Batboard

Dealing with Mercedes-Benz taxicabs, there is no room for a radio, outside the glove box.
So, I developed this minimal control head featuring basic functions.
Operation:
To turn on: press on the knob. Enters Channel Select mode. Displays channel # (0,1,2, ... , D,E,F.). Up to 16 channels.
Channel selection: Turn knob.
Volume set: Click on the knob, Enters Volume Select mode, display blinks showing vol level (0,1,2, ... , D,E,F.) After five blinks or another click, returns to Channel mode.
To turn off: Long press on the knob.
I made 2 firmware versions, one for the Waris and another for the Jedi series. Next version will be auto detect.
Any comments/suggestions? Do you think it is practical or a waste of time?
I also developed a bigger one and have installed many, size of a pack of cigarettes, but on this, later.

Not sure how useful it will be outside of niche situations, but definitely thumbs up for creativity and execution.
Even with it being a niche product, I can still think of quite a uses for this. Nice work!

Oh, HELL ya!! VERY cool. Market that baby with a Go-Fund-Me.

would be good for undercover work. maybe a xpr version

Hello:
Oh yeah waaaay cool !
Id love to see this for the narrow band GM300 mobile or the M1225 mobile .
I have customers with many of the older mobiles on narrow band and I could even see ham operators wanting this for the older wide band maxtracs.
Size of a pack of cigarettes would be perfect for 95 percent of applications id think.
Heck yeah market it = Bet youll sell quite a few as I see it.
Satelite

Cool stuff man. Looks really neat

That's really nice.

Image is gone?

Now that is awesome!

That sounds incredible! Might need more improvement and it will be very useful.

KI4LTX wrote:Image is gone?

Still working here in my end.

Looks neat, but I would prefer a two character display instead of the 0-9-a-f

could probably get 2 charactor display, and maintain same size, if you realign the led's across the bottom. But good job.

Hi gang!
After being much busy, the Corona Virus lock down gave me enough time to continue with the project. I focused on the "Cigarette pack" size and here is the engineering prototype for the GM360/380, 1-line & 3-line display.(Is there a CDM with 3-lines lcd?). I think that it also works with CDM 1250 & 1550 but I will test it to be sure. Everything you see in this bare-bones set-up, is for evaluation purposes and can be altered.



(I had to crop the picture, to hide the total mess of the bench, don't tell anyone!)
This is the "featured" Option1 head. The description:
On the front you can see the Power, Channel Select & Volume Set keys. Do we need Function Keys, also? Is a Rotary encoder more practical to select channels?
On top, there is a PTT for "Hands Free" operation, although, on the right there is a handheld microphone connector and a speaker connector on the bottom (Not installed, yet). The microphone element can be seen near the Power Button ans a mic gain trimmer will also be installed, accessible from the outside.
On the right, you can also see the radio connector. My initial goal was to connect this minimal head directly on the mic connector of the original head, but this is unfeasible due to Motorola engineers will, so the radio must be in Remote Head configuration.
On the left, surprise! You can chain-connect as many heads as you like! Even the original (as last). If more than 2 heads are to be connected, it is advisable to supply an external 12V in order not to overload the radio's built-in regulators. I must provide a connector.
On the display, you can see the (First line of the) radios's display, 14 characters.
The "20442" is a PTT-ID Decoder for the Select-5 signalling, shown on line-3 of the 3-line lcd radios or on the singe line of 1-line radios .
I must check with MDC1200 radios behavior.
I tried to embed the three status LEDs. The "RCV" indicator say that the radio is idling. On Carrier Detect shows "BSY" (BUSY), on transmit "XMT" (XMIT).
I should better show some icons, according to the originals(?) place some real LEDs?.
AND, since the Volume control is UP/DOWN, there is a Volume level indicator. (is a potentiometer more practical?)
I have ready to install a light sensor (LDR) to control the lighting intensity automatically.
It will also need a decent housing...
My camera ran dead on batteries, so I go to bed (it is 0642 Local time) and later I will introduce the "Compact" option2 head. Stay tuned, I welcome your comments!.

Note that it is a 25-pack of cigarettes.

Hi Paul,

Very nice...are you going to provide schematics and how we can build one???

Thanks,

Bill

Hi Bill !
Although it is not intended for public release, I would gladly provide you related information and preprogrammed MCUs, since you are interested.
Your feedback is welcome. Just some patience to fix some bugs, and possibly develop a pcb.

Apostolos (Paul) Poulios SV2US