MCS 2000 - Need some assistance from experts

[Penny]

Hello all, this is my first time here. The past year or so I have been learning a lot about Motorola radios and a friend of mine told me this forum is the hidden wealth of knowledge for Motorola enthusiasts. Today I received many MCS 2000 bases, however only about 8 control heads came with them. I am trying to find any control heads that will work with these bases. I see some on eBay but the control head is a different style then the ones that came with my radios. However they appear to have the same exact connection which is used with my control heads / bases. So my question is, If I purchased a different style control head will it work with my bases? Will there be any problems because of the extra button options on the other control heads? The majority of the bases are model M01KLM9PW6AN. I wish I had the ability to post "wanted to buy" in this forum but I am new here but hopefully in time I can have access to that area of the forum. I am glad to finally made it here and hope to stay awhile as I am falling in love with Motorola radios!

Thanks so much

[Penny]

I did some research and found there are I, II, and III versions of the control heads. My radios come with a model HCN1117B (Model II Version). Are the other models compatible with this base radio(M01KLM9PW6AN)? Also I tested the radios with a HKN6112B 18pin cable to connect the head to radios however I only have 2 of these cables and a large amount of radios that need these cables/heads. The cheapest control cable I could find online is $30 for that model cable. Does anyone know of any different model or generic Chinese cheap made control cables with a cheaper price tag?

[guy being a guy]

I honestly think $30 is a pretty good price. Maybe see if the seller will give a better price if you buy in bulk ?
Motorola likes to keep a "lock" on the quality of their product so you really won't find ANY aftermarket China or USA made stuff and I personally would not trust it.
As far as mixing and matching different model # control heads - NOPE !
It will give you a "FAIL 01/90" on the display if you do.
Also please be aware I have seen a HIGH failure rate of the radios not powering up due to a IC chip in the transceiver board. With that in mind, test EVERYTHING against a known good unit before proceeding with installing or something. Considering you have a "mess" of transceivers with no control heads there maybe a "reason" you inherited these.
I know the MCS2000 like the back of my hand - had to, my other tech's hated them and were scarred of 'em
Other then the "no power up" issue - #1 problem I have seen with them, you can get a "FAIL 01/90" from the 5 or 9.6 volt regulators simply falling off the circuit board. They get so hot they unsolder themselves - they will be laying in the housing - reattach and your good to go.
The internal speaker is a piece of crap - get some spares !
The rubber on the volume knob ...........Buy about 2 for EVERY radio you have.
If you use an external speaker the audio amps will present a problem but not TOO bad - only if the user has a habit of cranking the audio up while they are away from the radio or something.
Last , the antenna connector on the radio.....Using the wrong Mini UHF connector on the antenna CABLE in the vehicle can be an issue.

[Will]

[sniped] If you use an external speaker the audio amps will present a problem but not TOO bad - only if the user has a habit of cranking the audio up while they are away from the radio or something.
Last , the antenna connector on the radio.....Using the wrong Mini UHF connector on the antenna CABLE in the vehicle can be an issue.

Yes using the wrong external speaker CAN blow out the audio amplifier IC. Use the correct 8 ohm speaker.

Antenna connector damage due to cheep male connector IS a problem.

[Penny]

Can someone help me and inform me of the model number for the correct external speaker that works with these radios? Also will it connect straight to the radio or will I need some sort of an port adapter?

Also, When I power these on with the face plates that came with the units(MCS2000 II Control Heads) and M01KLM9PW6AN base radio I get an message that flashes for a second that says "Error 01/74". The fail message only lasts a second and then the radio loads up fine with many channels programmed for cities near me. From what I read around, I believe the error message is nothing major but I am still learning. I believe it displaying the message because I don't have an external speaker hooked up.. but I'm not 100% sure. I am just powering these up with a simple Astron power supply, I am not testing these in a vehicle. Am I correct about why the error is showing up or am I misunderstood?

Does anyone have a source for cheap MCS 2000 Model II control heads?

[Penny]

I tested all the radios with a good control head. When I power these up, they all flash the "Fail 01/79" message for a second, then the radio loads as normal with the previously programmed channels for the cities and townships surrounding me. I assume that message is because I do not have a speaker plugged in? Also may it have to do with that I am powering these up with an Astro power supply at home and not in a vehicle? Does anyone have any input on that error message? I see some history of people talking about the error on the board but I am not completely sure what the message means. I am a newbie here, bare with me! Also does anyone know the model number for the correct ohm speaker that I will need for these radios? I do not want to harm the radios by using the wrong speaker.

[thebigphish]

Start Here

[Penny]

I see "External Emergency switch has been pressed while radio is off" "Emergency Power Up is not enabled in codeplug". Maybe I should hunt down a manual because I am not sure what the external emergency switch is and unsure if this message presents a problem preventing use of the radio. Can anyone give more detail on what the external emergency switch is? I will use search engines and try to find out more info about this today.

[thebigphish]

it's a pushbutton (similar to the orange button on the unit) which is designed to put the unit into "man down" mode, which IDs emergency on the system,and then puts the unit into hands-free transmitting mode... jump two pins on the belly plug connector on the unit, and it will never show up again. The unit will assume the emergency switch is in place, and not triggered, and will ignore that problem.

[thebigphish]

you probably don't have an accessory plug in now, do you?

[Penny]

No I don't. I have no idea what model / type I would need. I need help finding the correct accessory plug and correct external speaker to test these out. Could these radios still be used even with the Fail 01/79 message?

[thebigphish]

yes, they can...and there is only one type of accessory plug connector for the MCS line. If you're rediculously low budget, and in a jam...you can use a female DB-25 connector and press it into the plug head.

[Will]

Looks like you need two jumpers on the Accessory connector.

One: Pin 1 and pin 2 enables the internal speaker.

Two: Pin 9 and pin 10 Emergency jumper.

The external speaker connects to pin 1 and pin 3, the jumper is removed pin 1 to pin 2.

Pinout for the Accessory Connector

1 SPKR+
2 INT SPKR+
3 SPKR-
4 DIGITAL GND
5 BUSY
6 BUS+
7 I/O 8
8 I/O 5
9 EMERGENCY
10 ANALOG GND
11 FIL AUD OUT
12 AUX RX IN2
13 MIC IN
14 SW B+
15 IGNITION
16 I/O 2
17 LH RESET
18 BUS-
19 SCI RX DATA
20 I/O 4
21 I/O 3
22 RSSI OUT
23 EXTERNAL MIC IN
24 AUX TX IN2
25 UNIV IO OUT