The list of manuals below is from the official Moto list. Prices listed are August 2007. NLA indicates that they were No Longer Available at that time. Click here for instructions on how to order manuals

Note the trailing chassis version letter on your radio.   The "A" version chassis are unique and have their own set of manuals.

A-revision Mitrek chassis: ( i.e. TnnJJA-nnnnAx where "n" is a number, and "x" may be blank or one or two letters):

• Low Band low power (25-50MHz) - T51JJA-nnnnA: 6881037E65 NLA
• Low Band high power (25-50MHz) - T71/81JJA-nnnnA: 6881039E70 supplement to the low power manual (i.e. you need both the 37E65 book and the 39E70 supplement for the high power radio - but both are NLA).
• High Band low power (136-174MHz) - T43/53JJA-nnnnA: 6881037E70 NLA
• High Band high power (136-174MHz) - T63/73/83JJA-nnnnA: 6881039E75 supplement to the low power manual ((i.e. you need both the 37E70 book and the 39E75 supplement for the high power radio - but both are NLA)
• UHF low power (406-512MHz) - T34/44JJA-nnnnA: 6881037E75 NLA
• UHF high power (406-512MHz) - T64/74JJA-nnnnA: 6881039E80 NLA
  (despite the official list showing this as a separate manual, it's actually a supplement to the low power manual (i.e. you need both the 37E75 book and the 39E80 supplement for the high power radio).

• Low Band (25-50MHz) - T51/61/71/81JJA-nnnnB, C, D, etc.: 6881045E65 NLA
• High Band (136-174MHz) - T43/53/63/73/83JJA-nnnnB, C, D, etc.: 6881045E70 ($30+)
• UHF (406-512MHz) - T34/44/54/64/74JJA-nnnnB, C, D, etc.: 6881045E75 ($30+)
• 800 MHz - all models - Tn5JJA-nnnnB, C, D, etc.: 6881045E80 ($117+)

• The 800MHz Mitrek is pretty useless in the amateur world... It uses a single oscillator-multiplier chain for both receive and transmit, and the IF is equal to the repeater offset.... something like the old Pulsar series of VHF or UHF mobile telephone.   You could hack and slash at it and make it receive at 900 MHz (it will never transmit at 900 MHz), but there are easier and much smaller radios that work just as well if not better to start with (an 800 MHz Maxtrac comes to mind (and a conversion article is on this web site).   In short, the 800 MHz Mitrek radios make pretty good doorstops.
• If you are going to do a mobile install of a Mitrek, and if you can find the official Mitrek Installation manual (it's is 6881110E50) at zero or very low cost then it's worth spending five minutes and looking it over... .
• The standard control heads and cables are covered in the regular mobile manual. Moto also offered the "Systems 90" control groups for the Micor, Mitrek and Syntor line for mobile installations that needed multiple radios, PA, Siren, scanning, MPL (operator controlled multiple PL encoder tones), etc. The "Systems 90" control set boards and housings were originally used on Micors, later on Mitreks and was retrofitted to Motracs, Motrans, Mocom-70s, and a few other radios. The "Systems 90" control groups are covered in their own manuals:
  • Siren / PA....6881108E05 ($11.26)
  • Alternate Control Module... a 4-channel control head on a card... 6881109E56 ($7.52)
  • Channel Scan.....6881102E23 NLA
  • Channel Scan.....6881109E58 NLA
  • Voice Privacy Adapter....6885900C35-F NLA
  • Multi-PL encoder.....(don't have it yet)
  • Wildcard....6881102E35   NLA (just a board with momentary and latching switches, extremely configurable by the installer... light bar, siren, dome light kill, stop light kill, etc).
  • The complete module wiring diagram showing how all the units cable together is 6881109E49.
  If anyone has PDFs of any of the System 90 manuals we'd appreciate an email so we can offer them for download.

A note on mobile installs... Mitreks make great install-them-and-forget-them radios. Several friends have 4-channel Mitreks stashed in the trunk or under the back seat in their cars, and set up on a couple of local repeaters. A couple of the UHF ones are configured for full duplex, with two antennas, and until you have actually USED a full duplex mobile you don't know what you are missing, especially on a autopatch or a remote base. And the receive antenna can be shared with something else.

That said, a lot of Mitreks were installed in the cabs of 18-wheel tractor-trailers.   Because the truck manufacturers (Mack, Kenworth, Peterbilt, etc.) had not standardized the polarity of their tractors when the Mitrek was introduced, it was common for Mitrek cables to be modified in the field from negative to positive ground when a positive ground truck was encountered.   As a result, you will find some cables on the surplus market labeled for negative ground but rewired for positive gound, in other words the part numbers stamped or printed on cable assemblies may not correctly reflect the polarity for which they are wired.   On a new-to-you radio it is best to open the connector shell and compare the cable wiring to the negative ground and positive ground cable diagrams in the service manual before you power up the radio on the bench, or before installation - look at the diagrams and compare them, then take 30 seconds with an ohmmeter and check. (thanks to KI4BQQ for the reminder)

The "Mitrek Plus" radios were originally special purpose / modified Mitreks and are described in the Mitrek Plus Supplement. I was told by a friend that the changes were later rolled into the "B" version chassis - but I haven't taken the time to verify that - it would take comparing a "A" version manual to the Supplement and to a "B" or "C" version manual.
The supplement also notes that the Mitrek is an all-metric radio. Don't go casually throwing any extra screws into your non-metric screws bin...

Information common to the Mitrek and the MSR-2000

	Channel elements for the Mitrek and MSR   By Mike Morris WA6ILQ The Mitrek and the MSR2000 are crystal-based radios, and the crystals are installed in self-contained oscillator-tripler plug-in modules (called Channel Elements). Earlier products used crystals, or crystals in miniature ovens. Here's why: Why should you really spend $50 to re-crystal a channel element or ICOM?.
	The replacement microphone coiled cord for the Mitrek mobile, the MSR2000 station and several others is part number 083731M01.   Yes, the MSR station uses a mobile microphone as a test microphone.

Mitrek Mobile Radios

First, let's figure out what chassis you have:
Mitrek Model and Chassis Numbers    Identifying the better Mitrek Model and Chassis Numbers   By Mike Morris WA6ILQ
This article also contains some info on the "Mitrek Plus" radios.

RF related Information

The official Mitrek and MSR2000 tuning tool is part number 66-84230K01.   GET ONE (preferrably two)   The misery caused by a cracked slug is not worth the few dollars it costs.   If you are new to the Mitrek or MSR I'd get two, and leave the second in it's little envelope in the tool box.   Then when you break #1, you unwrap #2 and put the wrapper in your pocket.   That night, at home, when you empty your pockets you will find the wrapper and that will remind you to order #3. (Note - some MSR manuals list two tuning tools, 66-83398A01 and 66-82977K01, but both are NLA from Motorola).
You will want to add a flap of tape to the tool - for two reasons - one to keep it from rolling off the bench, and a second to count turns as you twist a tuning slug.
UPDATE (June 2011) The original tool(s) are now NLA, so the current tool of choice is the MICOR Universal Tuning Tool 6684387C01, which is still available, for about $6 each.   This tool has a thin steel blade on one end, and both 0.075" and 0.100" hexes on the other end.   In addition to being the tool of choice for most Motorola equipment, it also is suitable for tuning General Electric radios such as Mastr II, Exec II, and MVP.
What sets the MICOR tuning tool apart from many other commercial tuning tools is that it has a large-diameter finger grip that allows the user to make sensitive adjustments very easily.
Thanks to Mike Besemer WM4B and Eric Lemmon WB6FLY for the update and info.

Low Band (30-50 MHz)

	A conversion of the Mitrek VHF low band mobile to 6 meters   By Wes Nicholas KD3IJ
	Another conversion of the Mitrek VHF low band mobile to 6 meters   By Tom Herman N1BEC/7
	Additional helpful info and manual scans useful to the above two mods   By Eric Lemmon WB6FLY
	Tuneup of the low band Mitrek   (Including coil presets on the RX-1 and TX-5 pages)   Courtesy John Clark KI4AWK                     RX-1     RX-2     RX-3     RX-4     RX-5         TX-1     TX-2     TX-3     TX-4     TX-5
	Tuneup of the low band Mitrek receiver   (Including coil presets)   Full width page scan courtesy of by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY
	Tuneup of the low band Mitrek transmitter   (Including coil presets)   Full width page scan courtesy of by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY

High Band (136-174 MHz)

	Conversion of the Mitrek VHF high band Mitrek mobile to repeater service   By Peter Harrison AA1PL
	Another conversion of the Mitrek VHF mobile   Courtesy SEITS         Part One     Part Two     Part Three     (all three are offsite links)
	Tuneup of the high band Mitrek radio   (4 pull-out pages covering both receiver and transmitter, including coil presets)   Full width page scan courtesy of by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY

UHF (406-512 MHz)

	Conversion of the Mitrek UHF mobile to full duplex link or repeater   By George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU & the Sierra Radio Association
	Alignment of the UHF Mitrek   Receiver     Transmitter   Alignment instructions from the manual - fullwidth scans by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY
	Tuneup of the UHF Mitrek   Receiver     Transmitter   Courtesy George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU & the Sierra Radio Association

Non-RF related Information

	Interfacing the Mitrek mobile radio to your repeater controller   (over 175 KB of text on over 50 pages, with lots of photos) By Mike Morris WA6ILQ Includes an introduction, interconnections, COR/COS, repeat audio, Micor squelch, PL and DPL boards, duplex mods, cabling, interfacing, cooling modifications, and mounting hints. This info will also help those that are setting up a Mitrek as a beacon radio. Just ignore the audio input (or short it to ground). Until you add modulation a dead carrier from a FM transmitter is the same as one from an AM transmitter.
	Karl AK2O and the Spokane Repeater Group have a different take on converting the Mitrek   66 KB of text on 17 pages, with photos.   (offsite link) Karls writeup builds on WA6ILQs and goes much further, with some serious re-engineering towards optimizing it for packet, or for point-to-point linking.   Well worth reading and printing for your Mitrek documentation binder.   Note that the main page has a number of additional pages linked to it that together form the entire article.   To print it you will need to print the main page and all linked pages separately. If anyone wants to put together a single-file download package let me know.   Once I have the file in hand I'll add it here as a download link.
	Conversion of the Mitrek VHF or UHF mobile   Courtesy Doug Spreng W7MCF
	Yet another conversion of Mitrek VHF or UHF mobile   Courtesy Lou Harris N1UEC     (offsite link)
	Mitrek HLN4181 PL Board Information   (36kb, 10 pages) By Mike Morris WA6ILQ Technical secrets of the Mitrek HLN4181 reedless PL Board, the TRN4224 tone element, plus some notes on the HLN4020 reed board.
	Mitrek HLN4181 PL Board Schematic     4.5mb PDF of a scan of the schematic sheet from the Mitrek mobile manual
	Mitrek HLN4020 dual reed PL Board Schematic and PCB Layout   This board will let you encode one tone and decode a different tone (sometimes called "split tones").
	Mitrek HLN4011 Digital PL Board Schematic
	Mitrek TLN5730 DPL Two Code Adapter Schematic    This board allows the above DPL board to encode one DPL code and decode another, sometimes called "split codes". However this board is not full duplex - it won't let you encode and decode simultaneously, the codes are switched by the PTT line.   If you need simultaneous then forget the TLN5730, use the HLN4011 board as the decoder and a Com-Spec DPL board as the encoder.
	A better squelch for the Mitrek     Using a Micor squelch chip in the Mitrek      Courtesy SEITS
	The Mitrek bottom plate is a part number HLN4034C. The new price in 2006 was about $29.
	The Mitrek and the previous mobile designs, the Mocom-70, the Motran and the Motrac) all use a variation on a plug-in relay connector (pin 13 is removed) as a metering socket.   Here's a photo of the metering plug, and a diagram of the socket.   Photo and diagram courtesy of Eric Lemmon WB6FLY
	The Mitrek mobile radio is a nice package for making a portable repeater. The domed lid that was used on the 12-channel version makes a nice space for an interfacing board containing volume and squelch pots and small controller board like an ICS or a NHRC. The holes in the chassis that were used to mount the 12-channel board can be used to mount those boards. The current draw (in amps) is:   VHF UHF Receive Standby (squelched) 0.45   (13.8v) 0.45   (13.8v) Receive unsquelched 2.25   (13.8v) 2.0   (13.8v) Transmit 40W 10A (13.6v) 60W 17A (13.6v) 75W 22A (13.4v) 110W 27A (13.4v) 30W 12A (13.6v) 50W 16A (13.6v) 75W 23A (13.4v) 100W 30A (13.4v)

Mitrek table-top base station ("Super Consolette")

The "Super Consolette" tabletop base station is essentially a desktop cabinet that contains a mobile radio chassis, one of five different power supply chassis, a speaker, the control head components, and any options like channel-scan, a metering kit, an alert tone generator, a wireline remote control card, etc.

	The documentation on the tabletop base is manual number 6881040E80-A which is no longer avilable from Moto, but is available here as a 20.7 MB PDF download courtesy of Eric Lemmon WB6FLY.   Note that you need the appropriate mobile radio manual (low band, high band, UHF or 800MHz) to go along with it.
	The "Super Consolette" Users Guide is manual number 6881159E69A - click to download the 192 Kb PDF. If you have an IQ higher than egg white you don't need it.
	Connections to the Mitrek table-top base terminal strips   Plus a few other tabletop notes...   By Mike Morris WA6ILQ
	One of the options on a tabletop base was an internal DC Metering kit. Here's the manual section on the HLN4138A option     Scanned by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY
	Base microphone documentation: TMN1004A, TMN1005A, TMN1012A, TMN1013A, TMN1014A, TMN1015A and TMN1023A   711 KB PDF
	Base microphone documentation: TMN1004B and TMN1005B   836 KB PDF
	TRN6125A and TRN6703A Electronic Clock Kit   508KB PDF The 6125 is for the Super Consolette (Mitrek) and the 6703 is for the other consolettes. I'm pretty sure that the only difference is color of the dye in the plastic.

Back to the top of the page
Up one level
Back to Home

Artistic layout and hand-coded HTML © Copyright 2005 and date of last update by Mike Morris WA6ILQ.

Motorola® is a registered trademark of Motorola Inc.     Image used with permission.
Channel Element, Mitrek® and MSR-2000® are registered trademarks of Motorola Inc.   So there!

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.