Motorola maxtrac 300 User Manual

A Users Guide for Amateur Radio Operators &

Dyslexic Amateur Radio Operators ©

Updated: 1626 hrs, 16 OCT 2012

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.

Preface / History

This manual is designed for the use of licensed amateur operators who have bought and are now using the
MaxTrac 300 radio as an amateur radio transceiver. This radio was previously used by police officers.

A recent ruling by the F. C. C. makes it illegal to use this and other wide band radios after 31 December

2012. All the new radios are narrow banded making the MaxTrac obsolete, except for the amateur radio
service.

This entry level document has been written as a “layman’s term” technician class, to help the users in the
programming of channels, an explanation of the features, how to set scannable channels and set up priority
channels.

The writers and editors of this document have made a good faith effort to make the document easily read by
anyone in the amateur radio service. It is our hope that you will find this document to be a functional and
useful manual during your use of this radio.

This document and all images are copyright protected ©KDØKKV/WØRCT/WØAIB, October 2, 2012, all
rights reserved. This document MAY be sent / forwarded freely to any licensed amateur radio operator who
might benefit from the information.

We are not professional technical writers or journalists. Therefore, we welcome constructive comments that
will help us improve this document and thereby its usability. We reserve the right to modify the document
as it seems to be appropriate. Comments and questions may be sent to Ross WØRCT, [e-mail],.
or Larry, (

We would like to thank several amateur radio operators, Bill KXØB, Bill WAØCBW, Rod, K6TJB, and
others who wish to remain anonymous, for their help in creating this document. Some of the graphics were
copied from, but are not limited to, various Motorola web sites.

Scott Arnold, KDØKKV Bill WAØCBW

[e-mail]> Special Project Manager

<
Author, Graphic Designer, Motorola and Commenco
Graphic and IT Coordinator Technical Advisor

Ross C. Taggart, WØRCT
<

[e-mail] > Bill, KXØB

Co-author, Project Editor and Photographer Assistant Project Editor

Larry Staples, WØAIB Rod, K6TBJ

[e-mail]> Copy Editor

<
Senior Editor and Publisher

www.larryslist.info/index.html
http://list.k0jpr.net/mailman/listinfo/larryslist

larryslist.info) Larry Staples, WØAIB [e-mail].

1

Index

MUST READ
Hook:
Making a wire hook contact connector
Scan Modes
Setting up the User Scan list
Optional Priority Scanning
Temporarily skip a channel
Mon button
Antenna connector
Additional MaxTrac web sites

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

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.

microphone

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
switches back to the dispatcher’s frequency / channel. As an amateur radio operator, that non­scanner feature needs to be changed unless you are satisfied to leave the transceiver’s “mic
hook” on the “mic holder” most of the time.

2

calls on the radio, the LEO must have a radio that immediately

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.

Hook:

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:

3

The operator can also use a regular mic hook as long as it's metal (conductive), it should
work. If the mic is not "on hook" and the scan button is pressed, the display will flash
between the current channel and the scan mode. Ross, WØRCT, leaves the hanger clip on
the mic all the time and simply lays the mic down. An alternative way which may be
simpler, depending the microphone, is to "ground" the metal ring sticking out of the back
of the mic. How this is accomplished, is up to the operator.

Making a wire hook contact connector

By using a piece of wire, inserted into the notch, it still 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.

4

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.

If your display looks like this, the
radio is NOT scanning! The unit will
NOT scan without the microphone
being "on hook".

Scan Modes:

The radio has 4 different scan modes indicated by dashes next to the labels on the right of
the display. If your display is changing between the scan display and the channel number,
the radio is "off hook" and not currently scanning.

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.

5

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.

2.

Setting up the User Scan list:

Hold the [Scan] button for 2 seconds, or until you
hear the second beep.

The channel number will flash letting you know
it's in User Scan set mode.

6

3.

The operator can also set Priority One and Priority Two

channels for the User Scan list which will be checked more

e

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

4.

5.

Using the [Up] or [Down] buttons, select the
channel you wish to add (or remove) from the user
scan list.

Pressing [Select] will toggle the channel on or off
your scan list.

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.

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

6.

On Larry's MaxTrac 300, after programming desired channels, press the [Scan] button.
To turn off the [Scan], Larry just presses the scan button again.

Optional Priority Scanning

often than the other channels in the scan list. During th

[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.

7

image. Do the same to set Priority Two, which will be

indicated by a solid [Pri] led as shown in the

image at the

top of the next page.

Priority scan 2 with a solid green LED in the top right corner.

Temporarily skip a channel:

You can skip a busy channel without removing it from the programmed channels
permanently. While the scan is stopped on a channel, press and hold the [Select] button
for 2 seconds until you hear the second beep. The radio will then continue scanning and
ignore that channel until you stop the scan or power off the radio. However, that won't
ignore the channel you were on when the scan was initially started. In this case, you
should start the scan from a different channel, then use this procedure to skip the
channel.

Antenna connector:

The antenna connector on the back of
this 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.

8

Additional web sites for your consideration for the MaxTrac.

http://www.repeater-builder.com/maxtrac/maxtrac-index.html

http://www.batlabs.com/maxrad.html

http://forums.radioreference.com/motorola-forum/209465-motorola-maxtrac­programming.html

http://batlabs.com

http://g1ivg.com/motgm300.htm

http://www.repeater-builder.com/maxtrac/maxtrac-intro-stuff.html

General web sites

Larry’s list web site: www.larryslist.info/index.html

[Larryslist] email sign up: http://list.k0jpr.net/mailman/listinfo/larryslist

Updated: 1626 hrs, 16 OCT 2012

Space for your notes

# # #

9