General Information

The above series of radios all use similar internal computer control boards and the same RSS package. For this reason they are all contained in the same file.

HT1000/JT1000 Programming Cable

Visar Programming Cable

Visar Accessory Connector Pinout

If you have the accessory adapter for the side connector on the radio, the typical schematic of the speaker mic looks like this.

A manual supplement has been released for the HT1000/JT1000 with a new alignment procedure for the front end pre-selector. You can view this bulletin here.

Do you want to build your own programming cable for your HT1000/JT1000? If you don't want to use an old speaker mic cable, the individual part numbers of the parts for the Service Cable that will help are listed below.

You may want to look at the schematic for the RKN4035D Service Cable. This is the actual Motorola cable used for programming and servicing HT1000/JT1000.

The individual part numbers for the components of this cable are listed below.

If you are using the Public Safety speaker microphone with a supported HT1000, you might want to order part number 3205514W01. This is the cover that should protect the antenna connector on the radio.

Trying to figure out how to use your JT1000? Check out the Utilities and Resources page and look for the link to online manuals.

Service Manuals

Here are a listing of the Service Manual part numbers for this series of radios:

• 6881200C15 -- HT1000/JT1000/MT2000 & MTX8000/9000 Radio Theory
• 6881200C40 -- HT1000/JT1000 & MT2000 Service Manual
• 6881079C50 -- HT1000 Operator's Manual
• 6881078C45 -- JT1000 Operator's Manual
• 6881073C75 -- Visar Service Manual
• 6881073C70 -- Visar Operating Manual

Visar Specific Information

NOTE: In regards to the Visar's, there is NO way to make them have more than 16 channels. Yes, we know the display looks pretty, and that must surely make the rest of the radio capable of 99 channels. WRONG! There is barely enough codeplug space to handle 16 channels with all the options, let alone any more. There is no provision in the radio's hardware or software to support any more than 16 channels.

Also, there is no way to convert a 800 MHz trunking Visar into a conventional radio, nor convert a Privacy Plus Visar to do Type II trunking. The firmware in the radios is different, and there is no way to change it, other than to change the controller (cheaper to buy a new radio).

Out of Band Programming (General)

This series of radios generally performs quite well outside of the standard rated bandsplit. Out of band programming can be quite useful. One such example would be the 450 to 520 split, with out of band programming you can use the radio in the 440 Mhz HAM band. Programming the radios outside of the bandsplit is very simple and requires no special software or hardware, all that is required is the standard Motorola RSS package (some versions may not allow the following thought). To get out of band frequencies follow the listed steps:

• Hold down the SHIFT key while entering the frequency you want (use the numbers along the top of the keyboard)
• You must fill the entire field with characters (add zeros until you've filled the field)
• Then press enter to goto the next field, it will display the frequency normally
• That's it!

Out of Band Programming (JT1000)

To make the JT1000 capable of being field programmed out of band:

(For a UHF radio, but can be easily modified for other bands/splits) This is assuming that you want to make a 450-520 radio into a 440 (or lower) radio.

• Make a backup copy of the archive.
• Load the archive into your hex editor.
• Change byte at offset 0x06 from 53 to 52 (S to R)

Start your properly purchased and licensed copy of software RVN-4098G, version 03.02.01 or higher.

• Load the archive (F3-F3 from the main menu)
• Go to the JT-1000 option screen (F4-F3-F2-F3 from the main menu)
• Adjust the Freq. Range low limit to the low side that you want (the lowest it will go is 403.0000)
• Save the archive (F3-F7 from the main menu)
• Exit the RSS.

Load the archive into your text editor

• Change the byte at offset 0x06 from 52 to 53 (R to S)
• Go back into the RSS and program the radio with the modified codeplug.

The radio will now be able to be field programmed with out-of-band frequencies. Note that if you have a frequency out of the original programming band, and you load the archive and go to modify the frequencies in the RSS via F4-F4, it will give you an error. Ignore it. If you say OK, it won’t change anything.

Channel Expansion (HT1000)

All Visars and JT1000's are 16 channels, if yours has less you need to enable them using RSS.

The HT1000 is a different story though. The easy part of the conversion to 16 channels is to remove the channel selector knob, if you remove the notch on the knob you will then be able to rotate it all 16 channels.

The next step requires a HEX editor which you will use to edit the saved file (code plug) from your radio. Norton disk editor or Hex Workshop will do the job. Please only proceed if you are familiar with HEX editing!!! As well, you may want to keep a saved file in a different directory (then it will be easy to restore the radio to its original state). The steps listed below detail what to edit.

• Load the saved file into a HEX editor
• Ensure the editor is in overwrite mode, not insert mode
• Locate the byte at offset 0x27

• The value should be 0x01 for a 2 channels, 0x07 for 8 channels or 0x0F for 16 channels
• Change the byte to 0x0F

• Save the file and go back into the RSS
• When you load the file into RSS you will now be able to program up to 16 channels
• Remember to use the Add Mode Utility to add in the extra modes (up to 16)
• Program up the extra modes however you want and dump them into the radio.

The JT1000 Programming Key

As you are probably aware if you are a JT1000 owner, to program your radio you either need to do it via RSS or have a programming key. Motorola would like you to believe that the programming key is some hi-tech device, but as typical of Ma M, it isn't. Click here to see what is inside the JT1000 key.

As a side note, the default password for the JT1000 when it is new from the factory is 581000, not that spells out "JT1000" on the keypad.

The JT1000 and QCII

The early JT's of 1995 or so vintage with the version 3.00 firmware do not have QC II capabilities. The 2000 models with ver 3.02 do have QCII capabilities.

The quick way to check the firmware version is to put the radio into Test Mode. To do this, turn the radio on, after the self test, push the button just above the PTT five times and a number will be in the display....ex. R3.00.

There is no way of upgrading a 3.00 radio to 3.02. You would have to change out the controller, which is almost the same price as a new radio.

GOVERNMENT MODE EXISTS! (JT1000)

If you have followed JT1000's for a while, or hacked around a bit in the RSS, you will undoubtedly have heard references to "Government Mode" and "FCC Mode" for the JT1000. This is all in regards to whether the programming key is required to be attached to the radio in order to program the frequencies in it. You see, as far as the FCC is concerned, for type acceptance, a commercial radio cannot have its operating frequency easily changed by an end user. That is why they implemented the external key. Well, since the Government gets just about anything it wants, they wanted a model whereby they did not have to use a key to access the frequency changing menus.

Up until now, being able to convert a FCC model into a Government model was just a pipe dream. However, after a trip to the 2001 Dayton Hamvention, one of our contributors came across someone with a JT1000 which he demonstrated was programmable without the programming key attached. When asked whether it had been hardware modified, he said "no, it's a Federal model". Then, when asked him how I could get the instructions on how to do this, he refused to provide the information. So, knowing it was possible, this contributor set out to find out how. After a few days with messing with a hex editor, SUCCESS!

As has been kindly shared with us to help all of you JT1000 owners out there, here is what you need to do to be able to throw away the silly programming key for your radio.

The first thing you need to do is make a backup copy of your current codeplug. That way, if you screw something up, you still have a good last image to send to the radio to fix the problems.

That done, you will need a hex editor, something like Hex Workshop works great. Open the codeplug file and locate hex offset 0x70 (this is set to a value of 0x80 by factory default), make sure you are in overwrite mode and not insert mode, and change value to 0x00, and save the changes. If you are concerned about an invalid checksum value, simply load the hex-edited codeplug file from the RSS and do a save in the RSS to generate a valid checksum.

Finally, load the hacked codeplug into the radio with the RSS. Now you should see the 'CHAN' option available without the programming key attached!

The other benefit of this modification, you can now use your speaker mic or other accessories attached to the accessory connector, and still access the CHAN menu!

What this modification does is change one of the option bits in the radio. We have messed around with a number of the bits in there, and have identified many of them. So far, there is nothing else really that useful that is worth reporting.

JT1000 Codeplug Information

Messing around with getting DTMF to work also led us to play with the JT1000 to see what else we could find. Not too much exciting, but we did find some other things which may be of use some day.

We found checksums stored at offsets 0x106 and 0x1FC.

The upper and lower frequency limits are stored at locations 0x6C and 0x6A, we're not sure of what format they are stored in though (didn't bother to investigate that far).

At offset 0x2A you will find the backlight timeout value stored (seconds in decimal converted to hex).

At offset 0x6E you will find the menu timeout value stored (seconds in decimal converted to hex).

To enable auto backlight, you need to change offset 0x16. The most significant bit of the lower nibble is the one that is important. For example, disabled, the value is usually 0x06 and enabled it is changed to 0x0E.

Locations 0x61 to 0x68 inclusive store the security code entered when you go into programming mode (with the key).

Lastly, location 0x60 stores most of the information that is present on the JT1000 options screen in RSS. The bit structure of that byte is shown below.

Bit Structure
			0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0
			A     B     C     D     E     F     G     H     I
		 
Bit A      Alkaline Power    0 = Selected, 1 = Always Low
Bit B      Alert Tones       0 = Disabled, 1 = Enabled
Bit C      Unknown
Bit D      User Programming  0 = Disabled, 1 = Enabled
Bit E      Unknown
Bit F      Unknown
Bit G      Unknown
Bit H      Unknown
Bit I      Channel Display   0 = Channel Display, 1 = Frequency Display

Visar Model Chart

These radios are also part of the Jedi series and the model numbers follow the Jedi model number convention.

Be advised, when you are looking up the model numbers, the second from the last digit (usually A, B, C, or D) is just the revision number. It refers to the firmware features available in the radio, an A radio would be the first produced, and a B radio would have newer firmware, possibly with more features.

The version is not as important in most cases as the other digits in the model number for determining features. So, if all the other digits, except the version, match those for the radio you are looking up, then that is an accurate determination of the features for that particular radio. The only difference being in the firmware and supported features.

Below is a list of available Visar models as specified in one of the service manuals:

Please note, in the above model numbers, the second to last digit refers to the version of the radio. "A" would denote the original version, "B" would be the next version of the radio released, and so on. I believe in most of the radios now have a "D" version released.

Adding DTMF to an HT1000 or Visar

You'd think that if you just changed out the case on a non-DTMF HT1000 or Visar with a DTMF one, that the keypad should come to life and work, right? Wrong.

Unless a specific bit in the codeplug of the radio is enabled, no matter what you do, the DTMF pad will not function (as I am sure many of you have already figured out).

After we received a tip from one of our users about where to look in the codeplug for this bit, we did some R&D and came up with the answer.

The byte that contains the information to enable the DTMF pad is located at offset 0xB2 in the codeplug for the radio. Among other things, this byte stores some of the information on the DTMF options screen in the RSS. But, more importantly, it also contains the bit that enables the keypad on the radio.

It is the most significant bit of the upper nibble that controls whether the pad is enabled or disabled. See the example below.

Example of byte at offset 0xB2:
			 non-DTMF the byte may be 0x79 which is 0111-1001 in binary
			with-DTMF the byte may be 0xF9 which is 1111-1001 in binary

Now, in order to make your upgrade easier for you, we have provided the lookup table below. All you have to do to enable the keypad is the following:

• Make a backup copy of your codeplug (in case you screw up)
• Open the codeplug file in your Hex Editor
• Go to offset 0xB2 in the file and observe the byte that is there
• Compare the upper nibble (the first number of the byte) with the lookup table below
• If it is the same as a number in the right column of the table, then you have a problem, the pad should work. Check your installation.
• Find your number in the left column of the table
• Replace your nibble with the corresponding one from the right column to enable DTMF
• Save your codeplug file
• Load the codeplug into RSS and set up the DTMF options
• Dump the codeplug to the radio and enjoy!

If you have RSS version R03.02.01 or newer, you can enable DTMF by going into the Radio Wide Screen (F4-F3-F2 from the Main Menu), then press ctrl-shift-F7. This should bring up a special options screen from which you can enable or disable DTMF (option H297). Note that the caveat is that this only works on a radio that was originally equipped with a DTMF pad. If the radio didn't come with a DTMF pad from the factory, then the only way to make it work is to hex edit the codeplug.

One thing you should know about adding DTMF to a Visar, if the radio has firmware in it older than V2.04, you will have to use a side button to enable the pad (you won't have hot keypad dialing).

Another note about adding DTMF to a Visar. If you know someone with a DTMF Visar (from the factory), you can add the pad to your radio and clone from their radio to yours to get your pad working. That will change the bit in your radio to turn on the pad.

Upgrading HT1000's With LAB RSS

Using LAB RSS for these radios, you may be able to add some programming features to your HT1000.

You need an "A" version radio and a codeplug from the same model of a "B" version radio.

Using the LAB RSS, clone the "B" version codeplug into your "A" version radio.

If you're lucky, you may end up with few more button programming options.

HT1000 Codeplug Hacking

The Hex Address for the Tx and Rx freq. start at hex 0x12C.

• Tx freq is at 0x12C
• Rx freq is at 0x12D

A channel record looks like this:

0000012C   XXXX   XXXX   C4D0   6800
X = would be whatever Freq's are programmed

No investigation has been done on the format of the freq's. We know that 150.000MHz shows up as 1D60.

To include all 16 channels add 0xD for each additional channel.

Example: 0x12C + D = 0x139
So therefore channel 2 starts at offset 0x139
3 = 0x146, 4 = 0x153, 5 = 0x160, etc.

Next... the options available for each channel.

1=enabled 0=disabled
At offset 0x130 the bit structure looks like this.
0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H
A = ???
B = ???
C = Tx Power 1=High 0=Low
D = Tx inhibit on busy
E - G = ???
H = Talkaround 

At offset 0x132 it looks like this.
A = Channel Programmed 1=No 0=Yes
B = Has stayed as 1 through all testing
C = Rx only
D - H = ???

At offset 0x133
A = Stat Alert
B = Rx TPL
C = Rx DPL
D = Tx DPL
E = Tx TPL
F - G = ???

The TPL and DPL work like this. Rx DPL looks like 00100000 while Rx TPL is 01100000 Tx is the same only 00010000 DPL and 00011000 TPL. Offset 0x135 Tx and 0x136 Rx are the Freq's for TPL and DPL. Unknown Format.

Offset 0x134
A = MDC Decode
B = PTT ID
C = RAT Repeater Auto configure
D = RAT Repeater Manual configure
Man/auto will be 1's at both locations
E - H = ???

Offset 0x137 - 0x138 are the RAT Repeater Freq's and access codes, unknown format??

To use on a different channel, take the offset for that channels Tx freq and add the respective numbers to get down that far.

If channel 5 starts at Offset 0x160 the the bit for PTT ID would be at offset 0x168, 0x12C is 8 less than 0x134.

This information was derived using an HT1000 VHF A3 Codeplug and compared to A1 and B3 codeplugs.

If you have any problems, email us and we'll try to help.

Home