discussions and answers regarding your querie
on RR & elsewhere.

I easily found pic of circuit board,
tuning points and recommended
tuning tools.

Also I see someone on ebay offering xtals
for many many freqs for the Minitor II for $9
You might get lucky and your freq is
in his stock.

Looks like they're available several other places on the web, too.

Use a very light touch on the tuning slugs.
They become super brittle with time.

Good luck.
 
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twenglish1

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i found the crystals i need, i just cannot find the info for the tuning process, i have been searching and havent been able to find the info on actually tuning it
 

SteveC0625

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i found the crystals i need, i just cannot find the info for the tuning process, i have been searching and haven't been able to find the info on actually tuning it.
Use tuning "minitor ii" as your keywords including the quote marks. All of the RR threads show up on the first page of the returned results. There are also threads from Firehouse Magazine (a good source actually because so many Minitors are carried by firemen.)
 

twenglish1

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Found the process of tuning it using a frequency counter, however the test point to measure the frequency at was left out, and I can't find them anywhere
 

ramal121

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You just "sniff" the crystal to read frequency. A test probe, coax with a two turn coil on the end, will usually suffice when held next to the crystal.
 

rescue161

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You are going to have poor service from that pager unless you either take it somewhere that can tune it for you, or borrow/buy the equipment needed to align the pager properly.

If you were close by, I'd just align it for you.
 

ramal121

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The crystal/oscillator puts out a fair signal. Unless your freq counter is very deaf, yes just try holding the antenna close to the board and see if it locks onto something in the neighborhood of what you're looking for. Don't worry about about a full alignment, unless you diddled with the other adjustments. Putting the crystal on freq will drive the mixer just fine. The IF doesn't need to be messed with unless you suspect it's not up to snuff.
 

twenglish1

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I havent messed with any of the adjustments yet, so i understand that i am to adjust the coil next to the crystal after the crystal is replaced, now this minitor i have has both channels installed, will i be able to tune one crystal without getting interference from the other? i am guessing that if i select either one or two on the channel knob the other crystal wont be active?
 

twenglish1

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Alright thank you for the help, i think i know enough to now to be able to tune this thing. Oh by the way is there a squelch adjustment? since most likely i will not be using the tone alert mode
 
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