Capacitor problems:
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20190001592/downloads/20190001592.pdf
So the 10n ceramic caps with unprotected sides (not encapsulated in epoxy) may be a big problem.
A radio here has, by the look of the case casting been out in the weather for perhaps months. And,
may well be why they were on the "throw out" table at the Dural T&T.
The next BIG problem is in programming. Apart from the software issues with DOS and DOSBOX etc. There's
the 10n capacitor C414 (2nd part left of the 4MHz xtal) fair across the data line into the micro and has a devastating
effect on the waveform at 9600 baud. I chop of the 10n cap and put a 1n5 cap under the board across the diode
to the right of the X24C16 chip. I notice, the software for the earlier Pro and before uses 1200 or 2400 baud
where the 10n cap is not so serious across the data line.
The WATCHDOG TIMER, pin 1 of the micro, is reset (quiet) when the Rx PLL is locked or an eeprom with no channels,
ie. is ready to be programmed, is in. Resets the micro around every 2 secs, plays havock with programming.
Hardware Handshake on the programming cable onthe drawing, no mention of RTS/CTS or CD and they should be!
I've found CTS (5) should be linked to DSR (6) and DTR (20) but CD (8) should be left OPEN. Or for a DB9, 4 to 6 and 8.
The serial port on the computer. USB or, on the motherboard, it must be capable of full-duplex operation WITHOUT
framing errors! Hook up your programming cable, do not connect to a radio and run up dosbox-x and SYNPLUS.EXE and
watch the error messages from dosbox-x. SYNPLUS.EXE will give "No radio connected". This means, because of the one wire
communication systen, the message SYNPLUS.EXE sent was received back. "Framing errors" from dosbox-x will mean problems
programming as it shows either the serial port cannot handle simultaneous Tx and Rx or, the radio is responding and the
data is clashing with what's being sent by SYNPLUS.EXE meaning your PC speed is too fast or too slow.
I have three USB to Serial adapters here, one FTDI chipset, may be a fake and two PL2303 one is ATTEN brand.
The FTDI chipset on Linux works but will not do the 5bit mode initialised by SYNPLUS.EXE before setting the 9600,8,n,1 mode.
One of the PL2303 units occasionally shows the "will not do 5bit mode" error - puzzling.
I fired up my old Pentium P233mmx box with Slackware 8 and DOS 3.10 that also has the Sunshine EPROM programmer from 1985
in an ISA slot. SYNPLUS.EXE runs but will not show in MENU2 F5 "Show PERSONALITY of connected radio". Does better booted
from floppy and Win95 DOS.
This PC has a serial port and yes, does "talk" to my Plus radio, but not perfectly - bummer.
I've created a NSW eeprom ie. with CTCSS tone 91.5 Hz set for all frequencies except those actually 123Hz. The radio this is in,
has "issues" in that the mute won't close and the Rx audio when fed with a tone either 400Hz or 1KHz at 2KHz deviation
wanders up and down in level and goes distorted. And noise shows clear crossover distortion??? Now fixed, leakage around U4d.
Command line options to SYNPLUS.EXE "xtend" and "factory" and COM1 or 2.
No "/" is required as was customary for DOS command line switches.
The tone messages from the radio four beeps and a space repeated means Rx PLL is not locked.
You'll notice this same beep when metal objects bump the Rx VCO and a PLL unlock is detected. This can be checked
by a sensible voltage on the pad next to the yellow 15nJ100 capacitor in the VCO area.
My advice, get a Minipro TL866 "Universal Programmer" which can read and write the X24C16 eeprom.
The X24C16 eeprom can take 100,000 reprogrammings according to the data sheet.
It's noted, before removing or replacing the X24C16 chip, short out the 5VC power on pin 40 of the micro.
Though I've noted, it doesn't stay above 1V for more than about five secs after removal of the 12V power.
M170 to Plus changes take the bottom cover off and for the M170 you will find a drill hole under the micro,
not visable from topside as it's under a plastic bridge of the 40pin CPU socket. It opens the data line which is pulled
high by R425. A solder blob shorting pin 6 of the 40way row of holes is an indication, this is a converted radio. If
converted, check the drill hole doesn't cut the track and thus the other end of the track is left open.
The MC68HC705C8P CPU firmware versions I have five. Three OC16W and two 5102105D01 dated 9246 and another dated 9232.
Of the three OC16W chips, two were 5165761A02and one 5102105D01. I've had lots of trouble with 5102105D01, two channels works,
three and it goes haywire??
=========== EEPROM files read from the threee radios from Dural T&T =====
bash-5.0$ hd -c x24c16a490.rom
000000 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
000010 00 01 37 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 44 4d 53 43 03 80 03 07 844MSC0380
\0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \b D M S C 003 200 003 \a <- Serial # NNNLLLNNNN
000030 0c 03 61 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 fd 9a <- checksum??
000040 00 d1 86 c0 01 a3 0d 80 03 12 03 14 00 5e 03 0f
000050 01 45 03 18 03 0a 00 fc 30 0f 0f 09 fa 5b 23 12
000060 51 e1 e5 11 36 06 0a 1a 23 12 82 e1 e5 11 32 36
===========
bash-5.0$ hd -c x24c16b.rom
000000 02 00 41 54 54 33 34 57 42 41 37 47 32 32 42 4b
002 \0 A T T 3 4 W B A 7 G 2 2 B K <- Model number as text
000010 00 01 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 <- Model 06
000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 44 4d 54 4c 09 00 02 05
\0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \b D M T L \t \0 002 005 <- s/n 844MTL0900
000030 1e 06 5d 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 fa 94
000040 00 d1 86 c0 01 a3 0d 80 04 48 04 48 00 5e 04 45
000050 01 2c 03 18 03 0a 01 c0 32 0f 00 00 fa 22 43 11
000060 72 01 98 71 1e 3c 08 82 43 11 72 11 98 71 1e 3d
===========
bash-5.0$ hd -c x24c16ham70.rom 90 channels (0x50), scan groups etc..
000000 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 <- Blank model info
000010 00 01 15 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 <- When 15 read by SYNPLUS shows Low Band
000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 44 4d 53 53 01 18 03 07 <- Serial # 844MSS0118
\0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \b D M S S 001 030 003 \a
000030 04 01 50 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 fe 31
000040 ff 22 86 c0 fe 51 0d 80 03 e4 04 3c 00 5e 03 e1
000050 47 5a 18 18 03 14 00 cc 3a 0f 0f 09 f7 3f 83 51
000060 f0 90 00 01 0e 29 09 c3 83 51 f0 a0 00 01 0e 2a
------
==== Scan group, all 90 channels
0003e0 00 00 00 01 0a 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0a 0b
0003f0 0c 0d 0e 0f 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1a 1b
000400 1c 1d 1e 1f 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2a 2b
000410 2c 2d 2f 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3a 3b 3c
000420 3d 3e 3f 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4a 4b 4c
000430 4d 4e 4f 50 51 52 53 55 56 57 58 59 da ef f9 08
============
bash-5.0$ hd ZERO440.EES (just 64 bytes)
000000 01 00 41 54 54 33 34 57 42 41 37 47 32 32 42 4b ATT34WBA7G22BK UHF 440-480 12.5KHz
000010 00 01 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 4e 49 4c 00 00 03 08 <- magic s/no 000NIL0000
000030 03 09 15 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 <- no ckecksum (yet)
000040
===== After SYNPLUS.EXE that now asked for a s/no. eeprom read by Minipro TL866
bash-5.0$ hd zero440.rom
000000 02 00 41 54 54 33 34 57 42 41 37 47 32 32 42 4b
000010 00 01 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 44 41 46 42 00 01 03 08 <- s/no 844AFB0001
000030 15 0a 15 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 fb 09 <- checksum
000040 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
000050 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff e5 1b ff ff
000060 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff <- channel data starts here??
============
So it looks like one can use simple Linux tools to make blank eeprom files
for the radio.
bash$ dd if=file1 of=top bs=1 count=64; dd if=file2.EES of=bot bs=1 skip=64; cat top bot > out_file.EES
Note the magic serial number 000NIL0000 present in the ZERO440.EES file, this causes "SYNPLUS.EXE XTEND"
(no "factory") to ask for serial number when doing F3 Program the Radio.
Note also, the MC68HC705 micro does not use the model info in the eeprom (as far as I know) but SYNPLUS reads
it out and uses it in the "calculate" phase, after entering frequency data. So the model number must be correct
in the eeprom for SYNPLUS.EXE to read, modify and rewrite.
1) PC, Linux, Fedora 32 Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-8100 CPU @ 3.60GHz
2) dosbox-x 0.83.17 settings 286 CPU 4000 cycles, serial1 directserial realport ttyUSB0.
3) PL2303 serial port.
4) SYNTRX ATT34WBA7G22BK: C414 10n removed and replaced with 1n5 under the board on D481 as it's accessable.
I started with template file 433_125.EES (UHF 12.5KHz) generated by M150 prom generator s/w then "convert.exe" to get an EES file.
Then used in dosbox, SYNPLUS.EXE XTEND, Ver R01.00.06, read in 433_125.EES and added 90 channels all "433.1 ZZ 438.1 cs" and programmed
the radio. Then, did F5 "Read PERSONALITY from radio" and it looks good, shows UHF model, 403 to 440 MHz, as I want!
(This has been my main problem, wrong model set in the radio's eeprom. A problem with f/w 5102105D01 ??)
prompt$ hd 2c432_1_425.rom <- two channels 432.1 MHz and 431.425 MHz, 12.5KHz channel spacing 000000 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 000010 00 01 d5 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 44 4d 53 53 01 18 03 08 000030 19 0a 15 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 fd 8d 000040 00 d1 86 c0 01 a3 0d 80 00 74 00 74 00 5e 00 71 <- 0d 80 the divisor 0x0d80 14.4 MHz down to (12.5KHz / 3) 000050 01 02 03 18 03 0a 00 c0 32 0f 0f 09 f9 bd c3 a3 <- start of channel info, M & N numbers. 000060 d1 00 00 0a 58 00 00 00 c3 a4 e3 00 00 0a 69 20 000070 00 00 fa 8a ff ff 01 08 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 000080 08 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff f0 00 ff ff ff ff ff 000090 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff * prompt$ hd 2c480h494.rom <- two channels 480.0 MHz and 494.0 MHz 000000 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 000010 00 01 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 44 4d 53 53 01 18 03 08 000030 19 0a 15 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 fe 5d 000040 ff 22 86 c0 fe 51 0d 80 00 74 00 74 00 5e 00 71 000050 01 02 03 18 03 0a 00 c0 32 0f 0f 09 f8 c2 c3 e3 000060 63 80 00 0a 1c 08 00 00 c3 e3 71 20 00 0a 1c 22 000070 00 00 fa ca ff ff 01 08 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 000080 08 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff f0 00 ff ff ff ff ff 000090 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff *