Swapping CH100 and CH721 heads. How do you provision the brick?

[mancow]

I have a 100M remote with CH721 that has more features than a CH100 dash mount. I would like to swap the body of the CH721 to the CH100 head. It doesn't respond when doing so. It's like a catch 22 thing because I can't write a CH100 profile to the CH721 when it's up and running.

 

[KC8ONR]

pretty sure you have to select CH100 in the radio selection in the software options

 

[BMDaug]

I have a 100M remote with CH721 that has more features than a CH100 dash mount. I would like to swap the body of the CH721 to the CH100 head. It doesn't respond when doing so. It's like a catch 22 thing because I can't write a CH100 profile to the CH721 when it's up and running.

So you want to put the ch100 front mount head on a different brick?

You have all the parts, so that a good start. You won’t be able to write a ch100 mission plan to a ch721 because the ch100 stores the mission plans in the head and not in the brick where the 721 needs them to be. In fact, whatever mission plans you had on the ch100 radio before the swap should move to the new radio since the plans reside in the head.

As long as the ch100 is already set up as a front mount, you don’t need to use putty to change settings in the ch100. (You would need that if you were converting the ch100 from remote mount to front mount for instance.)

Have you tried formatting the flash drive in the brick from the VA menu, then swapping in the ch100 with a basic mission plan already in place? I can’t remember for sure, but I don’t recall doing anything special with the brick when swapping heads… I haven’t messed with this in quite awhile, so you may need to putty into the brick and change a setting…

-B

 

[KC8ONR]

just need to reprogram the brick with the selection above to let it know that its communicating with a CH100 now and not a CH721

 

[BMDaug]

just need to reprogram the brick with the selection above to let it know that its communicating with a CH100 now and not a CH721

For clarity: That will create a personality (mission plan) for ch100 that you preferably load via the USB port on the ch100 head, not via serial to the brick. You don’t really wanna put ch100 plans into the brick. Yes, you can write a single personality to the brick when using a ch100, but you can’t read it back via USB or Bluetooth on the head.

The bricks that run ch100s that I’ve seen have no personality stored in the brick at all, which is why I suggested clearing the flash memory with the VA menu, which removes any personality stored in the brick. As long as the firmware matches between the head and the brick, the brick should operate with no local personality (the ch100 head remote fills the brick each time you power up the radio).

@mancow guess it wouldn’t hurt to write a ch100 personality to the brick, but just remember that wont be the preferred way to program the radio in the long term if you want to use usb or Bluetooth to add up to 10 mission plans to the head so you can switch between them.

@KC8ONR are you saying that you need to do this a single time when changing head types? I’ve never experienced this before, so I figured the issue was trying to go from remote to front mount, not just changing the type of head in use. When swapping from remote 721 to remote ch100, I’ve never had issues with the unit being recognized.

Pretty sure I’m gonna list a ch100 remote head pretty soon. Haven’t been using mine much and the HHC731 goes great with my Codan radios that also use HHCs.

-B

 

[mancow]

But how can I load a Ch100 personality to the other brick? If I change the personality type to Ch100 the serial upload option is disabled. Since the Ch100 won't power up on the other brick in effectively locked out of doing anything. The radio did have pretty ancient firmware. Maybe the Ch100 needs updated. Is it a separate file and update process like the ch721?

As for the hhch731, I completely agree. They are more convenient with every option you need right there.

I just wish there was a way to field program more than one channel and text.

 

[BMDaug]

But how can I load a Ch100 personality to the other brick? If I change the personality type to Ch100 the serial upload option is disabled. Since the Ch100 won't power up on the other brick in effectively locked out of doing anything.

As for the hhch731, I completely agree. They are more convenient with every option you need right there.

I just wish there was a way to field program more than one channel and text.

Ya, I’ve never loaded a ch100 plan via serial, which is why I sound confused. The system isn’t designed for that, but the manual says that “A personality/mission plan loaded into the radio via a TIA/EIA/RS-232C serial link cannot be extracted (read back) via a USB or Bluetooth link.” So there is presumably a way, right?

This is why I clear the flash storage, then swap remote heads and I’ve never had a problem, and you may not even need to do that! I just always do so I’m starting fresh.

I think the issue is going from the radio expecting a remote head to it expecting front mount, but I’m not sure how you would fix that unless something isn’t connected properly…

-B

 

[mancow]

I found that the flex cable from the front connector to the main PC board wasn't plugged in. Now it powers up but is in a constant boot loop. It won't stay on long enough to establish a USB connection to program a proper personality.

 

[BMDaug]

I found that the flex cable from the front connector to the main PC board wasn't plugged in. Now it powers up but is in a constant boot loop. It won't stay on long enough to establish a USB connection to program a proper personality.

How close is the firmware between brick and head? You can still update burn/boot and XLP via serial… if you can match the brick to the head, that would be easiest.

-B

 

[mancow]

CH SW: 3.0.15
RADIO SW: XLPR06T02

This combination works fine in its original configurations as a dash mount unit the way it was purchased.

The other brick has the same XLPR06T02 FW and is currently programmed as a CH721 remote setup. It works fine with a CH721 head.

If I swap the CH100 over to that CH720 configured brick the CH100 just gets to the point of almost booting to the regular display screen then reboots. At that point USB comms are reset and drop. It is locking me out of doing anything with it when attached to the CH721 brick.

 

[redbeard]

When I've done it, I just put the ch100 on the brick and it will boot and the head will pull the channels from the brick. It will say ECP Channel or some such. At that point just open your archive, switch it to ch100 or just create a new one and load it normally with USB and Unity Product Management.

That boot loop is probably due to the old head software. You might try finding the oldest firmware you can and reverting your brick to it and see if it will stop looping. Or I've had luck button mashing on the head to get it to a point where it will sit still long enough to upgrade it.

 

[mancow]

What I don't understand is that both bricks have the same fiirmware. One works on it and one can't be converted to work on it for whatever reason. Good idea though on trying different revisions. I don't have anything really old but I'll try the oldest I can find.

 

[redbeard]

What I don't understand is that both bricks have the same fiirmware. One works on it and one can't be converted to work on it for whatever reason. Good idea though on trying different revisions. I don't have anything really old but I'll try the oldest I can find.

If it works on one brick and not the other, put it on the one that works and get the head bumped up to R06T02 as well.

 

[mancow]

It ended up being a low firmware level in the CH100 head.