Motoroal GP344 Programming

1,219 views
Skip to first unread message

jim-G0LHZ

unread,
Apr 13, 2019, 1:30:43 PM4/13/19
to Reading and District Amateur Radio Group
Hi All;

I have been trying to program the Motorola GP344 that I purchased at the last junk sale.

I have managed to get a USB lead from eBay that appears to 'talk' to the radio.

I have proved the USB cable by using the Motorola CPS Version 03-11-15 (down loadable on the Web) which has a 'ComTool' application which is installed in the folder C:\Program Files\Motorola (ComTool.exe). This reports that the USB lead is communicating with the radio and shows the radio type (H38RDC0AN3), firmware version, code plug part version (06.01) etc - see attached.

However, when I run the Motorola CPS software proper, it claims that it cannot communicate with the radio.

I suspect that I need the correct version of the Motorola CPS software.....

Has anybody else made any progress?


Regards


Jim - G0LHZ
ComTool Info.JPG

Marnoch Standen

unread,
Apr 13, 2019, 1:53:22 PM4/13/19
to jim-G0LHZ, Reading and District Amateur Radio Group

Hi Jim

 

I know Patrick G8JCP was getting a cable for ours but don’t know if he has managed to connect to them.

I’m going with him to Kempton tomorrow so I’ll find out and give you an update.

 

I had thought about Tom, Loz or Ian that could have the tools…..

 

Min Standen G0JMS

 

mi...@talktalk.net

07917 830 410

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Reading and District Amateur Radio Group" group.
To post to this group, send email to rad...@googlegroups.com
 
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
radarc+un...@googlegroups.com
 
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/radarc?hl=en-GB
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Reading and District Amateur Radio Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to radarc+un...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to rad...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/radarc.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/radarc/4d73dedd-87a8-4349-b39e-fef535b468cf%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Ian Livesey

unread,
Apr 13, 2019, 3:13:37 PM4/13/19
to Marnoch Standen, jim-G0LHZ, Reading and District Amateur Radio Group
Hi you lot, I'm pretty sure I have the cable and the software as I have programmed these before, I can poss help. 73 Ian nxj.
.

-------- Original message --------
From: 'Marnoch Standen' via Reading and District Amateur Radio Group <rad...@googlegroups.com>
Date: 13/04/2019 18:53 (GMT+00:00)
To: 'jim-G0LHZ' <j...@xtronix.co.uk>, 'Reading and District Amateur Radio Group' <rad...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: {RADARC Group Forum :463} Motoroal GP344 Programming

Hi Jim

 

I know Patrick G8JCP was getting a cable for ours but don’t know if he has managed to connect to them.

I’m going with him to Kempton tomorrow so I’ll find out and give you an update.

 

I had thought about Tom, Loz or Ian that could have the tools…..

 

Min Standen G0JMS

 

mi...@talktalk.net

07917 830 410

 

From: rad...@googlegroups.com [mailto:rad...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of jim-G0LHZ
Sent: 13 April 2019 18:31
To: Reading and District Amateur Radio Group <rad...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: {RADARC Group Forum :463} Motoroal GP344 Programming

 

Hi All;

 

I have been trying to program the Motorola GP344 that I purchased at the last junk sale

 

I have managed to get a USB lead from eBay that appears to 'talk' to the radio.

 

I have proved the USB cable by using the Motorola CPS Version 03-11-15 (down loadable on the Web) which has a 'ComTool' application which is installed in the folder C:\Program Files\Motorola (ComTool.exe). This reports that the USB lead is communicating with the radio and shows the radio type (H38RDC0AN3), firmware version, code plug part version (06.01) etc - see attached.

 

However, when I run the Motorola CPS software proper, it claims that it cannot communicate with the radio.

 

I suspect that I need the correct version of the Motorola CPS software.....

 

Has anybody else made any progress?

 

 

Regards

 

 

Jim - G0LHZ

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Reading and District Amateur Radio Group" group.
To post to this group, send email to rad...@googlegroups.com
 
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
radarc+un...@googlegroups.com
 
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/radarc?hl=en-GB
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Reading and District Amateur Radio Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to radarc+un...@googlegroups.com

To post to this group, send email to rad...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/radarc.

christophe...@gmail.com

unread,
Apr 13, 2019, 5:25:08 PM4/13/19
to Reading and District Amateur Radio Group
Hi all

The CPS I use for these radios is Motorola R03.08.03_EN and it came with the programming cable.It is for the GP300/GM300 series radios but works fine with the 344 radios.

If you have a disk with the cables you bought check the disk as it is not only the driver of the serial to USB lead. Often the CPS is on there as well.

If you are stuck I can copy my disk with the R03.08.03_EN CPS on it for you.

It runs ok on WIN7 but probably might not run on WIN 10 machines.

Note you will need to check which com port the serial lead has installed itself on.

Kind regards

Chris

G0JTN

jim-G0LHZ

unread,
Apr 14, 2019, 1:10:14 PM4/14/19
to Reading and District Amateur Radio Group
Hi Chris;

Thanks for the info. 

I have found a download for the Motorola Software CPS R03-11-16. This release includes a code plug configuration for this radio (H38RDC0AN3), so it suggests that it is the correct software.

If anybody needs to download this version, it is available here:


This version also has the ComTest tool (stored in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Motorola\Professional GP300 GM300 CPS\R03.11.16_EN on a 64 bit machine or C:\Program Files\Motorola\Professional GP300 GM300 CPS\R03.11.16_EN) which can be used to check that you can communcate witht he radio.

The CPS and ComTest applications seem to run under both Win7 and Win10. As Chris mentions, you need to know what your COM port number is,

The apps only seem to only COM1 to COM4, so if your if your cable COM port appears at a higher COM port number, you will need to move it (Use the Port Settings | Advanced to move it).

However, with my cable I have the issue that if I use the ComTest application, it can detect and read the Radio data correctly (it reports the correct serial number etc), but when I run the CPS software, it claims it cannot communicate with the radio.

So, I can only assume there is a problem with the cable grrrrrrrrr......

Regards

Jim - G0LHZ


On Saturday, 13 April 2019 18:30:43 UTC+1, jim-G0LHZ wrote:

Tom Grady G6IGA

unread,
Apr 14, 2019, 6:01:24 PM4/14/19
to Reading and District Amateur Radio Group
Hi Gents
The latest/last release of the GP344 software was R03-11-16 in 2012, although R03.08.03 will work with earlier firmware if loaded in the radio.

When inserting the non-original usb / ebay type programming leads, windows will automatically load the lastest "prolific" driver.
This latest version checks for an authentic Prolific interface chip in the lead.
As these ebay leads are not the genuine article the "latest" prolific driver software prevents them from functioning.
By loading the original "pre-authentication" driver which doesn't carry out the test works fine.
Jim is correct in saying that you need to allocate com1-4 of them to work correctly.

The software from 2012 was written to run within XP and on certain machines it can be best to run "compatibility mode" for XP

I can supply the correct driver on request

Best Regards

Tom G6IGA

jim-G0LHZ

unread,
Apr 16, 2019, 3:26:27 PM4/16/19
to Reading and District Amateur Radio Group
Hi Tom;

Thanks for your comments.

Having read your comments about the prolific chip used in the USB Serial converter, I decided to try another programming lead that connects directly to a PC serial port and does not use a USB converter chip. 

This leads works perfectly with the Motorola CPS Version 03-11-15 software I had downloaded and I am now able to program the radio!!!!

Not sure I understand the myriad of encoder and decoder options offered in the software, but I disabled everything I could and moved the channel frequencies to the FM channels in 70cms and it works!

Thanks for your help.

Regards

Jim - G0LHZ


On Saturday, 13 April 2019 18:30:43 UTC+1, jim-G0LHZ wrote:
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages