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Unication G1 Homemade Programmer

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Glen2034

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Greetings, I am attempting to build a programming unit for the Unication G1. In the past, I have been able to program Motorola Minitor 3/4/5 pagers with the same method. On the Minitor, you just needed Ground, TX and RX. You were then able to read and write no problem with PPS. (GND to GND, TX to RX and RX to TX)
Attached below is the pinout for the G1, It is extremely similar to the Minitors except for the "Charge/Program Detect" pin. Do we need to apply power to that in order to read/write or should we be able to read/write with just the neutral/tx/rx like on the Minitors?

Many Thanks!

 

w2lie

New York DB Admin
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Long Island, NY
Glen, I completely understand what you are trying to do here, and I know why building Minitor 3 - 5 programmers where a thing.

Think about it, the M3 - M5 programming kits were expensive. Some hundreds of dollar expenses and they could easily be programmed as you said - modifying a charger kit for serial connection for just a few dollars. Even buying one on eBay and having someone else convert the pager charger to programmer is still cheap compared to buying the entire Motorola programming kit. Thankfully the M6 programming kit did not receive the "Motorola Tax".

I've built a few Minitor 3 and 4 Serial programers based on the info found on Radio Reference. I eventually just paid to have a kit made for me on eBay for about $60 because I just didn't have the time to do another conversion myself. (even though I have plenty of broken chargers and the USB to Serial pigtail cables)

However, the Unication programming kit is $59. This is pennies compared to what Motorola charges for M3 - M5 programming kits! The Unication Chargers are $79. Sacrificing a $79 charger for a $59 programing kit does't seem worth the money or risk, unless you have a bad charger or were able to modify your charger to do both programming and charging.

I get it though. This is part of the hobby and making something and home brewing in the radio world is what makes things move forward and keeps things very interested (a la SDR, DSD Plus, and software like UniTrunker, ProScan, etc)


This is just my take on it and it might be the unpopular opinion.


However, I can tell you that when you put the pager into the programming kit, the pager immediately shows communication arrows on the pager. It knows as soon as it is in the programming kit and the kit has a USB connection to your computer that it is in a programming kit. Likewise, if the pager is in the charger, it knows it is not in a programing kit and will not show the communication arrows.

Something is different on the Charger/Programming pin to tell the pager what type of cradle it is in.

What this value is, I don't know.
 

GTO_04

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Noblesville, IN
What does the programming kit offer that the included USB cable and wall wart does not, when my G5 hooked up to a PC? This is the first I have heard about a programming kit.

GTO_04
 
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