ramcte01@ULKYVX.BITNET (NEWS_PERSONALNAME) (06/04/91)
I have come into possession of a pair of Motorola MX360 walkie-talkies,
and would like to see if anyone out there can provide me with some
information about them.
They were bought by our department, but have never been used. Right now,
they have bright orange stickers on them stating that they must be
aligned before being used, and that they have been set up for testing
only at 464.5/469.5 rx/tx frequencies. When I key them, all I get is a
continuous tone from the transmitting unit's speaker. As far as I can
tell, I'm not getting any RF from the unit.
They are apparently programmable, as they have a connector on the side
of them, as well as some sort of button within the connector, and a
button on the outside shell next to the connector. There's an A-B-C
switch on top, and a 12-position dial switch too. Oh, yeah... there's a
switch on the inside which opens up when you take the shell off - some
sort of tamper switch?
So someone tell me:
o What do I have (power, frequency range, channels, PL tones, etc.)?
o What are the buttons and switches for?
o Most importantly, how can I program this baby (or who do I take it
to and how much is it going to cost)?
Please reply directly...
Thanks!
Rick McTeague
Electrical Engineering Department, Speed Scientific School
University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292
(502) 588-7020
RAMCTE01@ULKYVX (Bitnet)
RAMCTE01%ULKYVX.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Internet)
{akgua,allegra,cbosgd}!psuvax1!ulkyvx.bitnet!ramcte01 (uucp)
Disclaimer: I'm a stand-up comedian; if anyone takes me seriously, I'm
doing something wrong!john@newave.UUCP (John A. Weeks III) (06/06/91)
In <62ramcte01@ULKYVX.bitnet> ramcte01@ULKYVX.BITNET (NEWS_PERSONALNAME): > I have come into possession of a pair of Motorola MX360 walkie-talkies, > and would like to see if anyone out there can provide me with some > information about them. Its been a while since I was in the 2-way radio business, so I am not familiar with the number MX360, but my comments might help anyway. The best thing that you can do is go to your local two way radio show and ask some questions. Most radio shops are more than happy to give out advice if there is a chance that you will drop some money getting your radios checked out and set up. Next thing, ask your local radio shop or dealer about getting a license. You cannot push the talk button without having a permit from the FCC. Your intended use will dictate what frequency you will be allowed to use, and, unless you live in the boonies, you will be forced to share a frequency, and possibly be forced to pay the primary license holder on the frequecy for the right to use it (in the case of a 'repeater service'). > They were bought by our department, but have never been used. Right now, > they have bright orange stickers on them stating that they must be > aligned before being used, and that they have been set up for testing > only at 464.5/469.5 rx/tx frequencies. When I key them, all I get is a > continuous tone from the transmitting unit's speaker. As far as I can > tell, I'm not getting any RF from the unit. A beep on key up means one of two things--there is a time-out-timer that is supposed to stop transmitting after n seconds, and n is set very low. This is a protection in gaurd against sitting on the mike button. It might have been set to zero at the factory. The other cause of a beep is a problem in the RF, and you are getting feedback. I guess it could also be that you have low or old batteries. > They are apparently programmable, as they have a connector on the side > of them, as well as some sort of button within the connector, and a > button on the outside shell next to the connector. There's an A-B-C > switch on top, and a 12-position dial switch too. Oh, yeah... there's a > switch on the inside which opens up when you take the shell off - some > sort of tamper switch? This connector on the side is not for programming, rather it is for a speaker mike. The button within the connector is probably the RF contact. Some speaker mikes have an antenna built in to extend the range of the unit. The 12-position dial and A-B-C switch baffle me somewhat. The dial switch is probably for frequencies. You normally have two at a minimum on a handheld--a main channel and a 'talk-around' channel. The A-B-C might be for changing the 'channel gaurd' tone. It might also have to do with an internal paging decoder. I am pretty sure that an MX360 is a standard police radio, so the A-B-C switch might be some type of scrambler. The switch on the inside that looks like a tamper switch might be the swak switch that emits a certain code when a police officer is in trouble. I think this is called silent alarm. > What do I have (power, frequency range, channels, PL tones, etc.)? Probably 2 to 6 watts. Range depends on whether or not you use a repeater service. With a repeater, up to 20 miles, without, less than 1 mile. > Most importantly, how can I program this baby (or who do I take it > to and how much is it going to cost)? Although there now is no law against it, you probably should not work on a radio transmitter yourself. If the units are programmable, expect to spend about $50-75 each to get programmed, plus your FCC license fee. If they use crystals, you may just need to have the tuned up (you should do this once per year anyway). If they use crystals and PL tones, it will cost a lot of money to change them to new channels, up to $350 each. -john- -- ============================================================================= John A. Weeks III (612) 942-6969 john@newave.mn.org NeWave Communications, Ltd. ...uunet!tcnet!newave!john