Not only am I cheap, I'm lazy. Building something takes time. I was mainly interested in a product I could buy that just needed power, incoming audio, and a set of dry contacts that could be stuck inside the MSF5000 cabinet and be ready to use in a matter of minutes.
The DTMF decoder in the MaxTrac also needs to be programmed, and it uses different software than what would be needed for the MSF5000, of course. Once this is installed, I don't want to be the one they call every time they want to change something. Bob M. ====== --- On Tue, 1/13/09, nj902 <[email protected]> wrote: > From: nj902 <[email protected]> > Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Re: Repeater controller to be used with MSF5000 > To: [email protected] > Date: Tuesday, January 13, 2009, 4:33 PM > --- In [email protected], "Bob M." > <msf5kg...@...> > wrote: > > " I believe the Motorola DTMF decoder resides in an > expansion > chassis. ... As you said, both are rare and none of the > stations I > need to control have an expansion chassis. > > ... The other suggestions, while innovative, don't seem > to decode > DTMF, which is what I want to use to control the repeaters. > ..." > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Expansion chassis aren't really all that hard to find, > I have gotten > several off that e auction site, as a matter of fact there > is a > current listing of two for $40 buy-it-now. > > As regards DTMF, the Maxtrac does a fine job of decoding > DTMF as I > said in my original response: > > "...to have the Maxtrac decode DTMF you need a small > option board or > you need to duplicate that circuit on a perf board. > ..." > > That option board is available from Motorola parts for > $64.60 ready > to go, but knowing that hams are cheap, as an alternative I > > suggested a DIY version on perf board - it's pretty > simple - it > consists of 2 IC's, a 145436 decoder chip and a 4021 > CMOS shift > register plus a 3.58 crystal and a few resistors & > caps.
