JCase

Shannon = if I knew what I was doing it probably would help but……. nokones = I tried several different manufacturers of aviation intercoms (no names mentioned), all were less than helpful. However I hadn’t thought of trying any avionics repair shops. Another option I thought of since I’m located in the Daytona Beach area is to contact Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in hopes that maybe I could find a student with the knowledge and skills to assist me. thank you both for your suggestions, I’ll post my results when I have something to update.

Greetings once again, Ok, the parts have finally arrived. These would be the the DB25 for connection to the accessory port of the Kenwood TK-8180 and the PJ-068 and the PJ-055 for the connection from the SoftComm portable aviation intercom with PTT. I have searched, searched and searched for schematics on the SoftComm intercom but have had no luck. The only phone number for SoftComm is no longer a valid number and I have contacted several other aviation intercom manufacturers to see if they would be able to assist with the information and they not only claim they aren’t able to provide such information, all but one gave me a major attitude over the phone. So, once again I am reaching out to you guys & gals. Does anyone know/have the schematics for this intercom or does anyone know where I can find such a thing ? I need to know which connection is for what coming from both jacks from the intercom so that I can connect them to the correct terminal on the DB25 ? As always any help is appreciated. John WRDM373

Shannon = That’s very kind of you, thank you for the offer, I’ll definitely keep you in mind if I run into a problem. Still waiting on two additional parts before I can start the build attempt.

Hey guys, WRXE944 = Since this is a portable intercom system I plan on using it with my Kenwood mounted in a noisy fire truck - hence the reason I purchased the intercom. I seriously doubt the FAA will have any issues with that. BoxCar = I purchased this entire used (looks & performs like new) system with two practically new headsets for under $150. I refuse to pay the outrages prices of the equipment from pretty much ANY U.S. based company. I'm all for making a profit but the mark-up that they place on their equipment is shameful. Sshannon = I am not very good at building anything related to communications equipment and I lost my good friend (in the amature radio world he would be referred to as an ELMER) last year. He was the only person (other than the awesome folks on this website) that I could go to for help/guidance and to be honest, I don't really enjoy building this sort of project BUT.......That's exactly what I am going to attempt. I've already purchased the PJ-055 & PJ-068 female panel mount connectors for the double plug lead of the intercom to plug into (instead of modifying the intercoms connections), a DB25 connector to plug into the radio's accessory port and just in case I need to use the front mic port, a RJ45 connector. Now it's just waiting for my orders to arrive and me, not having much of a clue as to what I am doing, trying to figure out what wire to connect to where and hope I don't short, burn up, blow up the radio and that my contraption will work properly. Only one way to find out. I'll post an update either way in a few weeks. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

I emailed Paradan’s team and the reply stated “no we don’t offer such an adaptor and we aren’t aware of anywhere to refer you to that does”. So, I’m back to the drawing board. Again, thank you for the suggestion BoxCar. Anyone else ?

I checked Paradan’s website and didn’t find anything that would work but I’ll try calling them Monday and see what they say. Thanks BoxCar

I recently purchased a four person SoftComm aviation intercom and have searched and searched for an adapter that would take the two 1/4” jacks (one for the mic & PTT and the other for the speaker) and convert them to a connector that would work on a Kenwood TK-8180 mobile. I haven’t had any luck with finding an adapter. Can anyone point me in the right direction ? As always any and all suggestions are appreciated.

Greetings all, My apologies for not replying sooner. My schedule has been a bit crazy and I just now had the time to check for any replies.That's not really the answer I was hoping for but I can't say that I'm surprised. Thank you "gortex2" and "TheSidewinder" for replying with all the info, it's greatly appreciated.

My bad guys.....here are the pics for real this time lol.

Greetings all, it’s been a while since I have posted on here but I’m back and needing everyone’s help again. I have a Motorola B1914A Gooseneck Microphone for dispatch consoles. It didn’t include the cable and I’m trying to figure out if this can be used with a Motorola CM200 radio. It appears to use an RJ45 connector from the back of the microphone base (see pic). Is this compatible with the CM200 ? If yes, what cable do I need to connect with ? Any guidance would be appreciated and I look forward to your replies.

Greetings all, My apologies for not posting an update sooner. Just thought I would share that in my MANY repeated attempts to contact the tower owner of the site located off LPGA Blvd, between Wesley Street and Grand Preserve Way, have all resulted in no contact. I reach a recording when calling the number posted on the gate that instructs me to leave a short message and my contact information and a representative will be in contact. Unfortunately they never respond to my repeated messages (each 3 months apart). Regarding the beachside Hotels, I have been unsuccessful securing a rooftop spot, more than half of the owners that I attempted to contact wouldn’t even give me the time of day, the others just weren’t interested. If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to share. John

Thanks to everyone that replied and offered suggestions. considering this thread closed

My apologies, The radio is a TK-760G(128ch)K according to the programming software. 148-174 frequency range, no option boards. I have BCL disabled and all of the frequencies I have programmed into the radio are within the frequency range. After further testing, I am now only experiencing the “unlock” message/no transmitting on radio channels 3 & 4, all other programmed channels are tx & rx as normal. I’ve checked all the menu options and don’t find anything that would explain or correct this issue. I even programmed the same two frequencies on different channels and they tx & rx as normal. So for now, I just won’t use channels 3 & 4 lol. Thank you to everyone that replied so far. John PS- thank you for the link to the manual but, I already have a printed copy and can’t find anything listed that would explain or correct the issue.

Greetings, I’m well aware that this radio is VHF, you misunderstood what I was trying to say. Channel two (2) refers to the radio channel, not GMRS but thanks for the reply. JC

Greetings all, I conducted several searches in case this topic was already addressed but found nothing. I programmed a Kenwood TK-760 and from all appearances the information was successful, except........I am not able to transmit on any channels above channel 2. Each time I key the radio I hear an error tone and the screen displays “unlock” and radio fails to transmit. I have verified that nothing offering password protection has been setup and can receive with no issues, I just can’t transmit. I have reprogrammed the radio several times in case there was an issue writing to the radio but, still get the same results. In the past, the great members of this site have always been so generous with their knowledge and willingness to help & guide the rest of us when a problem or issue arrises, for which I appreciate and am thankful for. I look forward to any assistance solving this issue. John WRDM373

Howdy JeepCrawler98, First, thanks for taking the time to reply and second, this is sounding like a genuine possible solution. Would you be willing to guide me through this process ? I’m willing to give it my best shot but I’m not so sure my skills (or lack there of) are adequate. Tell me if I understand this correctly, this would be one wire connected to the correct pin out on the radio, running to a relay that would have an external power source and a light connected to the relay that would turn on anytime the radio received a transmission and turn off when the transmission ended ? JC

Greetings all, Thank you for your suggestions so far. As for the number of radios being handled by a single person, under normal circumstances I would definitely agree. However, one of those radios is our connection with the local, countywide 911 center and we’re the only one (outside of the center) on that talk group, one radio has only two field units, one has four, another has three and finally the main two have on average of ten and forty. In a perfect world I would have a separate operator for each, in a less than perfect world, I would have an operator for the forty unit radio and an operator for the rest. In reality, when staffing relies on volunteers and those volunteers need to have common sense along with the ability to multitask, I’m usually left with one operator handling everything. Believe it or not, it really is manageable most of the time. I do have a second position that is sometimes staffed and when it is, the workload is shared. The main reason for so many different channels is to reduce the chatter on certain channels. The more chatter on a given channel results in user’s turning the volume down and missing transmissions directed at them. This setup has in the past, and continues to work presently, quite well. But, you can clearly understand now the importance of knowing which radio needs to be used for each reply and why my team is finding this to be so challenging at times. Anyone with experience that would like to travel to Florida several times a year and help cover the two dispatch positions is more than welcome to contact me and sign up LOL. Until then, I need to figure out a solution that works for us with our current staffing ?. So far, it’s not looking to promising that any solution is going to be “simple” lol.

Greetings everyone, I’m not sure if I am using the wrong wording or wrong order of wording but I have searched and searched and, you get the idea. I can’t find anything that would solve this issue so I am confident that quite a few of you can assist me with coming up with a solution. The outstanding members on this site have never let me down and I don’t expect today to be any different. I have a home built dispatch console that my team uses. It houses a total of eight mobile radios on separate channels. Most of the time we can distinguish which radio a transmission is coming through on by the unit I.D. and or the content of the transmission. However, on the rare (ok, not so rare) occasion that the stations I.D. Is cut off from short keying individuals, it is very difficult to see the tiny LED flashing on some of the Motorola radios and the Kenwood and remaining radios that use a tiny LCD symbol to signal a transmission is being received, all but disappear among everything else showing on the screens. My team is finding it very difficult to decipher which radio to reply on. Is there a simple (I know, nothing is ever simple) solution, like an accessory/after market add on that would offer a larger, easy to see light that would illuminate every time that radio is receiving incoming traffic ? If it involves me having to build something using resistors, diodes or anything along those lines, chances are I will fail miserably. I’m really hoping there’s a plug & play solution or at least something very close to plug & play. I’m attaching a pic of the radio console to give you a better idea of where I’m coming from but please excuse the clutter surrounding the console. The pic was taken in my garage just before I completed everything and moved it across the county to its permanent home. I’m looking forward to learning how to solve this issue and as always I greatly appreciate everyone taking the time to read and hopefully reply with your suggestions. JC

The only thing I was able to find on line was in North America (including Canada) 611 generally is used by cell phone companies to connect customers with customer service. I found nothing for any other parts of the world.

I’m sure he has many useful and helpful videos and he seems very nice in his videos but.......... While I realize he’s trying to be funny, the guy creeps me out ! Unfortunately, I gave up pretty early on trying to view & support his channel. If he’d stop trying to be a comedian and making love to his camera, it would help immensely. Maybe I’m the only one that is creeped out but I seriously doubt it.

Greetings JohnE, I appreciate your feedback and information. Stay safe

If you find the need for a repeater, and you choose the Retevis RT97, you could use (if the farm has this) the grain bin tower which most likely has electrical service at the top platform for fans and augurs. Place your weatherproof RT97 repeater and antenna at the top of the structure (with minimal feed line) and you should easily realize significant results. Just a thought. Good luck with your quest. JC woops ! Just realized I already posted a reply prior to today.........my bad

Hey Radioguy7268 & kb2ztx, Thanks for replying and enlightening me. I was hoping for better news but it’s all good. I’ll continue to keep my eyes open for a good, used MTR2000 at a decent price. It would seem that the majority of owners know just how good they are and the prices for used units stays up there. I already own three of the R1225, one RKR1225 and a Hytera RD982 but it’s not advisable to run any of the 1225’s at full power so running all of them at 25-27 watts after the duplexers and the Hytera at 43 after duplexer. Wanting a reliable 100% duty cycle @ 50 watts and the only make & model that I’m aware of that has a great track record, is the MTR2000 but I’ll never know for sure unless I ask those folks like yourselves, who have the knowledge. Thanks again for your replies and information. Stay safe JC

Greetings all, I’m trying to find out information on the Motorola XPR8400 repeater. Specs state 100% duty cycle at full power (40 watt). Does anyone have any experience with this model ? Any known issues etc. ? As always, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. JC

Here’s a link to a pair of 3.5mm double male connectors that I use. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CHR9K9X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 you can choose the length you need, 50cm = 19.68 inches for $6.99 or 90cm = 35.43 inches for $7.99