On Sat, 3 Apr 2010, AARON LEWIS DINKIN wrote: > Salutations, I just recently acquired a Motorola Syntor 9000 X (as > well as a Systems 9000 kit as well as a Spectra box) off eBay, and I'm > in a bit of a pickle; I didn't realize how much of a radio I was > getting myself into, because I only have previous HT (Yaesu VX-8R and > Kennwood K2AT) experience, and I didn't realize how HEAFTY the > Motorola was going to be.
Motorola's philosophy can be compared to GM's; it's radio by the pound, and 110 watts is heavy. > The Connector cables alone are so massive and confusing, I'm reaching out > for help. I'm going to need someone to help me sort through all of the > information from http://www.onfreq.com/syntorx/ as well > as http://www.repeater-builder.com/motorola/syntor/syntor-index.html to > help me sort through and reach a boiled down "meat and potatoes" step by > step sequence I can go through to help trouble shoot the radio and HOOK IT > UP TO MY VEHICLE. Should be a big red wire -- goes to the battery through a fuse-holder rated for 40A. Should be a big black wire. Goes to ground, like to the body of the car. The green wire on the control head goes to an always on low amperage source (think of this as RX enable) and the orange wire is wired to the ignition (think of this as TX enable). Plug the antenna into the SO-239 and watch anything not rated for 110W go up in smoke. Literally. I've melted a Tram 1180 in half with this radio. > I've noticed the above sites recommend that I open up the radio to see > if it's setup for a positive or a negative ground. But i really need > help decoding the cables so I know what wires go where? I need to > decode which wires are for the SIREN, the LIGHT BAR, the Vehicle > power, etc. The Syntor X9000 uses RS-485 between each Systems 9000 accessory, along with a differentially signalled BUSY line, so you won't be able to "sort out" siren and so on. The Syntor X9000 is the first of the radios that was able to be programmed from a PC, and uses RSS. It cannot be programmed using any of the Syntor X tools. > their own microprocessor inside. Unlike the Syntor X the X9000 > is programmed with RSS (and a slow PC), a RIB and special > adapter cable that goes in series with the normal radio cable. > The the special cable is not an absolute requirement; there are > several ways to make your own connection from a radio to a RIB. > In other words, the X9000 is a more desirable mobile radio than > a Syntor X since you don't need the almost-impossible-to-find > suitcase programmer for the plain Syntor or the Syntor X... you > just connect a slow PC or a laptop to the X9000 and program it. > The RSS package for the X9000 contains two programs, one to > program the radio, and one to program the head (you program the > radio with the information (frequency, tone, etc) for each mode, > you program the head with the text to display for each mode). > That being stated, there's a company that's > called http://www.piexx.com/ they make a > mod, http://www.piexx.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5 it's primarily > for the Syntor and the Syntor X lines, it allows the unit to be more easily > programmed. So instead of using the hard to find "suitcase programmer" you > can hook your system to a Win9X based or WinMe based system to program it, > instead of having to hook it to a "Slow PC Running Real DOS." This doesn't work for the Syntor X9000, which is a different radio than the Syntor X. Before you even THINK of making a reverse hybrid (converting a Syntor X9000 to a Syntor X), contact someone on the list. Someone will have a Syntor X somewhere they will be happy to outright trade with you. > I was curious if there was a way to apply this mod to the 9000 X Series, I > understand it won't necessarily be a TRIVIAL mod, but I'm up for the > challenge if someone's willing to help walk me through what I need to do! You're in unexplored territory. -- Kris Kirby, KE4AHR Disinformation Analyst
