Motorola MAXTRAC 300 This does NOT cover other Similar models of Motorola Transceivers. It is up to the operator to determine if this information is useful on other models such as the Radius 200.

Index

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MUST READ FOR ALL AMATEUR RADIO
OPERATORS WHO INTEND TO USE THIS RADIO AS
AN AMATEUR RADIO TRANSCEIVER

The radio listed in this document was originally designed and used for public safety. In this function or environment, the transceiver was NOT designed to scan in the way that ham operators think of scanning. For example, in the LEO (law enforcement officer) environment, the transceiver will only scan when the microphone is sitting / attached to the microphone holder. In the LEO environment, if the mic is off the mic holder hook or being held in the hand, the radio will NOT scan.

Why was the radio designed this way? When an LEO is listening to this radio, the officer must be able to respond to the dispatcher quickly. While other channels (frequencies) may be monitored, when the dispatcher calls on the radio, the LEO must have a radio that immediately switches back to the dispatcher’s frequency / channel. As an amateur radio operator, that non-scanner feature needs to be changed unless you are satisfied to leave the transceiver’s “mic hook” on the “mic holder” most of the time.

This is a top view of the “mic hook” as it is called.
The 2 red arrows point to the metal parts of the hook that are conductive. The white arrow points to a plastic circle that insulates the two conductive surfaces. If the 2 conductive surfaces are NOT connected, such as when you are holding the mic, the unit will NOT scan.
This is a photo of the mike hook and holder together. In my case, WØRCT, I leave the mic holder in place all the time.
In many environments the user might hang up the mic on the holder. In my case, I have a plastic dash board so the mic gets hung up as shown to the right.

The radio will only scan while "on hook", which means the mic is "shorted" or "grounded", or “connected”. The easiest way I've found to do this to is stick something small and metal like a paper clip or a mic hanger clip in the back of the mic between the metal plate and the hook itself. Here are photographs of multiple ways to accomplish this:

Making a wire hook contact connector By using the piece of wire, inserted into the notch, it still also allows the use of the mic holder. In the above case, the contact wire is not soldered. This was my first attempt. Later I soldered it, inserted it firmly into the notch and it held without falling out. This is shown below. It is also possible to put a drop of superglue on either side of the soldered wire to help hold the wire in place. I prefer a drop rather than smothering the whole wire with glue, in case the wire needs to be removed at some point.

	Scan The channels in this list are set using the Motorola service software. There is no other way to change the frequencies in this list.
	Priority Scan Same as scan, but the priority channels are checked more often than the regular channels.
	User Scan The scan list for this mode is set from the front panel of the radio. see below.
	Priority User Scan Same as user scan, but it also checks the 2 priority channels more often than the user selected channels.

1.		Hold the [Scan] button for 2 seconds, or until you hear the second beep.
2.		The channel number will flash letting you know it's in User Scan set mode.
3.		Using the [Up] or [Down] buttons, select the channel you wish to add (or remove) from the user scan list.
4.		Pressing [Select] will toggle the channel on or off your scan list.
5.		The display will indicate if a channel is in the user scan list by showing a vertical segment in the upper left of the display.
6.		Repeat steps 3 to 5. Once you have your desired channels selected just press [Scan] and the display should go back to normal. Now, you can press the [Scan] button to start scanning. Another thing to note is the User Scan channels will stay in the radio until changed. Loss of power won't clear the list.

Optional Priority Scanning

The operator can also set Priority One and Priority Two channels for the User Scan list which will be checked more often than the other channels in the scan list. During the procedure above, press and hold [Select] for 2 seconds and the [Pri] led at the top of the display should blink. This indicates you've set Priority One as shown in the first image. Do the same to set Priority Two, which will be indicated by a solid [Pri] led as shown in the second image.

Some repeaters output the CTCSS, PL or DCS tones on the listening frequency. The radio may be configured in a way which will only activate the speaker if this tone is present. This is commonly referred to as "tone squelch". Pressing the [Mon] button will disable this "tone squelch" and lite the orange [Mon] led. The radio also has a squelch level which can only be changed with the Motorola service software. If, for example, the operator wants to listen to a weak signal that the squelch is blocking, hold the [Mon] button for 2 seconds. The "tone squelch" as well as the squelch will be disabled, and the radio will output the weak signal, or just static. To return to normal operation from either of these modes, simply press the [Mon] button again and the led will turn off.

The antenna connector on the back of these radios is called a "Mini UHF". As you can see in the image to the left, I use an adapter to allow a more standard "PL 259" connector to be used.

Additional web sites for your consideration for the MaxTrac.

General websites