General Information

All these radios are from the same line (Waris Series). Some are export versions, others are domestic. As far as we know, there appears to be a few different versions of RSS to program them. Apparently, up until recently there was different software for the Latin American product, the North American Product, and the European.

We were told that the newest versions of CPS (HVN9025G) for these radios now supports the Latin American and the North American radios with the same software. This apparently is not the case. Even though the CD the RSS is on mentions "PRO", it appears that this does not refer to the PRO series of radios (Latin America). It looks like the Latin America PRO radios still use their own RSS.

We know for sure that the HT750/1250/1550 and CDM750/CDM1250/1550 use RSS part number HVN9025.

The GP320/340/360/380 use their own RSS.

There are MPT versions of the GP340 and GP380, called the GP640 and GP680 respectively. There is also a MPT version of the HT1550 called the GP1280.

Just for reference, the following is a list of domestic radios and their equivalent export counterparts:

• The PRO3100 = CDM750
• The PRO5100 = CDM1250
• The PRO7100 = CDM1550

Be advised that is you have one of the PRO5150 Elite radios, it does use the standard programming cables for these radios, but you need one of the newer versions of CPS to read and write to the radio. It looks like some of the older versions can read the radio, but it cannot write back to the radio.

A programming cable tip for the Professional Series:

" Just a tip for the Pro series programming cable. Ever have the thumbscrew fall out? It's supposed to be captive, but it's captivated by threads on the plastic housing. The plastic threads can wear out. To keep from loosing the thumbscrew - go in with some really pointed cutters and remove a little of the plastic that the threaded part of the thumbscrew goes thru. Then put the thumbscrew back in and screw a really small 4-40 nut onto the thumbscrew. If you have removed enough plastic, the nut should screw on far enough to be out of the way. You can sometimes find tiny 4-40 nuts at a hobby shop."

A programming tip for the Professional Series:

" Reading the radios worked fine, but when writing to them, the radio would lock up after programming. After spending a lot of time with Motorola System Support, it was found that Pin 12 (BOOT CONTROL) on the radio end of the RKN-4074 RIB cable should be disabled (unsoldered or removed) when using a SmartRIB. Once this pin was unsoldered, everything works as it is supposed to."

NOTE: At this time, we are not aware of any way to program an export version radio with the RSS for a domestic version radio, or vice versa.

These mobile radios also use the same RSS as the portables (HT750/1250/1550), as long as it is version R.03.00.01 or newer (HVN9025D).

You cannot clone a portable and to a mobile. It must all be typed in manually the first time.

Some users of these portable radios are having issues with coverage, see this Motorola Document on the problem.

The Pro Series radios have a "region byte" that is set by the Distribution Center (DC) in Atlanta. The byte determines what band splits the radio will accept via the RSS. We believe only two different bytes are used, that is, Americas and Rest of the World (ROW). Radios programmed with the Americas byte are programmable to the FCC approved and type accepted ranges for North America. The Rest of the World radios have a more open band range. These are the radios that could be programmed with ham frequencies, but we suspect would not be type accepted in the US. Anyone know where the region byte is located and what the values are? If you do, email us.

Field Programming

It looks like CPS 6.00.00 or greater for the PRO9150 supports field programming.

In order to access the field programming in the radio, you will need the special NNTN4503AR battery with the built in programming key.

You will also need to turn on field programming in the RSS for the modes you want to change, as well as set a programming password (kinda like a JT1000).

The programming battery can be added as an option when ordering your new radio, it is about a $30US upgrade.

Password Protection

If a radio had a password that was guessed at 3 times (wrong), it would lock you out and display "Radio Locked". The radio is supposed to reset in 15 minutes after three bad password attempts. The radio must be left "on" to reset.

However, with some of the early models, the radio would stay locked. An HT1250 with this issue was returned to the depot with this problem. They could not reset the radio and it was replaced. It was shipped back to the factory as the depot could not fix it. They finally stated that it appeared that the "onboard" lithium battery had failed. For all practical purposes "time was standing still" for the radio as it's internal clock was dead.

So, if you have a radio that will not reset and let you keep trying at the password, this may be the problem.

As far as we know, there is no back door password or any other way to clear the password in the radio. We've been told that Motorola just replaces the board.

You might want to try and remove and re-install the lithium battery to remove the password. This may or may not work, but you will probably also loose all the programming in the radio.

Flash Upgrading

Mobiles

Of course to flash the radio, you will need the flash key, new firmware, and the RSS for the radio you are going to flash. You will also need the appropriate programming cable, either the one that uses the RIB, or the RIB-less one. And, you will need the RLN4853 Adapter Cable if you are flashing using the programming cable with the RJ45 connector on it. The pinout of the RLN4853 flash adapter cable can be found here.

The RLN4853 Adapter Cable is a passive cable used to make connection to the mobile Professional Radio when the radio is to be programmed or flashed via the accessory port. The adapter is a 20-way accessory connector at one end, which connects to the radio, and an 8-pin Telco (RJ45) connector (which will accept a 10 pin Telco plug) at the other end.

Alternatively, you can just build and use the AARKN4083 Programming/Test Cable. This cable connects directly from the RIB to the accessory connector for programming, tuning, and flashing the radio.

The Professional series radios can have firmware upgrades programmed using the RIB-less cable, EXCEPT when upgrading from version R01.XX.XX firmware, in which case a RIB and RIB to radio cable must be used.

Portables

The same info applies for the portables as is above for the mobiles. The only exception is that you will need to use the RKN4074 Test/Flash/Programming Cable or AARKN4075B (RIB-less Programming/Flash Cable) with these radios.

For both mobiles and portables, you will need the Flash Adapter. If you are using a RIB and associated cable, the Flash Adapter must be connected between the RIB and the Programming/Test Cable. If you are using the RIB-less cable, the Flash Adapter must be connected between the PC and the RIB-less Programming Cable.

You do not need a SmartRIB (SRIB) to flash upgrade the radios, the normal RLN4008 RIB will work just fine.

Portables

The GP340 is the European version of HT750 with SELECT-5 and 16 channels. GP320 is a 1 channel version of the GP340 without any channel knob. Also availble are the GP360 and GP380. The GP380 is a display version with 255 channels and keypad. The GP360 is same as the GP380 but without keypad.

The pinout of the RKN4074 Programming/Test/Flash Cable is here.

The pin layout of the accessory connector is the opposite of this mating connector.

RKN4081 Rib-less Cable

While it would have been nice if it were as simple as connecting a few wires between your computer and radio without a RIB to program it, as the schematic for the RIB-less programming cable schematic from Motorola depicts, this in fact is not the case.

What is not shown on the Motorola schematic is the RS232-TTL converter (RIB) circuit that is included inside the DB25 hood of the cable. See this picture for proof.

So, I guess that settles this subject... no quick cable solution. Sorry.

Refurbishing Kits

Refurbishing kits are available for the HT750/1250, PRO5150/7150 radios. The part numbers and parts contents are as follows:

Mobiles

The part number for the service manual for these radios is 68P81091C63-0.

The CDM750, CDM1250 and CDM1550 can use the same programming cable as the Maxtrac/Radius (you just won't be able to flash with it). The proper cable for these radios has 10 contacts instead of the RJ45's 8. We believe that the pinout for this cable should look something like this. The 8 contacts of the CDM series mic jack appear to coincide with the pinout of the Maxtrac Mic Jack.

The radio can also be programmed or flashed with the AARKN4083A Programming/Test Cable. This cable connects to the accessory connector of the radio directly. The pinout of this cable is available here.

As for the accessory connector, the connector on the back of the radio is actually a 20 pin connector. It has an extra column of pins (2), one on either side of the 16 pin connector. The software makes no mention of the pins or their use. The accessory connector uses this numbering scheme. The pinout of the accessory connector is as follows:

*These pins are used in conjunction with the flash adapter cable.

If you want an easy way to connect to the Accessory Connector on these radios, you can order the HLN9242A or HLN9457A Accessory Connector kits. These include an accessory connector housing, some pins, and some wires with pins already attached. One thing to note, the HLN9242A kit also includes a pin extractor for removing previously installed pins. This kit is designed for the Maxtrac/Radius series of radios, and as a result, is only a 16 pin connector (not the 20 pin like these radios use).

Model Breakdown

Mobiles

Below is a partial model breakdown chart for the HT/PRO Series portable radios:

Out Of Band

Depending on which version of RSS you have, this may or may not work for you.

Check and see if you have a GP300.EXE file, all bandsplits are in the GP300.EXE file if you do.

You need to open the GP300.EXE file in your Hex Editor and do a hex search for the lower or upper band limit you want to change.

All the band limits are in INTEL UNSIGNED LONG format and in Hz (eg. 403 MHz is 403000000 wich equals to C04A0518h). So, if you are searching for the 403 MHz band limit, you would do a hex search for C04A0518 and change what it finds to the limit you want.

No CRC check is done by the RSS, so you don't have to worry about correcting for one.

With version 5 of the HVN9025 RSS, we've been told that at least the VHF portion will allow programming between 137-173 MHz, we don't know about any of the other bands.

Corrupted Codeplugs

The following applies to the GP professional series radios.

The following method can recover corrupted codeplugs, and upgrade radio models - you need the following items:

• Flash upgrade software
• Two flash upgrade dongles (ie. 25 way breakout box, with toggle switch to ground "boot pin")
• Two RIB-less programming cables
• 2 radios, one with a corrupt codeplug, or lower spec than the other, one good unit. This good unit must have a lower spec codeplug than the flash software that you are using.

Attach each RIB-less programming cable to an upgrade dongle.

Create a "Y" cable to interface between the RS-232 port on your PC and the two programming cable assemblies (upgrade dongles and their attached RIB-less programming cables). The "Y" cable needs to be complete, ie. RS-232 send and receive (pins 2,3 and ground), to the good radio, but RS-232 send only (pin2 and ground) to the bad radio.

Test communications using the utility supplied with the flash upgrade software. The good radio will give a handshake to the software and hence good comms., but the other radio (on the lead that does not have RS-232 receive) will hang and require a power off reset.

Re-flash both radios together, using the normal flash upgrade method, following the normal Motorola instructions.

If you get Motorola error codes, follow the instructions explicitly to BOTH radios, i.e remove both batteries, etc.

NOTE: If you do this, and are successful, BOTH radios will have the same serial number!

If you have a number of radios to "recover" and several versions of the flash software, use the early versions first, then you can keep "upgrading" the good radio time and time again, until you reach the current latest software version - the recovered radios can be re-flashed again at the end of all this to the latest version.

If attempting to upgrade a radio model, first check with the manual that it has adequate RAM/ROM, etc. for the radio that you are attempting to turn it into.

You can use this method to change GP320 to GP340 (needs a channel switch), GP340 to GP640, GP380 to GP680, and others...

Change bandsplits (although the radio may not work in the new bandsplit). I find that a UHF unit usually gives acceptable performance 20 mhz high or lower than its original bandsplit.

This method will NOT work with the old RLN4008 rib box.

European radios will convert to American models, but not usually the other way round as the American radios usually have far smaller flash ROM/RAM than the European versions - this is due to the huge program needed to support selcall signallijng, etc.

The method depends upon the good radio giving the correct handshakes to the software via the full RS-232 connection. The "bad" radio cannot reply (as its return RS-232 connection does not exist) but having sent its un-receieved answer the software replies anyway as the handshake has been received from the good unit. This results in both codeplugs being overwritten with ALL the information from the good radio.

Remember to realign the second radio unit, as its softpots have data from the first unit.

As with all Motorola flash reprogramming, be careful, you might want to use a portable laptop so that power outages do not corrupt both radios.

CPS and Reverse-burst CTCSS

The latest issue of Motorola CPS for the HT-750/CDM-750 series radios has a revolutionary feature added to it. CPS version R06.02.03, HVN9025K, now has the capability to program either the "standard" Reverse Burst used by Motorola, or a "Non-Standard Reverse Burst" used by Kenwood, ICOM, Yaesu/Vertex, Standard, Ritron, Johnson, GE/Ericsson, and others.

The industry standard EIA/TIA-603 lists two formats for CTCSS Reverse Burst: The format used by Motorola is 120 degree phase shift for 180 milliseconds, while the format used by all other manufacturers as well as by aftermarket tone equipment makers is 180 degree phase shift for 150 milliseconds. While this difference in reverse burst encoding and decoding is ignored by mechanical reeds and simple PLL devices, it is very easily discriminated by the digital signal processors used in modern radios. This subtle difference in Reverse burst format is the reason why a Motorola radio may cause a "squelch crash" in non-Motorola radios, and vice versa.

On the Advanced tab of the Conventional Personality page in CPS R06.02.03, there is now a box labeled, "Non-Standard Reverse Burst." Its default is unchecked. When this box is checked, both the encoding and decoding of the CTCSS Reverse Burst will be in a format that is compatible with non-Motorola radios. Each personality may be individually programmed for either a Motorola or a non-Motorola Reverse Burst format. This feature will be very valuable for many public safety agencies where, for example, the police may have a Motorola repeater and the fire department may have a Kenwood repeater; now, just one radio will mute quietly on both systems.

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