Radio Equipment
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Technical Information on Radio Equipment Click on the image above or here to go to the Midland Land Mobile web site |
To jump down to the Midland Amateur Radio products click here
Midland Land Mobile (commercial) products:
The Midland commercial repeaters, mobiles and portables
are showing up in the used market in increasing larger quantities.
Repeater-builder.com is looking for information on the various models and
would like to have someone supply an overiew of the products - i.e. just
what is a Syntech, or an XTR, or a 70-045, or a 70-342, or a 70-7030, or
a 70-565, or a 70-1340B? We have a model chart below, but it's
short on overview information - what makes one particular model better
over another (maybe a better front end?)We'd like to present some combination
of:
We'd like information on programming the radios, and what it takes to move one onto amateur radio frequencies. The programming article can cover what software you need for which models (and how to get it), what hardware it takes on the older ones that use a programmer rather than a PC, and if there are any tricks that need to be done to move them into the ham bands. Lastly, information on any "gotcha's" (i.e. you can't get the PA transistors for a model XXX, or a model YYY needs DOS-based software to program where a model ZZZ uses Windows based software) etc. If you have something to contribute, don't worry about your writing ability, your speling, or anything else. Just write something up, even if it's just an email, and send it to us. We'll do the rest. Examples: |
Midland Commercial Equipment
There is a YahooGroup email list for almost every brand of radio, and sometimes, as in Kenwood, there are model-specific groups. Midland is no different.
Click Here to go to the Midland LMR email list
One rule of thumb: The Syntech I radios use Eprom Modules and both the Syntech II and XTR radios program with a PC like modern radios.
Bridgeman Communications
has been building after-market power and control cables for most of the Midland
LMR radios since early 2004.
They have a complete list on their website. This mention is intended
as a service, not an endorsement by Repeater-Builder.
Contact:
Dennis Bridgeman KCØFWN
Bridgeman Communications
202 Seventh Street
Carmi, Illinois 62821
Green County Communications is owned by Bob Gass N4FV (n4fv-at-yahoo-dot-com) and they offer a programmer kit for the XTR and Syntech II that is the electrical equivalent of the 70-1308A. Cost is $15 for a printed circuit board and $30 for a complete kit (including shipping via first class mail). A photo of the programmer is here. Since several people have asked for a source of Midland programmers, this mention is intended as a service, not an endorsement by Repeater-Builder.
The Midland 70-1308A Programmer - Here's the schematic of the programmer courtesy of Brett Kitchens KF4SQB
Midland base, repeater and
mobile model table - courtesy of Bill Janes, N9SII
Midland portable model
table - courtesy of Michael James KC5JDG
The Midland / Icom relationship:
The Midland 70-154A and B handheld are clones of the Icom H16 (16 channel highband, front panel programmable) - identical except for the color of the plastic and the name on the housing. The 70-254A and B is the clone of the U16 - the UHF version. The programming instructions for the H16 and U16 that are on the Icom page at this web site will work for the Midland clones.
Midland Amateur Radio Equipment
Since Midland is out of the amateur radio market, and no longer offers any amateur radio equipment manuals for sale, if someone can PDF the service manuals for these older radios it would be appreciated. The models that we do not have include the 13-500 (2m crystal) mobile and all of the amateur handhelds. The donor can remain anonymous if they would prefer it.
The Midland 13-500 was a twelve crystal controlled channel, 10 watts or
1 watt mobile, with no CTCSS capability (but a Com-Spec board was easily
added). No manual on file yet.
The Midland 13-509
user manual
Notes on a repeater based
on the Midland 13-509 1mb PDF by Chuck
Adams WB5WRR
A simple modification
(two caps and 1 resistor) that results in much better squelch action on
the 13-509 or 13-500 Donated by Bob Dengler NO6B
A simple modification
for making the low power setting 5 watts for link duty on the 13-509
and its variants Donated by Larry Clore, WB9F
The Midland 13-510
manual (2m, 1w / 10w / 30 watt synthesized, no CTCSS
capability (but a Com-Spec board or even an external rotary encoder was easily added)) Donated by
A. Nony Mous 6mb PDF (combination owners/service manual)
The Midland 13-513
manual (220mhz version of the 13-510) Donated by
A. Nony Mous 3mb PDF (combination owners/service manual)
Midland Consumer Equipment
The Midland Weather radio model WR-300 (and probably other WR series receivers) is not suitable for use as a source of the weather "Watch", "Warn", or other type of alert message in a repeater system. The SAME protocol that is broadcast by the NOAA transmitters has digital trigger codes for each geographical area in the country plus a "turn off" code that is sent at the end of the alert time period. The intent was that the "Watch" or "Warning" signals unmute the speaker, and the radio would talk until the "turn off" code was received. An indicator (usually a red LED) would stay illuminated until reset with a pushbutton.
The decoder design of the WR-300 does NOT support the "turn-off" code, hence once the receiver squelch is opened by a "Watch" or "Warn" signal the receiver just chatters for 5 (or so) minutes and then mutes the speaker when the timer expires. If a long message was received, or a second "Watch" or "Warn" signal was received the timer could mute the audio right in the middle of it.
Anybody have any info on the Midland 74-109 Weather radio ??
Is it timer based or does it understand the "turn off" code?
There is some additional Weather Receiver info on the Radio Shack page at this web site.
Plus there is a another web page devoted to generic Weather Receivers, including detailed info on the SAME system.
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Text, artistic layout and hand-coded HTML © Copyright 2005 and
date of last update by Mike Morris WA6ILQ
This page originally posted on 14-Sept-2004
This web page, this web site, the information presented in and on its pages and in these modifications and conversions is © Copyrighted 1995 and (date of last update) by Kevin Custer W3KKC and multiple originating authors. All Rights Reserved, including that of paper and web publication elsewhere.
