I feel a little late to the DTR party, since resources and info are hard to find. I’m a ham and generally a radio geek (I’m sitting in front of 15 radios and there are another 30+ in my shack).
About 10 years ago I bought 2 DTR 550’s and a 650 off ebay - the ones with non-removable antennas (I picked up the little plug-in keyboard too). I used them on family trips and backpacking trips. One time in Zion’s National Park we were several miles apart with steep cliffs and slot canyons, and we were able to talk perfectly. Seemed like radio magic. Totally love the performance of these FHSS VSELP radios. Such cool technology in a handy little package.
Even though I have not used them in years, I decided to pick up another 650 with removable antenna last week. I thought it would be cool to connect it to the coax that goes to the rooftop discone. For the life I me I couldn’t remember how to program these. So I started down the CPS route, then realized my firmware is like from 1982. CPS 7.02 won’t talk to any of the radios, and CPS 3.01 will only talk to my newer 650. So now I’m on a quest to upgrade the firmware. Finding one of those iDEN USB cables is the next step so I can make my own flash cable. They seem to be getting rare even on ebay. I could probably skip all this and figure out how to program them from the keypad, but where’s the fun in that.
I’ve downloaded the 6.01 and 6.05 firmware. Can anyone assure me the 6.01 will work even though I have really old DTR radios? I’d hate to find out I need to use some older firmware update that I don’t have, or brick the radio with incompatible code.
There’s no guarantees in life, so use your best judgment. If bricking your DTRs would be devastating, then why risk it?
However, please do read my 2 blog posts on the subject. They’ll give you some insight into what I went through. (I started at a similar spot that you did) https://www.checkcheckonetwo.com/forum/entry.php?31-Motorola-DTR-Radios-Part-1
Great writeup Andy. That fills in a lot of gaps. I guess I have 3 Rev.1 radios and probably a Rev.2. You didn’t mention flash versions. Am I correct that I would flash version R5E.06.01 first and then flash to R5E.06.05? If not could you point me to the correct firmware versions? No real loss If I brick a Rev.1 radio, I’ve already had a lot of good use out of these. I’d use it as an excuse to pick up another Rev.2.
Sorry about that. I read both parts of your story and they did not mention version numbers. I had previously read the Start Here thread, but I did not realize you were the author of that. The Start Here thread is why I already downloaded those 2 firmware versions. I was thinking that you had ‘other’ information to provide. That closes the loop then. Thanks.
Please post back if you get things flashed and working, or if you have questions about the cables. (There’s a separate thread on building your own, if you go that route).