Ranger Channel Mod?

[comtinker]

Hello,

As I am new to the world of GE equipment and learning fast I ask everyone to ignore my mistakes.
This pertains to a GE Rangr High Band with 150-174 split connected to a S990 head.
The problem I am having is this: Using a suitcase programmer and trying to program a S990 head for use in a Rangr that I added the second 2212 eprom chip to.............How do you enable 4 modes of 32 channels? My programmer will not let me go past 4 modes of 16 channels. In other words no 8 modes of 16 channels or 4 modes of 32 channels allowed in the programmer.

Furthermore if anyone knows the complete mod for the 32 channel conversion in a Rangr/S990 head, please walk me through it as I'm sure something was missed in my research.

Any info on this is very much appreciated.
Thanks

[kd6kml]

You have found the limitation of using a Rangr radio. The radios only supports 16 channels stock. You can add the socket for another X2212 EEPROM and make it 32 channels...But...The 950/990 and 825/830 only support 16 channels per mode for the Rangr. The "dumb" control heads (S-550) or the above mentioned heads in dumb mode will run the Rangr at 32 channels. If you want downloading, then you're stuck with 16 channels per mode. If not, program the radio by itself, tell the head it is on a Delta 32 channel, no downloading.

Josh K6ZRX

[comtinker]

Josh,

Thanks for the info. Finding much data on these Delta's and Rangr's seems to be increasingly hard to get. Programming the head for a Delta non-downloading is an idea that slipped past me. I wonder if the Rangr programming software could me modded to allow a "B" mode?

I managed to get a Delta and now playing with that beast. I would like to add the second eprom to it also. Do you know or anyone else if the second eprom is added to the pins already there on each side rising above the existing chip? Is the second chip another 2212 eprom or something else? I can't find any information anywhere on adding that 2nd chip.

Then I guess it's off to trying that S990 front panel mod.

Thanks,
Scott

[KF4SQB]

The second chip is another X2212. There is a small circuit board that the chip sits on that "plugs onto" the pins on the sides of the main chip. No idea where you might find a board at.

[comtinker]

Thanks for the help Brett. Glad to have a confirmation on that. I kinda figured it may have been a second X2212. What threw me off was the 2nd pic down on the page link below. Can anyone identify the chip with the yellow sticker and a GE part # on it? Could it basically be a double capacity eprom to take the place of two X2212's?
I made a board up and added the second X2212 to this machine but have not tested it yet. Afraid of letting out the smoke. My can-o-smoke is about empty and its getting harder to get that smoke back in. Anyway, does anyone know if the pins match the X2212 chip pin for pin on the 2nd chip? I noticed thre are 3 extra pins and I am not sure if there is extra circuitry on the original add-in board that used these extra pins or not. If the 3 pins are not used, which end are the 3 free pins to be located from the chip?

http://www.radio-hobby.com/projects_and ... index.html

Thanks
Scott

[KF4SQB]

No, that is simply the second X2212 on it's expansion board. Its sitting over the "first" 2212, on the pins along the sides of it. As for the pinout of the expansion board, I have never actually seen one, so I don't know.

[comtinker]

Thanks for clearing that up. I have wondered about that for a while. It just looked like a different chip but it's really hard to tell in a pic. Does anyone have a closeup pic of the additional board, top and bottom, that they could send me? Or maybe a schematic or pinout? I have looked everywhere for it.

Thanks

[comtinker]

Thanks to everyone on the forum that supplied help and suggestions. They were great
and got me headed in the right direction and also got some other ideas rolling around in the back of the head along the way. I did recieve some pics and have the first board built and working in a Delta SX with 4 modes of 32 channels.

I have found that there is also a mod to use a larger eprom to expand the capacity even more.
That is on the back burner for a while until the front panel entry mod gets experimented with.
Then it's time to move on down the list.

Thanks again to all for the help.
Scott

[KF4SQB]

No problem, Scott. I'm always happy to help out a fellow tinkerer/modifier, however small or large the help I'm able to offer.