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MaxTrac Software Initialization Choices By Robert W. Meister WA1MIK

Blanking and Initialization:

To change a MaxTrac from trunking to conventional, you need to blank the logic board with LAB software, replace the firmware, and initialize the logic board with regular software. This procedure gives the radio the distinct personality and operating parameters that let it work optimally on the band it was intended for. (A similar procedure can be followed for the Radius products, but the field contents and choices will be slightly different.)

Trunking radios have different model numbers than conventional radios, so you will need to choose a model number during this procedure. The one on the label can't be used. It makes sense to add your own label, with the model number you choose in this procedure, somewhere on the PA heat sink. You should, however, enter the actual radio serial number (as printed on the label) in the field provided. If you can't read the label, you might be able to read the existing code plug from the radio and extract it before you blank and reinitialize.

Typical 900 MHz trunking model numbers will start with D27 or D37, followed by MQA5G or MWA5G, followed by B2, B3, B6, B7, C3, or C5 and two other letters.

When you start the program, you should go immediately to the SERVICE menu. Choose "BOARD REPLACEMENT" rather than "ALIGNMENT", then choose "Logic Board".

You will be presented with a list of menu steps. You must go through each and every step in the order shown. As you fill in or choose values for the fields on each screen, press F8 to write the information to the radio and return to the list of menu steps, or press F10 to leave the screen's values intact (without writing them to the radio) and return to the list of menu steps, where you can go to the next step. This lets you review most of the existing data.

The first screen lets you enter the crystal data, tuning data, and 9.6V voltage for VHF, UHF, and 800 MHz radios. Slightly different data is entered for 900 MHz radios. You can not retrieve this information from the software; you must enter it fresh each time, or press F10 to skip this screen. (There are several step-by-step articles that go through the complete logic board initialization in the MaxTrac section of this web site; refer to these for further details.)

If the program detects a blank logic board when the initialization process begins, a once-only screen is presented where you must select several things like the Product Line, Model Name, Frequency Range, and Model Number. The eventual list of possible model numbers depends on all the previous choices. You will also need to enter a Panel Number and the radio's Serial Number.

I blanked a 30-watt 900 MHz MaxTrac and performed the complete board initialization process. I wrote down all the possible choices for each field on the once-only screen that is only presented after blanking a radio. The choices I made for this particular radio are shown in the tables below as rows with a green background.

When you choose a value for the Product Line, this limits your choices for the Model Name, and that further limits your choices for the Range. Together these determine a list of possible Model Numbers, which gives you specific capabilities to choose from, such as the number of modes, transmitter output power, signaling, and other features. Some of these are shown on the right side of this screen (this is for a UHF radio, so you should disregard the exact field values). These items will change as you cycle through the model numbers. The process is complete below; I just have to hit F8 to commit this information to the radio.

The manual makes a big deal out of initializing a radio and making sure you enter all of this information correctly. I quote:

"Once a non-initialized EEPROM is programmed with model definition data, it CANNOT be changed again. If the EEPROM is incorrectly initialized, the logic board will have to be replaced."

What this means is that you get one chance to enter the data on that once-only screen. Since it's never seen again, you're stuck with it. Nonsense! All you have to do is blank the board again and start over. However, not many facilities are equipped to do this, and Motorola realizes that. Therefore, replacing the board with another blank one is the only method they support in the field. You can blank and reinitialize a logic board almost indefinitely (there are probably limitations but I don't think we'll ever reach them in our lifetime).

NOTE: It's important to realize that there are differences between the various logic boards and firmware, and some combinations of these, along with certain Model Series and Product Names, just will not result in a working radio. In particular, 16-pin logic boards are usually capable of every possible choice, if they have the 32-channel firmware. 5-pin logic boards often can't handle Signaling or Accessories (choices you'll see shortly). If, while you're going through the various initialization screens (after the once-only screen with the Panel Number), the radio emits a "beep-boop" sound after you exit each screen, something is wrong and you should blank the radio again and choose another combination of parameters that results in less capabilities. The radio should only make a single "beep" sound as you exit each screen. If you DO go all the way through and finish everything and program frequencies into the radio, it will NOT transmit via the MIC jack, another indication that something is terribly wrong.

Specific field values:

OK, so you've gotten to this point and want to choose the Product Line. The software knows about more values than are presented to you on the screen; they're all shown in the following table, but you will only be able to choose from a subset of this list. Those values are marked with "Y" in the "You" column. This list is presented in order of the index number.

Product Lines
#	Program Values	You
0	Standard	Y
1	Radius	Y
2	MaxTrac	Y
3	Trunked	Y
4	Voice_Reporter	Y
5	Flexar_fill
6	Radius_Int'l
7	RadiusReporter
8	Flex Indirect
9	Rad Low Sig
10	Max Low Sig
11	Rad I Low Sig
12	Rad High Sig
13	Max High Sig	Y
14	Rad I High Sig
15	Max Options	Y
16	Rad Options
17	Max Trk Option	Y
18	Rad I Option
19	Radius Trunked
20	DeskTrac Rptr	Y

The next field describes the Model Name or series. Sometimes a label on the radio's control head will match what you see in this list. Again, there are more values stored in the program than are presented to you on the screen, and only specific ones show up based on the Product Line. I have extracted all of the names from the program and shown the possibilities based on the product lines that were available to me. The numbers in the column headers refer to the Product Line index numbers above. The left-most column relates the model name to the model number.

Model Names or Radio Series
#	Program Values	0	1	2	3	4	13	15	17	20
0	Radius M100	Y	Y
1	Radius M206
2	Radius M214
3	VR100					Y
4	VR100 TRUNKED					Y
5	MaxTrac 50			Y			Y	Y
6	MaxTrac 100	Y		Y			Y	Y
7	MaxTrac 300	Y		Y			Y	Y		Y
8	MaxTrac 820	Y			Y				Y
9	MaxTrac 840	Y			Y				Y
10	Privacy Plus	Y			Y				Y
11	VR100					Y
12	VR100 Trunked					Y
13	Dual Mode
14	Smartnet 840				Y				Y
15	Radius M100 I
16	Radius M214 I
17	Radius M206 I
18	P. Plus 250
19	P. Plus 750
20	Smartnet 2000				Y
21	Smartnet C3								Y
22	Smartnet C5								Y
23	Radius M800
24	Radius M805
25	MaxTrac 25			Y

The list of possible Frequency Ranges is rather short. The program limits you to a bit narrower range than the radio may actually be capable of. Usually you will get a warning message if you exceed these limits. The first column is an index value used by the Model Number entries. The following list is ordered by the index number. Frequencies are in MHz.

Frequency Ranges or Bands
#	Program Limit	Radio Limit
0	150.8-162.0	136.0-165.0
1	450.0-470.0	439.0-471.0
2	136.0-162.0	134.0-165.0
3	146.0-174.0	143.0-176.0
4	403.0-430.0	401.0-440.0
5	449.0-470.0	439.0-471.0
6	470.0-500.0	470.0-500.0
7	494.0-520.0	494.0-520.0
8	0.0-  0.0	0.0-  0.0
9	806.0-870.0	805.0-871.0
10	896.0-941.0	895.0-942.0
11	0.0-  0.0	0.0-  0.0
12	29.6- 36.0	29.0- 37.0
13	36.0- 42.0	35.0- 43.0
14	42.0- 50.0	41.0- 54.0

The model entries specify the Model Names, Model Numbers, frequency band (range), number of modes, transmitter power, and options capabilities. The following table was extracted from the MaxTrac program; it is presented in the order in which it occurs. (There is additional information - not shown here - that specifies the various features the particular radio will have.) Note that only a small subset of these models will be made available for you to choose from, based on the Frequency Range (band), Model Name, and Product Line choices. You may have to go back and make different choices to see what model numbers and features are available. This is your only chance to pick a model number that has the highest number of modes. Some logic boards can hold more modes than others, and RSS does not know about this limitation at this stage in the process. In the table below, the columns contain the following information: