Motorola Spectra Rss Manual
General Information
This is a slightly different beast. Also known as the Spectra Clean Cab Radio. One of the specific model numbers is MB-R43KME1170AK. The MB denotes that the radio is supported by Motorola Canada. The 'R' denotes railroad application. The railroad radio uses the low power programming cable and uses Spectra Railroad RSS, part number RVN4099B due to the special functions. The RSS Manual 68P02903A55 gives a good description of all the capabilities. It is important to note that you should not apply 12V to the programming cable lead (unless of course you want to blow up the radio).
Motorola Spectra Two-Way Radio Service manual PDF View. Motorola Astro Digital Mobile Radio Xtl5000 Detailled 6881096c74 B Manual Add to Favourites Deta ile d S erv ic e M anual A STR O® VH F UHF R an ge 1 a n d 2 7 00– 800 M Hz M obile R adio. Motorola Astro RSS Manual. RSS Manual 68-81098E85-O. Motorola Astro Spectra Siren/PA Wiring Information. English Language PDF Document. Motorola Astro XTL-5000 Detailed Service Manual. English Language PDF Documents within a ZIP package. Motorola CDM/PRO Series Detailed Service Manual. Motorola Spectra Manuals Learn how to set up and operate your Talkabout Walkie-Talkie Consumer Radios User Guides. RSS checks for, so Motorola made it difficult to use any other code plug than the one that came with the radio. Batlabs is the Motorola Spectra User. Spectra and Digital Spectra Mobile Radio Installation Manual 950 kB PDF Hand-Held Control Head Single and Dual Radio Instruction Manual 2.8 MB PDF Introductory information only for Option W845ASSP (dual radio) and Option W845AUSP (single radio) with HHCH, SIU, security boxes, etc. Scanned by WA1MIK. The Spectra DTMF decoder option manual is titled 'Model W946ALSP' and is part number 6807992D56. It documents the HLN6151A DTMF decoder circuit (schematic and parts list), operation, RSS defaults, theory and troubleshooting.
The service manual for these radios is 6802902A82.
The radio has 99 independently selectable transmit and receive channels. These are normally programmed for the 97 standard AAR (Association of American Railroads) channel plan. In the US, this channel plan starts at Channel 07 (160.215) and goes up at 15 kHz intervals to Channel 97 (161.565). TX and RX frequency can be set independently by the user by selecting the proper number in the display (when monitoring, you'll often hear RR personnel saying things like 'set both windows to 14', in reference to this). It has user selectable DTMF or AAR Single Tone signaling. It supports DTMF dialing from the keypad. The DTMF pad works without having to press the PTT button, also, but you may need to change the unkey time to prevent the transmitter from dropping out between key presses. It also supports up to 99 'Home' channels that will select a preprogrammed TX/RX channel pair and the signaling tones. This radio is not capable of scanning... the railroad has no use for scanning, the engineers know what channel that are supposed to be on, so that feature was never implemented.
You can add other than AAR freqs to it. Some RR's have repeater inputs that are out of the RR band (particularly Government owned RR's like Amtrak, Long Island RR, Metro North, NYCTA, etc.) and the RR Spectra accommodates that.
The RR Spectra RSS allows you to set the 'pre-sets', DTMF tone sequences (transmitted when you push the DISP button), MDC tones, etc.
You can set P/L tones, but again, only on pre-set channels.
The presets are made up by tying individually programmed channels together after frequency information has been entered into them. If you don't need PL or DPL capability (which are accessed only through the Home mode configurations), you are free to do all sorts of weird stuff using the stand alone channel memories. For example, this has been done with amateur frequencies. You can program the radio such that channel '38 38' represents 146.52 simplex, and it works great. '38 36' could be programmed to let you transmit on 146.52 and monitor 146.49 (I know that would be bad operating practice, but the radio will let you do it). Of course, you have to remember what frequency (or frequencies) you put in each channel memory, because the radio will give you only the channel number. So before long, you will go back and set up Home modes for everything. Then, if you enter 'Home' '3' '8', the display shows 146.520 and everything automatically works perfectly.
Now...apart from the capabilities of the radio, FCC Part 90 rules prohibit giving operators in those services the ability to access channels other than those licensed. Having direct access to repeater and simplex frequencies, and the ability of operators to build unintended operating configurations would be outside those rules. The radio can be programmed for 'Home Mode Only' operation, however, which would make it work essentially like any dash mount Spectra, with access only to predetermined transmit/receive configurations.
You can set up as many as 99 preset, or 'Home' channels. You move between the 'Channel' and 'Home' modes either by pressing the appropriate button and entering a number, or else by pressing and holding the desired mode button for about 3 seconds. If in 'Home' mode, the radio remembers the previous channel setup, and if in 'channel' mode, it remembers the last 'Home' setup.
The RF part of the radio is a standard 146-174MHz 45W Spectra but the firmware and control interface is special. The Canadian versions of these radios are limited to 30W.
They also have an internal power supply capable of operating on 12VDC/72VDC (railroad standard).
Keep in mind that even though standard railroad channels are 15 kHz apart, these radios are intended to operate with 25 kHz channels (on an alternate channel basis).
Railroad Spectras are actually sort of wide-band units, primarily because Canadian railroads have traditionally used frequencies way outside the AAR channels at 160-161 MHz. The Railroad Spectra will, without modification or adjustment, do all amateur frequencies, as well as MARS/CAP, and will go at least to the upper 160s. It will probably go at least to 172 mHz. What it will not do is narrow bandwidth channels.
You will find that their most outstanding characteristics are their filtering of input DC power (locomotives are electrically hostile environments) and their overall audio performance, both on transmit and receive. (Locomotive cabs can be audibly hostile environments).
Connector Pinouts
The pinouts of the connectors on the radio go like this:
Power connector:
Use only A and C for railroad 72 volt (nominal 64V supply) power, or B and D for 13.8 volt (nominal 12V supply). The 72 volt supply floats; the 13.8 volt supply is negative ground.
When using 72 volts to power this radio, the connections are as stated. However, since the battery system floats from the locomotive frame ground, it is necessary to use a 3 wire cable to make a power connection. The third wire goes to pin 'B' on the power connector and to the frame ground at the other end. This connection is necessary to provide a proper RF ground for the radio.12 pin Auxiliary Connector:
As with all Spectras, the audio amplifier is a direct coupled, floating type. DO NOT GROUND either speaker line or permanent damage to the radio may result. An audio transformer is available if necessary to utilize a nonstandard audio configuration. I do not have the part number.
6 pin 'Hardwired Mic/Handset' Connector (on Front Panel Circuit board, P1005):
Some models have an optional hard-wired handset or palm microphone. These radios have a hole at the lower lefthand corner of the front bezel (the casting is slightly different, also) for the cable to pass through to the outside.
6 Pin Auxiliary Connector (J3003):
15 Pin Auxiliary/Programming Connector (DB15) (J3006, Service Data Port):
Note that the Amphenol connectors can be obtained (except for the 12 pin bayonet style) from Connector World Supply in Seattle, WA. The 12 pin connector is about $90 from Motorola, unknown if it is still available.
If you have a Railroad radio with a microphone connector, the microphone plug is the same on all railroad radios, as part of the universal connector system. The pinout is as follows. Counter-clockwise from the bump in the ring where the pins are: 1.(on bump) mic hi, 2.spare (not used), 3.'monitor', 4.PTT lo, 5.PTT, 6.mic lo.
If you look carefully at the pinout of the accessory connector on the back of the radio, you will see that it has everything you need to make a very simple TNC cable and either do amateur packet or commercial data. These are great radios for either application. In fact, the best ones for this application are the Canadian versions which are hard-limited to 30 watts output. Turns out that the reduced power is great for the higher duty cycle.
General Info
Figure out what programming cable you need. Take a look at the mic connector.
If you need a programming cable for the P1820AX portable repeater, just use a regular mobile programming cable and program each radio individually.
The pinout of the 15 pin accessory connector on the Spectra 900 is as follows:
If you want the pinouts of the connectors on other Spectra models, refer to the installation diagrams at the bottom of the page.
If you have an Astro Spectra, you will want to look at the Astro Mobile page too.
Certain Spectra's like the Smartnet or Securenet radios don't have scan. You can't enable it in anyway. The board inside the radio that controls the scan feature is not present in the radio.
The scanning features on older radios is part of the programming in the MLM module. If its not in the MLM, and you want to get it, you have to 'pay' for a MLM with scan in it from Motorola. The RSS won't unlock it, even though the RSS knows about scanning.
If you are hoping to find a way to get a Spectra to scan more than 16 channels, I think you will want to give up for now. We have yet to hear any method of doing this. However, should someone find a way, please let us know and we will post the results. BTW, if your radio is capable of zones, you can have a scanlist for each zone...
You can convert a Maxtrac DTMF mic for use on a Spectra by changing the cord, color for color, clipping R18 and adding jumper JU1. Note that you can get an almost identical schematic of the boards in a Maxtrac DTMF mic from the MCX1000 VHF Service Manual.
The Spectra VRM 600 which has a modem capable of RD-LAP data built in the front of the Spectra dash radio and no functioning control head uses PIN 4 (SW B+) for ignition sense. The standard dash mount programming cable power lead needs to be changed from pin 5 to pin 4 for this radio. I believe this is because of lack of a front panel power switch.
If you want to connect a MDC1200 unit to a Spectra, you need this diagram.
If you are looking for the pinout of the HLN1196A Auxilliary Switch Panel, then you will want to look here.
Spectra's come in many frequency bandsplits, called Ranges. Below is a list of the available ranges for VHF and UHF.
- VHF
- Range-1 136-162 MHz
- Range-2 146-174 MHz
- UHF
- Range-1 403-433 MHz
- Range-2 438-470 MHz
- Range-3 450-482 MHz
- Range-4 482-512 MHz
You cannot tell the range of the radio just by looking at the model number, you will have to read the radio with RSS in order to figure out what frequency range it covers.
If you connect a 9000 head to a A5 Spectra, the display shows gibberish but most functions still work.
When connecting an A7 head to an A5 radio, all A5 functions work but the A7 only functions do not (direct mode access etc.).
If you need to make a cable to connect an A9 Control Head to a DEK, you will need this pinout:
This is for the 3080248L01 interface cable.
The pinout of the KVL to Spectra Cable is as follows (refer to the mic connector pinout above for proper pin orientation):
This should be the 01-82997T04 cable, which used to be the TKN8531.
Hacking Codeplugs with LAB RSS
All the information you need to hack the codeplug for the Spectra can be found HERE.
Service Manuals
Here are a listing of the Service Manual part numbers for this series of radios:
- 6880102W61 -- Spectra Detailed Service Manual
- 6880101W33 -- Spectra Deatiled Service Manual is this the same thing as above for more money?
- 6881074C45 -- Spectra Service Manual, 800 MHz
- 6880101W37 -- Spectra Service Manual, 900 MHz
- 6881070C95 -- Spectra Service Manual, VHF
- 6880101W39 -- Spectra Service Manual, UHF
- 6880102W33 -- Spectra Service Manual, SecureNet
- 6880101W48 -- Spectra RSS User's Guide
- 6881108C90 -- Front/Rear Control Units for Spectra 9000 Radio Systems
- 6881070C85 -- Spectra and Astro Digital Spectra Installation Manual
- 6880101W10 -- Siren/Public Address for Systems 9000 and Spectra Radios Instruction Manual
- 6880102W80 -- Spectra C9 Operators Manual
- 6880103W09 -- DEK Service Manual
- 6880101W87 -- Spectra Control Station (Base Station) Service Manual
- 6880103W09 -- Spectra Control Station Installation Manual
- 6880102W79 -- Spectra 9000 Manual Supplement
- 6880102W82 -- Spectra 9000 Maxtrac Headset
- 6880101W89 -- Spectra Smartnet Operator's Manual
- 6880102W93 -- Spectra Maxtrac Control Base Manual
- 6880102W72 -- Spectra B2 Control Head Operators Manual
- 6880102W71 -- Spectra MDC3600/4800 FM 2 Way
- 6880102W65 -- Spectra Replacement MLM Manual
- 6880102W48 -- Spectra A3 Control Head Service Supplement
- 6880102W43 -- Spectra Securenet Manual
- 6880102W42 -- Spectra HHCH (Hand-Held Control Head) Manual
- 6880101W34 -- Spectra Conventional Operators Manual
- 6880101W36 -- Spectra Installation Manual
- 6880101W13 -- Spectra/System 9000 Auxiliary Switch Panel Manual
- 6807994D15 -- SIU RSS Manual
- 6880103W01 -- Spectra Motorcycle 2-way FM Radio
- 6807992D56 -- Model W946ALSP (DTMF Decode Option)
Another good, detailed, source for manual part numbers is on Mike's Site.
Model Breakdown
D | 2 | 7 | K | M | A | 7 | J | A | 9 | A | K |
Radio Type | Power Level | Bandsplit | Unknown | System Operation | Model Specific | Operational Mode | Model Specific | Control Version | Control Type | Model Revision | Model Package |
D Dash | 1<10 W | 1 Low Band VHF | F ? | G Trunking | A Model Specific | 5 Trunking | J Model Specific | A Conventional | 2 Limited | A Original Version | K Model Package |
L Consolette | 2 15 W | 2 Mid Band VHF | K ? | M Conventional | 7Conventional | B Privacy Plus | 3 HHCH | ||||
M Motorcycle | 3 30 W | 3 High Band VHF | V ? | X SecureNet | C SmartNet | 4 Rotary | |||||
T Trunk | 4 45 W | 4 UHF | D StarSite | 5 Standard (3 Button) | |||||||
6 75 W | 5 800 MHZ | E Enhanced | 7 Expanded (12 Button) | ||||||||
7 100 W | 7 900 MHZ | 8 Expanded Control Station | |||||||||
8 110 W | 9 Systems 9000 |
Spectra Interconnect Boards
I am sure most of you are aware of the HLN6285 interconnect board for the Spectra radio. This is the newest board which will allow you to run an A4 head or the newer advanced heads on a Spectra with out the radio going into a hissy fit and keying up as soon as you turn on the radio.If you are discarding your HLN6058's and HLN6066's and buying the HLN6285, YOU WAISTING YOUR $38.00 PLUS SHIPPING!!!!
Take your your 6058's and 6066's and isolate pins 4,5,22,and 29. To find these pins, look at your interconnect board while it is still in the radio after taking off the control head. They will be the pins at the top of the board, not to be confused with the lower black plug which the control head mates with.
Starting from the top row of pins at the very left which will be pin 1. As you get to pin 6 you will see that pin 7 is missing and then continues to pin 8 all the way to the far right which will be pin 19. Pin 20 starts at the bottom left bellow pin 1 and proceeds to the far right which will be pin 38.
You can cut the traces to each pin or just unsolder it and remove it like a bad tooth.
You now have an HLN6285.
Converting a UHF Spectra for Amateur use
The older versions of Spectra software wouldn't allow a 450-512 MHz radio to go below 449MHz. The latest Spectra RSS allows programming to 440. You may have to retune the VCO to get the radio to 'lock' on freqs below 440.5 MHz in receive mode. This version of RSS also lets you program down to 140 MHz on the 146-174 MHz bandsplit radios.
If you need to modify your RSS to open it up to the ham band, then you will need to go here first.
The VCO modifications are covered here.
Converting a 900 MHz Spectra for Amateur use
Okay, here's what we've been told should work for converting a 900 MHz Spectra for use in the ham band.
You will want to program all your conventional channels with Hear Clear and the compander options turned OFF.
Then, you need to program some frequencies into your radio. You will no doubt find that normally the RSS will not allow you to enter frequencies that will work in the ham band. You will need to modify your RSS in order to get it to accept these out of band frequencies. For the out of band modifications, you will want to click here.
You may have heard references to a 'SP' version of Spectra RSS, like SP06.00.10 RSS. There is some doubt as to whether this software really exists, or not. No one has been able to produce much concrete evidence. While it may work, modifying the normal RSS is probably a better idea.
For all those who have told you that you can enter the out of band frequencies with Lab RSS, they're lying. There have been many people who have tried, and they all come up with the same result... 'Value outside range for this model. Please consult service manual.'
You are also going to need to do some hardware modifications to the RF section of the radio. You can use the following procedure to modify the VCO, or you can click here for a different and more comprehensive procedure.
In order to get the VCO to lock, you need to play with resistor values (refer to schematic for resistor placement) in order to get the correct value to avoid a FAIL 001.
To get 5khz deviation on TX, solder .003 mfd across C651. You will get over 5 kHz TX deviation, so you must adjust the deviation in RSS to compensate.
For better receive response, you must replace the filters in the front end. Remove FL6301 and FL6302 (they are 7.5 kHz BW) and replace them with Motorola part# 91-80297k05, they are 12 khz BW. The filters are located in the center of the RF board, they are the blue squares. Be careful when de-soldering them, the traces are VERY small.
Corrupt Codeplugs
It appears that some Spectra's, when loaded with a corrupt codeplug, give the error FL01/82. Others lock themself into a repeating SELF CHK loop which is near impossible to do any more programming with.
We've been told that with lab software that you can get it out of this loop. You have to change the serial number of the radio, re-initialize and tune the radio, then read the codeplug and send it back to the radio in order to stop the repeating loop.
After changing the serial number the display reads FL01/82 (which is a corrupted codeplug), just keep going with the above procedure, and everything should be fine.
There is also something else you might try. We have heard that when the radio is stuck in this loop, if you play with the HOME and DIM buttons, you might be able to get the radio to stop looping and stay on a mode. You might have to try this a few times to get the timing right.
Once you have the radio stopped from looping, try dumping a good codeplug into it or cloning your backup codeplug to it (again it may take a few tries). If you're lucky, you may not have to go through the above procedure.
If this fails, you can also try the following. Hook up the Spectra to the RIB in the normal way for programming. Connect the Spectra to a variable voltage power supply, ideally one where you can switch the output voltage. Now power up the Spectra at about 6 or 7 volts. When the self check display first comes up quickly switch the power supply to the regular 12 volt level and the Spectra may stay on.
The MLM Board
Ok, here is a detailed explanation of what the MLM is and does in the Spectra, and what is involved in trying to upgrade them properly.
The MLM (Memory Logic Module) board contains the firmware and programming info as to what the radio can and will do. The MLM is located under this shield on the logic board. With the shield off, you can see the sticker which contains the serial number programmed in the MLM, as well as the firmware version (in this case, v6.15). If you pull the MLM out of the header on the logic board, you get a unit that looks like this. You will notice the two 27C512's which contain the firmware for the radio and the 28C64 which contains the codeplug data.
Most people who try to upgrade a Spectra (ie. try and make a Spectra 800 B5 into a C9) will not be 100% successful when using lab to force feed a C9 archive into a B5. The reason is, if the MLM board version of the C9 is say a 5.06 and the B5 MLM board you are trying to convert is a 3.22, you will not be successful because the lower version board does not have the all the chips and memory to hold all the info.
If you continue to try and trick the radio into taking the info, you will probably end up with a FAIL 01/90 when you turn the radio on and it will not stay on.
The correct way to upgrade the Spectra is to find as many Spectras as you can with all the features in the radio in all the band splits and check the MLM boards. If they are version 5.00 or higher, then you will want to extract the firmware out of them and save them.
The way to do this is to take out the MLM board and look at the chip side with the pins on the right side of the board. You will have to take off the first chip on the far left and use a programmer to read the info and then save it as a bin file and label it (ie. 800 C9 LEFT). Put this chip back on the board and remove the second chip and do the same, labeling it too (ie. 800 C9 RIGHT).
These are the firmware IC's which hold all the info such as, SECURNET, ZONE, 9000 CONTROL HEAD OPTIONS, ect. These chips are usually 27C512's and are EPROMS which can only be written once.
Now you need to remove the far right chip which is usually a 28C64. The procedure is the same as the previous (read it, and save the file with a name like 800 C9 MAIN). This chip is an EEPROM which can be erased and re-written. It contains information such as MODEL #, SERIAL#, codeplug data, ect.
If you have ever noticed when you use lab and force feed one codeplug into another with some success, you usually have to program from the archive to make any changes. If you tried reading the radio after upgrading with lab, you will usually loose all the features because all you did was store enough information into the the MAIN chip to make a couple of things work, but not always 100%.
The theory of the MLM board is when you read you're radio via RSS, you have read all three chips, the LEFT and RIGHT tell you what you can do and the MAIN is where you store all you're info such as, FREQUENCY, PL, MDC, HOME MODE, ect.
Now, you'd figure that if you replaced the firmware on your MLM with the newer firmware and replaced the codeplug EEPROM with a blank one, you should have a nice, new, blanked board, right? Wrong. If you put a blank chip on the board, you will get FAIL 01/90. The 28C64 also contains the info to fire up the Selfcheck and make the control head work. We are trying to figure out just what the minimum info the codeplug EEPROM needs in it to make the radio function so that you can get the proper model and serial number in it for your radio.
FAIL 01/90
We must point out that we do not claim this will work every time especially if you are trying to alter an MLM for extra features.
While reprogramming a Spectra, power accidently got killed to the radio. You know what happened next... FAIL 01/90.
The next day, we decided to do some programming on a VHF Syntor X9000. Well everything was on the bench, including the Spectra that got toasted. Not paying attention to what we were doing, everything was hooked up, and when we turned on the 9000 control head, some weird fail codes appeared.
After tracing the cable from the head, we realized it was connected to the Spectra. We had accidently put the Syntor X9000 head on the Spectra. More importantly, we noticed that the radio was no longer the the dreaded FAIL 01/90. Being curious, we put the A7 head back on the Spectra, and sure enough got the FAIL 01/90 cycle.
Motorola Spectra Programming
We put the 9000 head back on and went through the standard procedures like re-entering the serial number and reprogramming the radio. Well it worked. The radio came back to life.
This was tried on a couple different radios (scrambling them and recovering them). Each time when putting the Syntor X9000 head on the radio, it would cause the radio to stay on so that we could refresh the MLM back to its original state.
Again, we do not recommend this practice for modifying an MLM, only to as a last resort to try and restore it.
There are some other things to check if you are getting a FAIL 01/90. These are listed below:
If you are using it as the second head, change it to the primary and see if it still fails. If it works, you need a new dual interconnect port for your remotes.
If that is not the problem, then check all the pins on the head. Make sure all of them are getting continuity on the board and through the cable. I have had some that had bad pins and I ended up flowing some solder on them to get them to make better contact when the cable was hooked up.
You might also check the solder connections on the control head board, and trace them through out the head. You might have a failed SMD somewhere that is keeping a signal from getting through. I recently picked up a 1066 that would not key up. I ended up putting a jumper across the PTT pin at the mic connector to the PTT line on the cable connector. I found that alot of the A9 heads start to go bad at the pin connectors and the layered boards because to much flexing and pressure applied when constantly removing or cheap installation.
Spectra Systems 9000 Control Heads
There are a number of Spectra Systems 9000 (A9) control heads available. The part numbers we've seen are as follows:
Part Number | Subs To | Description |
HCN1045B | H1591A | NPD Clear Replacement |
HCN1063A | H1591A | |
HCN1066F | H1593A | Zone/Mode/Vol Replacement |
HCN1071C | H1596A | Rear NPD Replacement |
HCN1033D | HCN1073E | X9000 Head |
HCN1063B | X9000 Head |
Now, you're probably wondering what all this means. Well, the 'Clear NPD Replacement' is a normal replacement head from National Parts Division that has all buttons installed, but they are all clear (no labels).
The HCN1066 head is a Spectra head that has rocker positions for Zone, Mode, and Volume. This is kind of nice if you have a radio that is zone capable, then you can have a properly labeled zone rocker rather than having to use a couple of arrow keys.
The HCN1071 head is listed as a rear head, but it works just fine when programmed as a front head. Even in the Front/Rear Installation Manual, it states that there is no electrical difference between the front and rear heads, only the programming of the EEPROM (through RSS).
A note about the part number suffixes. The last letter on the end of the part number usually denotes the revision or release level of the part. So, while a HCN1066F and HCN1066G are exactly the same head, the G version was released later than the F version. I am making a note of this because when you search the Motorola Parts Database for part numbers, they may not have all the revisions listed, so your search may turn up a blank. The way around this is to use a * in place of the revision letter. The search will be a lot slower, but then you will see all the versions in the database as well as the substitute part numbers for each of them.
If anyone else has any part numbers of Systems 9000 heads that are confirmed to work with the Spectra, please email us with the part number and description so we can add it to the table.
Do you have a Spectra 9000 head that is VERY dead? Pull it apart and check the aluminum electrolytic capacitors on the back of the board. They have been known to leak and cause traces to open up. If you replace them, clean the board, and check/repair the traces, you will probably fix the problem.
Spectra Test Mode
Turn on radio. Press HOME 5 times within 15 seconds. Press MODE UP Radio displays serial number Menu is presented - select by pressing