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                                                Synthesizer Controller Commands

    a) Initial Powering Up and Radio Selection

     To select one of the available radios, power the M/P and press the A and then B. When prompted with FUN?,  enter  1, 2, 3.  The LCD will display the first radio selection.   With the # key, step through the available radios. The selection goes to the end and repeats. Once identified, press the 1 key and the LCD will show PLEASE WAIT - (flash memory is being reprogrammed).

Note: This selection is done once for the radio being used and is stored in flash, remaining there until reprogrammed.  

Also Note: For a 6 Meter radio, additional repeater offset prompts will be displayed.

    The initial display (for a 2 meter radio): The receiver frequency is set to 140.000 Mhz, Simplex Mode. Transmitting is NOT allowed.

                                                                                    RCV 140000  NOT
                                                                                    SMPX  

    b) Setting the Repeater Offset - A, Followed by 1  or  2  or  3

    The conventional repeater offsets for the amateur FM bands have been preset, as shown below:
    To select a repeater offset:     Note: This function will 'time out' if pauses between the keystrokes are longer than 15 seconds.

    c) Setting Up an Odd Frequency Offset - A, Followed by 4

    For an odd offset, press A and then 4, and ODD? will be displayed. Enter the desired frequency. If within the allowable receive range , the LCD will indicate ODD. If out of range, the M/P reverts to the simplex mode. This offset will remain for as many subsequent transmissions as needed.

    This odd split may be programmed into one of the 20 available channels. However, if the user steps the frequency up or down, or starts a memory scan when an odd split is being used, the system reverts to the simplex mode.

    d) Reverse Frequency Offset - - A Followed by A

    Reverse swaps the transmit and receive frequencies (POSitive or NEGative offset modes only). To activate, press A twice, and the M/P will swap the frequencies, letting the user hear the repeater input and transmit on its output. This frequency combination may be loaded into a  scannable channel. To restore, push the A key again.  The reverse mode is also deactivated (reverts to simplex) in a directed or memory scan. 

    f) B Key - Programs  Scanned Channels

    The M/P Controller design supports 100 scannable channels contained in 5 banks of 20 channels (00 - 19) each . Only one channel group (20 channels) can be active at a given time.

    To select a channel group, depress the B key followed by the 1 key.  The M/P will then display:

                                                                                        SELECT CHAN GRP
                                                                                        GRP = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ?

   Press 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 to select the group and the M/P will respond:

                                                                     SCAN CH GRP IS (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)  

  The Channel Group selection is retained in flash memory and will remain there until it is changed by reprogramming. 

g) Programming a Channel

    To program a frequency into a channel slot, first set these parameters (in the following order):

    To load this data, press the B key receive a PGM? prompt. 

    Then enter a C, after which CHAN-? will be displayed. The channel number (between 0 and 19), is then entered, and the M/P will store the above.

  h) Assigning Alpha Tags to Channels

    Up to 8 alpha characters can be assigned to each channel in the programming process:

                                                                                         CHAN-XX  ALPHASSS
                                                                                         NAME?  * = NO  YES=#
  Note: If a character string was assigned to the channel, it will appear in the top row, adjacent to the channel number 'XX'.

    The channel data (i.e. frequency, offset and CTCSS) has been assigned to RAM.  If you select NO, then you're good to go.  For yes, you'll see:

                                                                                         CHAN-XX ALPHASSS
                                                                                         NAME=     ?  

    To change the ? (and any subsequent character), use the * or #  keys to go up and down the alphabet, numbers, etc.  When satisfied, hit the A key and view the next digit.  Store up to 8 characters for each channel.  To store fewer, press the C key.
Note: There's no need to manually reprogram all of the channels just to change one or two.  Just insert the channels and program the flash. This function will 'time out' if pauses between the key strokes are longer than 15 seconds.                                               

To program the channels into flash memory, you have the option of so doing after each programmable channel is entered, or at the end of all the entries:

                                                                                         LOAD ANOTHER CH ?
                                                                                         1 = YES   2 = PGM FLSH

    Pressing 1 returns the normal mode, while 2 programs the channels into flash memory. Flash can be updated after each channel is entered, if desired.  

Note: If programmable channel scanning is started before the flash is programmed, the newly programmed channels will be erased.
                                                     
i) Erasing Channel Data from One Channel Group

    To erase all of the channels stored in RAM, first press B and, after the PGM?, enter B again. The M/P will prompt:

                                                                                  CLR SCN CHN = 1

    After entering  1,  the system will erase all 20 channels in the volatile RAM only.  To make the erasure permanent, program the temporary channel.

j) Inspecting Channels

    To inspect the channel assignments, push the C key, followed by *.  The M/P will then show the status of Channel 00, either EMPTY, or otherwise, viz:. frequency, any alpha tag assigned and CTCSS (if assigned).  When inspecting an assigned channel, the M/P will activate it, as well as any assigned CTCSS tone, but transmitting will be blocked.

    For the next channel, press #.  The channels will run from 00 - 19, and then restart.  To return to Channel 00, press *.  

Important Note: Depressing the D Key to unblock transmitting on the inspected channel may result in transmission on the incorrect offset for the first transmission, but subsequent transmissions will be correct. This feature will not work for 'odd'  offsets.

The code has been modified in the new Integrated M/P to select the proper offset after the D key is depressed in the inspection mode.  A similar update is available in the legacy processor (Version 1.3).  If you are using the legacy processor and would like this feature,  email me.   

Use this feature to select and to transmit on a scannable channel, especially one with 'odd' offsets.

k) The C Key - Used For All Scanning Functions and CTCSS Selection / Tone Search

    The M/P can scan the:

  1. Current  Mhz. of frequency (Main Memory Scan),or scan
  2. Predefined weather frequencies (2 meter VHF conversions) or GMRS (UHF conversions), or scan the 
  3. 20 user programmed channels (Channel Scan).
    For a Main Memory Scan, push C, and view SCAN. Enter 1, and scan within the current Mhz. If the current system frequency is 146.760 (e.g.), the system will scan forward from 146.760 up to147.000, and back again. When an active channel is found, the M/P will stop. To restart scanning, push C.
Note: With the new P/C Board (does not use the MX-465P chip), the M/P will attempt to identify the CTCSS tone in use when stopped during the Main Memory Scan.   Click here for more information.

    When scanning starts, the M/P will display SCANNING. After scanning 100 channels, the system will display the type of scan (e.g. MAIN memory, CHAN, WETH, GMRS, etc.)

Important Main Scanning Note: The M/P has been programmed to skip the first COR detection while scanning at the 5 Khz  step rate.  This is because an FM signal with a 5 Khz deviation will appear on the two adjacent channels, one higher and the other lower.  

Some FM radios (like the Phoenix, for example), that are not that selective will allow the signal to appear even two channels before / after the actual frequency.  When this happens, the M/P will stop scanning the wrong frequency and the automatic CTCSS detection feature will not work properly.  

One way to improve this situation is to 'tighten up' the squelch.  For example, on a 2 meter radio you can select one of the weather frequencies.  Step the frequency two steps above or below and verify that the squelch closes.  If not, adjust the squelch so that only the desired frequency and those immediately above and below it will 'break' it.  This will also help to eliminate some of the false scan stops that are often heard. 

    The controller scans about 12 channels per second and will pause after having stopped on an active channel for more than 50 seconds.  When paused, RCS will be displayed before the frequency.  To resume scanning, push C.

    To momentarily interrupt scanning, depress C while scanning is in progress, and the system will stop, displaying the current frequency.  The user may transmit. To restart scanning (provided the pause time does not exceed 50 seconds), push the C key again.

To scan the 20 programmable channels, press the C, and then 0. If none of the channels are programmed, UNAV will display.

    To retrieve a programmable channel, press the C, and then 2. Then, enter the 2 digit channel number, If the channel is unassigned, EMPTY will display. Once loaded, both reception and transmission will be allowed.

    To store the temporary channel (always 00), depress the B and then A, storing the active parameters including the CTCSS tone into channel 00.  The alpha tag will be set to TEMPY CH.  This is a quick way to return to that elusive channel while driving cross country. To avoid the possibility of 'losing' it, the flash memory is programmed whenever a temporary channel is selected.        

    To lockout one of the 20 programmable channels while the scanning is underway, push the A key while the carrier is present.  Once done, the M/P will advance to the next scannable channel.  As many of the 20 channels can be locked out, as desired.  Some conversations can be quite boring. The channels will remain locked out until the:

    To activate the pre programmed (directed) scan functions, the following keys are used - 5 for the VHF Weather Scan (on 2 meter radios) and 6 for the GMRS / FRS scan (all 440 Mhz radios).  Transmitting is not allowed on these frequencies.

    The M/P has been programmed with Scan Delay capability that is operational  in all 3 scan modes.  

    After power up, the system will start in the Scan Delay mode which means that the M/P will 'wait' for about 3.5 seconds before going on to scan the next channel after the carrier has dropped.  This provides time to listen for a possible subsequent transmission on this channel without having to abort the scan.  

    The system can also be programmed to advance to the next scannable channel almost immediately after the carrier drops by pushing the C key and then the 4 key.  To revert back to the default Scan Delay, depress C and then 3.  In either case, the response will be OK.

    l) CTCSS Functions

    The C Key is also used to activate the (optional) CTCSS, 'personalized' for the MX-COM MX-465P chip. The CTCSS Tone selection is changed  by pressing C twice after which the following will be displayed:

                                                                                     ENTER CTCSS TONE  
                                                                                     T =

    In response, directly enter the CTCSS value e.g. 250.3, (the decimal point automatically appears). If the data entered is a valid tone, the system will respond with an OK and the tone will be activated.  If an incorrect, the system will respond WRNG and recycle. This function will 'time out' if pauses between the keystrokes are longer than 15 seconds.

    The current CTCSS frequency can be stored into one of the 20 programmable channels, and will displayed in the upper right LCD corner (and activated) when 'inspecting' channels or when a scanned channel is activated. 

Note: If you are using the old board that contains the MX-465P chip, on system power up, the Tone Detect LED will light.  This means that the system has set the CTCSS Decoder / Encoder to the NO TONE state.  It will also light if the user turns all tones off.

m) Tone Scan

    To find the CTCSS frequency, press  C and then 9.   Transmitting is not allowed during the Tone Scan which will run to completion until either the received tone (or no tone) is found.  This can help determine the CTCSS frequency without manually stepping through all of the tones on a dark nite in your car.

  - M/P Board e/w MX-465P Chip - Legacy Design

    If using the board with the MX-465P chip, the M/P will scan all tone frequencies - 4 each second - updating the LCD.  The CTCSS Detect LED will light if the tone is detected.   A complete Tone Scan with carrier always present will take about 30 seconds.

 - M/P Board with Integrated Tone Encoder / Decoder - New Design

    If using the new M/P board, the encoding and decoding of the CTCSS tones is done within the chip itself.  It's a less expensive, more elegant solution.  When decoding the CTCSS frequency, the M/P will take about 4 seconds to identify the tone, providing carrier is present.  Since there is no Tone Detected LED (as there is no external CTCSS chip to drive it), the detected tone will be displayed in the LCD.

    If the M/P is unable to decode the tone, one of two possible displays will appear.  

    When initiated, the M/P will continue to scan the channel (when the carrier is present), and wait until the carrier returns. To abort the Tone Scan, briefly depress and release the mike PTT.  

Note: Tone Scan may be activated with no carrier present.  In effect, the M/P will stay 'camped' on the frequency until either:

    To turn off the CTCSS tone, press the C and then 7.  The M/P will respond           CTCSS TONE OFF!

    To reactivate the same CTCSS tone, press the C and then 8. The M/P will respond  CTCSS TONE IS ON

    n) The D Key - Universal Abort Function

    Pressing the D key will reset the system to its previous state. For example, if an error occurs while entering a frequency, push D and start over. The D key is also used to abort any of the SCAN modes. The D Key can be used to manually reset the LCD display, if needed. 

DISCLAIMER - - If you follow the steps outlined herein, you do so at your own risk. I cannot, nor will not, be responsible for any possible damage to radio equipment, personal property, to yourself or to others caused by modifications that you may make to the radio as a result of your reading this.

The M/P controls TRANSMITTING as well as receiving on many frequencies, suitable for a wide range of HF, VHF and UHF needs. In the USA, TRANSMIT operation requires a license issued by the FCC  for the class of operation intended.  Amateur radio licensees must maintain strict control over their equipment, preventing unlicensed operation within the amateur bands, or outside of them.

The information on this website, the schematic drawings and the secure code contained within the microprocessor are all copyrighted.

Copyright 2010 -  K3JLS