Up one level
Back to Home
  Information and Modifications for the Mitrek and Motrek mobile radios and the Mitrek or Motrek-based Super Consolette tabletop base station
Compiled by Mike Morris WA6ILQ
Web page maintained by Robert Meister WA1MIK
I know nothing about this equipment so please don't ask!
   

Note: Any Motorola prices mentioned on this page (or on any page at this web site) should be taken only as a rough guideline. Motorola adjusts prices quarterly, and offers one set of prices to their dealers/service shops (the so called "NSO" or "National Service Organization" pricing), another to "self-maintaining" fleet customers (i.e. those that have their own radio shops: cities, counties, police departments, fire departments, etc), and a third on their telephone order desk (i.e. retail sales). For these reasons readers should use the prices mentioned in an article only as a rough indication.

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

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):

B(or later)-revision Mitrek chassis (see the note on the "Mitrek Plus" radios below): (i.e. TnnJJA-nnnnBx, Cx, Dx, Ex, etc): Other:

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 an 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 cable kit 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, part number 6881046E05. 626 KB. I was told that the "Plus" changes were later rolled into the "B" or "C" version chassis and manuals - but I haven't taken the time to verify that - it would take comparing an "A" version manual to the Supplement and to a "B" or "C" version manual to verify that.

The Mitrek Plus 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.


The Motrek was the single-channel or two-channel economy version of the Mitrek. It was a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than a Mitrek (which had one to four channels), so there were a lot of sales in basic radio systems such as in taxicabs and delivery trucks.
Where the Mitrek model numbers are in the format of TnnJJA-nnnn (where n is a number) all models of the Motrek use JEA instead of JJA. The manual for the T43/53/73 VHF radios is 6880100W30, the T34/44/64 UHF radios is manual 6880100W35. As of early 2012 the VHF manual is still available; the UHF manual is NLA.
The model charts for the VHF Motreks are here as a 105 KB file.


Information common to the Mitrek and the MSR2000

. 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.
. Mitrek Parts Catalog

RF related Information:

The official Mitrek and MSR2000 tuning tool is part number 6684230K01. 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 its 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, 6683398A01 and 6682977K01, 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)

. Mitrek low-band service manual 6881045E65-O   Donated by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY. 7 MB PDF file.
. 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. 858 KB
. Tuneup of the low-band Mitrek transmitter   (Including coil presets)   Full width page scan courtesy of by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY. 2.4 MB

High-band (136-174 MHz)

. Conversion of the Mitrek VHF high-band Mitrek mobile to repeater service   By Peter Harrison AA1PL
. 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. 1.6 MB

High-band and/or UHF Conversions

. Conversion of the Mitrek VHF or UHF mobile to a repeater   Courtesy Doug Spreng W7MCF
. Yet another conversion of the Mitrek VHF or UHF mobile to a repeater   Courtesy Lou Harris N1UEC. (offsite link)

UHF (406-512 MHz)

. Conversion of the Mitrek UHF mobile to full duplex link or repeater   By George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU and the Sierra Radio Association
. Conversion of the Mitrek 406-420 MHz 30 watt mobile for 420 MHz link service   By the Cactus Radio Club, Inc. 110 KB PDF file.
. Motorola Mitrek conversion to a repeater or link radio   (offsite link)
Karl AK2O and the Spokane Repeater Group have a different take on converting the Mitrek. Karl's writeup builds on Mike WA6ILQ's interfacing article 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.
. Alignment of the UHF Mitrek   Receiver (431 KB)     Transmitter (583 KB)   Alignment instructions from the manual - full width scans by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY
. Tuneup of the UHF Mitrek   Receiver     Transmitter   Courtesy of George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU and 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.
. Mitrek HLN4181 PL Board Information   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   840 KB PDF of a scan of the schematic sheet from the Mitrek mobile manual.
. Mitrek HLN4020 dual reed PL Board Schematic and PCB Layout   793 KB PDF. This board will let you alternately encode one tone and decode a different tone, selected by the state of the PTT line (sometimes called "split tones").
. Mitrek HLN4011 Digital PL Board Schematic   733 KB PDF.
. Mitrek HLN4011 and YLN4011 Digital PL (DPL) Board Basic Information   The YLN4011 is a redesign of the HLN4011 to allow multiple DPL codes. Does anyone have any documentation on it?
. Mitrek TLN5730 DPL Two Code Adapter Schematic   205 KB PDF. This board allows the above HLN5011 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 encode and decode then forget the TLN5730, use the HLN4011 board as the decoder and a Com-Spec DPL board as the encoder.
. Interfacing a KPC-9612 to a Mitrek   By Oliver Buland W9ZGS
. A better squelch for the Mitrek   Using a MICOR squelch chip in the Mitrek; Courtesy of SEITS
. The Mitrek bottom plate (the mounting 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 (part number??) 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, a homebrew, or an Allstar node. The holes in the chassis that were used to mount the 12-channel board can be used to mount those boards (night need tapping/threading).
. I think that these current draw values are a worst-case scenario. However, remember that all of the Mitrek tabletop base station transmitters are rated at a 20% duty cycle.

The current draws listed in the manuals (in amps) are:
  VHF UHF
Receive Standby (squelched) 0.45   (13.8v) 0.45   (13.8v)
Receive unsquelched 2.25   (13.8v) 2.0   (13.8v)
Transmit
40 Watts 10A (13.6v)
60 Watts 17A (13.6v)
75 Watts 22A (13.4v)
110 Watts 27A (13.4v)
30 Watts 12A (13.6v)
50 Watts 16A (13.6v)
75 Watts 23A (13.4v)
100 Watts 30A (13.4v)


Mitrek Tabletop Base Station: ("Super Consolette")

. The "Super Consolette" tabeletop base station manual 6881040E80-A is available here as an 11.8 MB PDF download courtesy of Eric Lemmon WB6FLY. Note that you need the appropriate mobile radio manual (low-band, high-band, UHF or 800 MHz) to go along with it.
. The "Super Consolette" tabletop base station is essentially a desktop cabinet that contains a mobile radio chassis, one of five different power supplies, 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 "Super Consolette" User's Guide 6881159E69-A is available here as a 196 KB PDF. If you have an IQ higher than egg-white you don't need it.
. Mitrek DC Metering kit   Extracted from the complete manual by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY. 120 KB PDF file.
. Connections to the Mitrek Consolette tabletop base terminal strips   Plus a few other Mitrek tabletop notes... By Mike Morris WA6ILQ
. Base microphone documentation: TMN1004A, TMN1005A, TMN1012A, TMN1013A, TMN1014A, TMN1015A and TMN1023A   711 KB PDF
. Base microphone documentation: TMN1004B and TMN1005B   836 KB PDF
. Motorola used the same outer housing for the Motrac / Motran-based stations and the Mitrek-based stations; all that was different was the dye in the plastic: the Motrac / Motran-based stations were a brownish-tan and the Mitrek was black.
The peel-and-stick label kit part numbers are 5483327G01 (Tan) or -02 (Black).
. TRN6125A and TRN6703A Electronic Clock Kit   508 KB 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.
. The HPN1001A and HPN1002A power supplies are the low-power supplies and were used in the 60w low-band stations, the 40 and 60w high-band stations, and the 30 watt and 50 watt UHF stations. The HPN1001 was 120v 60Hz only, the HPN1002 was designed to be jumperable for 120v, 220v or 240v AC and the transformer could handle 50 or 60 Hz.
. The service manual says that the 60 watt low-band or high-band station draws 15 amps on transmit, the 50 watt UHF station draws 19 amps.
. The HPN1000A and HPN1003A are the high-power supplies and were used in stations where the transmitters drew up to 30 amps. The HPN1003A was 120v 60Hz only, the HPN1000A was designed to be jumperable for 120v, 220v or 240v AC and the transformer could handle 50 Hz or 60Hz.

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

This page was created 10-Dec-2006.

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.