RCH3000

Motorola RCH3000

Market	All
Release Date	unknown
EOL Date	unknown

The Motorola RCH3000 is an SB9600 Desk Console for remote control of Astro, MCS2000, and iDEN radios.

Overview

The RCH3000 was intended for dispatch centers or offices where a normal radio control head and microphone would be impractical or would look out of place. The deskset emulates a Model 3 control head for the MCS2000 and iDen mobiles, or a W9 head for the Astro Spectra, Spectra Plus, and XTL5000 radios. Connections are made between the radio and the deskset via a junction box or directly to the radio via an accessory connector. Details about the installation and connection can be found in the installation section or in the manual.

Manual

I've scanned and uploaded the RCH3000 manual as I recently found one and I've not seen it posted anywhere else.

68-81129E92-C RCH3000 Installation & Operation Manual with Schematics

Connection to a Non-Consolette Astro Spectra/Plus/XTL5000

Despite several people's claims to the contrary, you can directly connect an Astro Spectra, Spectra Plus, or XTL5000 W-series radio straight to the RCH3000 with full functionality.

Prerequisites:

• An Astro Spectra/Spectra Plus/XTL5000 with a standard W-series remote mount TIB, with correct flash for a W9 control head. Low, mid, and high power should all work but they must be W9 radios.
• An RCH3000 with proper power supply, set to ASTRO mode as described in the installation manual above.
• A DB25 male connector, cat5 cable, and an RJ45 termination at one end

Making the Cables

One end of your cat5 run will be plugged in to the back of the RCH3000. Use the already terminated end of an existing cable, or crimp your own. Color code followed doesn't matter, but if you know the T568B standard it'll make things easier on the other end. Once you have a suitable RJ45 end in place, we can move on to the radio side of things. You will be using the J5/6 connectors on the front of the radio TIB, as all the needed signals are brought out to these two ports. Note: Motorola uses reverse pin numbering for their RJ45 connectors and has done so since the maxtrac era. Be careful! Looking with the locking tab on the bottom, pin 1 is on the right side of the connector.

RCH3000 RJ45 Pin		Spectra/XTL DB25 Pin
1	BSY	23	BSY
2	BUS-	14	BUS-
3	RX AUD	6	FLT-AUD
4	Mic Hi	12	Mic Hi
5	Mic Lo	11	Mic Lo
6	Aud GND	10	ANA-GND
7	BUS+	5	BUS+
8	DIG-GND	18	DIG-GND

Radio Programming

As far as the radio is concerned, the RCH3000 is just another W9 head. Glancing at the buttons on the deskset, you can see it's basically a standard W9 head with the button layout shifted slightly. (you can even use standard spectra control head buttons to change the labels on the RCH!)

Connection to an MCS2000 Model 3

The MCS2000 is the other major radio platform supported by the RCH3000. Connection is similar to the above guide for Astro gear with some slight changes.

Prerequisites:

• An MCS2000 Model 3 radio, any bandsplit, any power.
• An RCH3000 with proper power supply, set to MCS mode as described in the installation manual above.
• A spare MCS2000 accessory connector (the fake DB25), cat5 cable, and an RJ45 termination at one end

Making the Cables

Same as above for the most part. The RJ45 goes in to the RCH3000 and the other end will be crimped in to the MCS2000's bottom accessory port.

RCH3000 RJ45 Pin		MCS DB25 Pin
1	BSY	5	BSY
2	BUS-	18	BUS-
3	RX AUD	11	FIL AUD OUT
4	Mic Hi	13	Mic In
5	Mic Lo	10	Analog GND
6	Aud GND	10	Analog GND
7	BUS+	6	BUS+
8	DIG-GND	4	DIG-GND

Radio Programming

This one is slightly less than straightforward. The button mapping from RCH3000 to MCS2000 is nowhere to be found in the install manual so I manually discovered the button mappings and they can be found below.