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The Computer Automation Technology (CAT)
Index Page Formerly Maintained by Robert Meister WA1MIK (SK) Currently Maintained by Mike Morris WA6ILQ and Josh Hatton W4ZZK ![]() The catauto.com web site is gone. |
| The CAT line of products is orphaned and this web page and the two mailing lists at groups.io are the only support for the entire CAT Auto product line: CAT-200, CAT-200B, CAT-250, CAT-260, CAT-300, CAT-300 DX, CAT-300 DXL, CAT-400, CAT-500, CAT-700, CAT-700B, CAT-800, CAT-1000, DL-1000, DL-1000C, RBS-1000 Expander, SQ-1000, WX-250, WX-1000 |
Contributions, comments / critiques / suggestions / corrections / updates for this page (or any page at this web site) are welcome and appreciated.
Important note seen on the CAT AUTO web site in August 2019:
Since 1989, Computer Automation Technology has provided quality repeater controllers and accessories to the amateur radio community.
Due to changes in the economy, Ron and Al have decided to close the business effective October 31, 2019.
We would like to thank our many devoted patrons who contributed to our success over the past 30 years.
Ron plans to maintain the telephone product support line (954-978-6171) to assist our loyal customers with
their concerns.
Best regards, Ron WB4UFA and Al W4MGK
In mid-2020 the CAT AUTO web site disappeared.
In March 2021 it was reported that the above phone number was disconnected.
If anyone has an updated phone number please let this page's maintainer know.
Fortunately we have copies of most of the manuals, notes, and papers that were there a while ago.
In Feb 2023 your page maintainer was told that the CAT owner / engineer
Alan Preuss W4MGK passed away.
There are two groups at groups.io for the CAT series of repeater controllers.
The following information was copied from both of the groups.io pages:
Neither group has any file storage area, all available files are on this web page.CAT-Controllers Off-site pointer (opens in a new browser tab)
This group is for those people that are interested in, or are using Computer Automation Technologies Repeater Controllers.
Created: 10/25/19
As of when this paragraph was added in Feb 2023 there 74 Members.
Computer Automation Technology (CAT AUTO) Repeater Controller legacy support Off-site pointer (opens in a new browser tab)
Support for the now defunct CAT Auto repeater controllers: CAT-250, CAT-260, CAT-200, CAT-300 DX, CAT-300 DXL, CAT-400, CAT-800, CAT-1000-B and the RLS-1000 Expansion board
Created: 12/05/20
As of when this paragraph was added in Feb 2023 there 35 Members.
NOTE: The CAT controllers use EPROMs for the firmware and the synthesized speech.
EPROMs aren't forever. Given enough time they will all drop bits (called "bit rot" by some people).
If anyone would like to read the EPROMs in their units before they rot and email us the image files we will host them here.
Then as folks have problems due to bit rot they can erase and reburn their EPROM chips and get their unit working again.
Note that each EPROM chip has a notch in the pin 1 end.
Watch that you install them in the right direction, you will destroy the chip if it is installed in the socket backwards!
And it's way too easy to fold a pin underneath. So look twice and BE CAREFUL.
In March 2023, Josh Hatton, W4ZZK, received the permission from Ronald (Ron) Eichholtz, of the 'CAT Auto Enterprise' to share the remaining software and documentation he has on-hand with the Radio community. Some documentation has already been captured and shared by Repeater-Builder.com. Any items not previously acquired by Repeater-Builder will be seen within a list down below.
The CAT controllers were very popular, easy to use, and easy to interface. There are interfacing articles on this web site in the following Motorola areas: MTR2000, MSR2000, MSF5000, and MaxTrac. The CAT controllers havealso been interfaced to some Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu/Vertex repeaters and radios and you will find interfacing articles on those pages as well. The Scom and Arcom brand controllers interface similarly, and those pages may prove useful. If you are having trouble interfacing your CAT controller please join one or both of the CAT mailing lists listed above and ask for assistance or post on the repeater-builder mailing list.
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CAT-1000 Modem Scripts
By Jim Hartzell WA3UQD A complete programming utility using Procomm Plus. |
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Clock setting utility for
the CAT-1000 by Jim Hartzell WA3UQD A Procomm Plus script to set the clock. |
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CAT-1000 Audio
Bandwidth Modification By Jay Farmer N8IPO and
Kevin Custer W3KKC You can increase the audio pass bandwidth of the CAT-1000. This same mod can be done to many of the other CAT controllers, however you will need the applicable schematics and component layouts to identify the right parts to change. |
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CAT-200B and DL-1000C Frequency Response Improvements
By Robert Meister WA1MIK After reading the above article, the CAT-200B controller and the companion DL-1000C audio delay board were found to also have similarly poor frequency response. A similar fix will certainly help things out. |
Since there's no more CAT AUTO web site, the list below covers all of the
product manuals that were collected by Repeater-Builder before March 2023.
This particular list is NOT a complete list of every manual for every product they ever produced.
The repeater controller manuals on their site did not include schematic diagrams.
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CAT-200B Repeater
Controller Manual 1.35 MB PDF Includes the CI-200 RS-232/Weather interface, the DL-1000C Audio Delay Board, and the RLS-1000B Remote Link Switch. |
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CAT-250 Repeater
Controller Manual 892 kB PDF Contains schematic. |
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The CAT-300 / 300DX Repeater Controller Manual 3 MB PDF Contains schematic. |
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CAT-300 Repeater Controller Data Sheet 235 kB PDF Even though it's called a data sheet, it has a schematic. |
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CAT-400 Repeater Controller Manual 2.8 MB PDF Includes DL-1000C Audio Delay module. One of the few manuals on CAT's web site that had schematics. |
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CAT-500 Repeater Controller Manual 329 kB PDF Rather crude, but it does have a schematic. |
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CAT-700 Repeater Controller Manual 880 kB PDF Donated by Bill K2WH. Reorganized by WA1MIK. |
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CAT-700B Repeater Controller Manual 976 kB PDF Donated by Bill K2WH. Has schematics plus info on the MF-1000, DL-1000C, DR-1000, and RLS-1000. |
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CAT-1000 Repeater Controller Manual 615 kB PDF Rather crude, but it does have a schematic. |
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CAT-1000 Repeater Controller Manual 2 MB PDF The FULL indexed manual. Includes schematics, DR-1000, DL-1000B, WX-1000, RLS-1000, Remote Base Interface, and Serial Tuned Transceiver Interface. |
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RBS-1000 Remote Base Switch Manual 189 kB PDF Includes schematic. |
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RBS-1000B Remote Base Switch Schematic 335 kB PDF |
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RLS-1000B Remote Link Switch Manual 326 kB PDF Includes schematic. |
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SQ-1000 Super-Squelch board Manual 195 kB PDF Includes schematic. |
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WD-100 Digital Weather Decoder Manual 326 kB PDF This unit requires an external weather receiver. |
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WX-200 Digital Weather Receiver Manual 189 kB PDF Includes schematics. |
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WX-250 Digital Weather Receiver Manual 2.9 MB PDF Includes schematics. |
| WX-250 - Weather Radio Digital Interface Document Document Date 6-22-2011 - Revision A -- "This document was developed with input from manufacturers, private and government organizations and WX-250 users to document the RS-232 extended digital output." Provided by an Anonymous Contributor |
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WX-1000 Digital Weather Receiver Manual 1.1 MB PDF Donated by Eric WB6FLY (SK) Includes schematics. |
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An index of CAT Manuals taken from the CAT AUTO web site in August-October 2019 |
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An index of CAT Notes taken from the CAT AUTO web site in August-October 2019 |
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An index of CAT Papers taken from the CAT AUTO web site in August-October 2019 |
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An index of CAT Manuals taken from the CAT AUTO web site in May 2020 File names that have the whole word "manual" in them contain full schematics. Those that have the word "man" in them do not have full schematics. |
CAT SOFTWARE
In March 2023, Josh Hatton, W4ZZK, received the permission from Ronald (Ron) Eichholtz, of the 'CAT Auto Enterprise' to share the remaining software he has with the Radio community.
Unless otherwise noted, all software was provided to W4ZZK by Ron of CAT Auto, for coordination and dissemenation to the community, free of charge.
All software items below were pulled from their original CD-ROM states and compressed to single and separate EXE files, for ease of download and access.
Please respect Ron's contribution and CAT's many years of hard work in software development...
Don't attempt to profit from this software that is now officially made free to CAT Community.
If anyone has purchased CAT software from any individual on group forums or online sales after May 5, 2023 (the date that all below packages were made available to the community on Repeater-Builder.com), you paid for free software.
Download and install the software at your own risk.
This software is no longer supported
Repeater-Builder.com, the site owners, contributors or maintainers are not responsible/liable in any way.
See the "How To Extract" page for guidance after downloading.
#KeepCATAutoAlive
Software Provided by Ron WB4UFA
| CAT200 Windows Editor Executable Filename: RB-CAT200.exe Editor Version 1.03 |
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CAT250
Windows Editor Executable Filename: RB-CAT250.exe Editor v1.07.06; Includes ISP Loader v1.00 |
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CAT260
Windows Editor Executable Filename: RB-CAT260.exe Editor v1.04; Includes CAT260 Flasher v1.2 |
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CAT300DX
Windows Editor Executable Filename: RB-CAT300DX.exe Includes 'CAT COMM 32' Communications Program v2.10 |
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CAT300DXL
Windows Editor Executable Filename: RB-CAT300DXL.exe Includes 'CAT COMM 32' Communications Program v2.10 |
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CAT400
Windows Editor Executable Filename: RB-CAT400.exe Editor v1.01.00 |
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CAT700
Editor Program Executable Filename: RB-CAT700.exe Editor v2.06; Includes Comm32 Communications Program v2.10 |
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CAT800 v1.05.1D
Windows Editor Executable Filename: RB-CAT800-V105.exe Editor v1.05.1D Windows Editor |
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CAT800
Windows Editor Executable Filename: RB-CAT800-V300.exe Editor v3.00 |
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CAT1000
Editor Executable Filename: RB-CAT1000.exe Editor v2.10; Includes CAT_COMM 32-Bit Communications Program |
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CAT WX-200
Digital Weather Receiver Configuration Editor Executable Filename: RB-CAT-WX200.exe Editor v1.05 |
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CAT WX-250 - SAME Weather Receiver Configuration Editor Executable Filename: RB-CAT-WX250.exe Editor v1.06 |
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CAT WX-1000A SAME Digital Weather Receiver Executable Filename: RB-CAT-WX1000.exe Editor v3.00 |
Software Provided by Community Members
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CAT Weather Receiver Display Panel Executable Filename: RB-CAT-WXRX-Display.exe Program interrogates Alert Properties, RX Signal Strength (RSSI, S/N), Raw Data and Logging Submitted by an Anonymous Contributor |
The information presented in this web site, on these web pages and in these modifications and conversions is © Copyrighted 1995 - current by Kevin Custer W3KKC and multiple originating authors.