CQCQ.ca

HOW TO CONVERT A NON-RR RADIO TO AN RR RADIO

If you have a non-railroad F3161DT and you want to turn it into a F3161DT RR, it can be done.

First, you will need an RR radio firmware update from Icom. I've been told the best revision 4.6.4 RR.

Then you will need the RR version of CS to match, ie. CS 4.6.3 RR will work with firmware revision 4.6.4 RR.

1. Read your radio with your non-RR CS and save the programming, just in case.
2. Run the RR firmware upgrade and follow the prompts.
3. Once done, the firmware update will say it's successful.
4. Your radio will go nuts! It will beep, the display will flash bright and black, and the top LED will blink red and green, and then the display will say "CLONE NC". Don't panic!
5. Install the RR CS onto your computer. Since it's different software than the non-RR CS, you can have both installed at the same time.
6. Run the RR CS. Set up a channel.
7. Program your radio with the RR CS.
8. You now have an F3161DT RR.

You will have to set up your programming from scratch; you can't load up the non-RR .icf and write it to your RR radio.

Remember that you can enable the second functions for the P0-P3 buttons now (see my earlier note). You will need to enable the AAR direct-entry function if you want it.

The reason the radio freaks out once the firmware has been changed to RR is because the existing programming was done with the non-RR CS. So the radio which is now an RR version sees the non-RR programming and throws the error. Thanks to EricCottrell and Josh on RadioReference for figuring out my missing step.

Greg

I have discovered an even simpler way to passively scan a NXDN (iDas) trunked network.

The principles are the same as the first post on this page. However, if you enable nuisance delete in the programming software, it becomes much simpler.

1 - Create a zone with all the channels of the NXDN trunked system you want to scan (in LCN order if you know it).
2 - Go to SCAN section and Scan Setting in programming software. Set resume timer to 0.5 seconds.
3 - Select Nuisance Delete to ON in Scan Setting.
3 - Ensure one of your programmable keys is set to Scan add/delete (SCAD).
4 - Create a scan list with all the NXDN trunk system channels (including the control channel).

Once you have set this up, scanning the system simply can be achieved as follows :
1 - Go to the NXDN trunk zone and identify the control channel. It will be the channel with the activity light and signal constantly on. Make sure you rotate the channel switch so you are on the control channel.
2 - Press your SCAD button twice. Unit should display Scan Off, and the SCAD will not be highlighted on the display.
3 - Rotate your channel switch to any of the other channels.
4 - Press your Scan button to start monitoring the system.

That's it! No need to power off the radio.

When the control channel changes, stop scanning, navigate to the correct zone, and find the channel you locked out. Hit the SCAD button and it will say Scan On. Use your channel button to go to the current control channel and press SCAD until the display says Scan Off. Then rotate the switch, hit the Scan button, and you are back in business!

Simply put, Scan On means the channel will be scanned as part of the scan list.
Scan Off means the channel will not be scanned with the rest of the scan list.

Perfect, less steps and less convoluted than the way I found.

I checked my programming, and I do have nuisance delete enabled. So I think I can already scan the way you've described, but I went about it the wrong (long) way.

Greg

I finally tried scanning a NXDN trunk using your method. MUCH simpler. lol

My radio programming was already set up correctly, so I just had to follow the four steps for scanning setup.

Thanks for figuring that out.

Greg

Regarding the BC-121N bank charger: I removed one of the AD-106 cups and replaced it with the AD-110 cup that came with my IC-F80DT's BC-119N single-unit rapid-charger. To swap cups, you only need to remove the two black screws in the bottom of the cup; you do not need to remove the bottom plate of the charger. Once the two screws have been removed, you can press one of the inside-sides of the cup and it will come loose. There are two wiring harnesses you'll need to unplug from the cup's PC board, to fully-remove the cup. Installation of the replacement cup is the reverse of removal; do not over-tighten the screws.

So now my bank charger will charge the four F3161/F4161-series radios and the F80, with one spare. The radios are sufficiently-different that you cannot drop (or force) the wrong radio into the wrong cup.

Greg

I updated the firmware of all three 4161D's to rev 5.4, and used CS ver 5.2 to program them. Since none of my radios had forced-narrow enabled with firmware rev 5.0, I wasn't worried about getting the forced-narrow issue with firmware rev 5.4.

The reason I updated the firmware was because I just bought an IC-F6061D which came with firmware rev 5.4, and I needed CS ver 5.2 to program it. Upgrading to the newer CS meant I could no longer use the the older CS. The 3161/4161 portables and the 5061/6061 mobiles all use the same CS (other than the railroad-firmware 3161).

I also updated the programming of the 4161's and the 3161 RR.

I'm happy to report that none of my radios have forced-narrow enabled.

Greg

I bought an IC-F5061D, brought it home last night, installed it, and programmed it. I made it functionally identical to the 6061D that it's mounted next to, then programmed the freqs. For me, a big part of the fun is programming up a radio exactly the way I want it.

I confirmed with the seller before-hand that it didn't have forced-narrow enabled. It arrived with 5.2 firmware, and it programmed fine with CS ver 5.2.

Greg

hello all,
bringing a very old thread back to life
this thread is awesome and has helped a lot but
i jut got an older f3160
rev 3.0
drev 2.7
downloaded what i could find--mostly hamfiles.co
but cant find any firmware to update my rig and software i found is too new to support old firmware
i even contacted icom america, they cant/wont help--say radio too old

so can someone point me to a non narrowband newer firmware either standard or rr, not picky at this point
also a matching cs would be awesome

thanks in advance