EF Johnson Information Index

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Equipment
Compiled and HTML'd by Mike Morris WA6ILQ
Formerly Maintained by Robert Meister WA1MIK
I know nothing about this equipment so please don't ask!
Currently Maintained by Mike Morris WA6ILQ

Click here or on the above logo to go to the company web site

DONATIONS OF INFORMATION, ESPECIALLY PDFs OF MANUALS WE DON'T HAVE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.
Please contact the page maintainer above.
Your author / page maintainer has very little personal knowledge of this equipment.

A bit of EFJ history:

Edgar F. Johnson was born June 13, 1899, coincidentally the same year that Guglielmo Marconi brought the wireless to America. He and his wife Ethel founded E.F. Johnson Company in Waseca, Minnesota in 1923 selling radio parts (by mail order) out of a corner of his father's woodworking shop. The catalog was called the "Hamalog". Within a few years it outgrew the wood shop. By 1925 the company had begun manufacturing it's own radio and electronics parts. In 1936 they built their first building.

In the late 1930s, E.F. Johnson Company moved into the manufacturing of land-mobile radio equipment. 1949 saw the introduction of their first amateur radio transmitter, the Viking. In 1958, the company introduced the Johnson "Messenger" Citizens Band Radio. By 1960 they were the leading manufacturer of CB radio. By 1970 they were a major manufacturer of commercial 2-way radios. In 1975 he was the recipient of the Radio Club of America's Sarnoff Citation for his contributions to electronic communications. In 1978 they introduced the LTR trunking radio system.

For 55 years Edgar led the company as managing partner, president, and chairman of the board, retiring in 1978, remaining a board member until 1983.

He succumbed to a long illness on February 11, 1991 at 91 years of age. Ethel passed two days later. There is a museum dedicated to him and the company in Waseca here.

Later in 1991 the Radio Club of America renamed its Pioneer Citation Award to the E. F. Johnson Pioneer Citation Award.

In 1997 Transcrypt International bought the E.F. Johnson company. By 2004 the company had become exclusively a provider of public safety communications equipment, encluding encryption systems. In 2005 the factory relocated to Irving, Texas. In 2006 the company introduced the Enhanced (AMBE+2) Project 25 Vocoder in its entire radio product line. This was a "clean room" redesign / re-engineering development of the P25 protocol vocoder / codec and broke the Digital Voice Systems, Inc. (DVSI) monopoly (and licensing royalty) on the original Project 25 vocoder.

In 2008, the company became EF Johnson Technologies, Inc.

On Mar 24, 2014 JVC KENWOOD Corporation completed its acquisition of EF Johnson Technologies, Inc. by acquiring all the outstanding shares of the Company in a stock transaction. As of this writing EF Johnson Technologies is a division of JVC KENWOOD Corporation and is primarily a software group focused on P25 systems and Kenwood radios.

There is a mailing list oriented toards Johnson radios at Groups.io... https://groups.io/g/EFJohnson-Amateur-Radio.
If you are at all interested in Johnson radios I suggest you join it. The last time I checked it had a little over 100 members.

UHF Desktop Repeater (Model 600) manual 4.3 MB PDF
This is a 20 watt crystal-controlled UHF desktop base or repeater station, model 242-0600-XXX and most of the ones out there are 450-470 MHz. It is a unique product that converts between a repeater or base station at the touch of a button. Donated and scanned by Will Armstrong KC4YBZ, cleaned up and submitted by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY (SK).

The CR1000 (earlier) and CR1010 (later) are Johnson's continuous duty high power conventional stations (repeater or base station). Once set up they are darn near bulletproof stations. The best way to use the CR-series station is to set it up as a full duplex base and use an external repeater controller such as an Scom, RLC/Link, NHRC, ICS, etc. Neither the 1000 or 1010 are synthesized and if you pick up one second hand MAKE SURE IT COMES WITH THE CRYSTAL ELEMENTS / TCXOs. They are very rare to the point of being pure unobtanium. In short, if you don't get a set of them with the station you will have to adapt something external to substitute for it. A "reference" (whatever that means) schematic is in the manual on the receiver schematic page, there is nothing on the TCXO listed on the exciter schematic. If you can't cobble up something then your station is just so much scrap.
If anyone is successful in mating a CR-series station to an external source (such as a Motorola Channel Element or to a GE ICOM) please let us know! These are excellent stations and do not deserve to be junked.
Don't forget that the transmitter modulator is inside the TCXO (the transmit and receive TCXO are identical - but the modulator in the receive TCXO is unused). My first effort would be to start with a set of Motorola Mitrek or Micor elements, since the transmit element contains a modulator. The GE elements could be used as well, however the various versions of the GE transmit elements come with or without a modulator, please see the "GE ICOMs" page for details.

CR1000 Repeater Service Manual In several sections courtesy of Carl Beaudry VA2CMB

CR1010 Repeater Service Manual 9.3 MB PDF courtesy of Clay Brown KI4ONH
Note that the unit supports a standby battery, and the power supply has a charger in it - which consists of one 5.6 ohm resistor from the +15v DC line to the battery (see figure 8-8). This overvoltage can cook your site battery and kill it all too soon. I really suggest you remove R10 from the power supply (or just lift one leg) and use an external modern multistage battery charger.

CR1010 Repeater Alignment by Clay Brown KI4ONH

Repeater CW Identifier card 846 kB PDF donated by James Duram
This is for the "023-3823-330" card. The next document below looks like the manual for it.

CR1010 Indentifier PROM programming 123 kB PDF courtesy of Clay Brown KI4ONH
The identifier in the control drawer is a pain to use as the MCW speed and tone frequency are fixed, plus you have to hand code the callsign in binary, then burn it into a 256x4 PROM chip (an 82S123 that is difficult to find) using a made-for-the-job EFJ external programmer box. And the box was limited and you had to use two separate program cycles, one for each 128x4 half. Your page maintainer was told that it is possible to make a plug adapter that lets you use a 27xxx or 27Cxxx series PROM (and a modern programmer) in place of the 82C123 chip. The other option is to use an external repeater controller to do the IDing (and more!) and just disable the internal identifier.

Repeater DC Remote Adapter card 770 kB PDF donated by James Duram
This is for the "023-4231-001" card.

Repeater Type A Call Guard card 1.2 MB PDF donated by James Duram
This is for the "023-3823-055/056" card. The inclusion of this card added CTCSS to the station.

Connecting a Com-Spec TS-32 CTCSS encoder / decoder to an EFJ Repeater 145 kB PDF donated by James Duram

Anybody want to do an interfacing article, i.e. connecting an external repeater controller to an EFJ station?

1100-series VHF Repeater Service Manual 8.6 MB PDF August 1996 version.

If anyone has additional information on the "1100" series stations we'd love to have it.

If anyone has manual scans or other information on the "1200" series stations we'd love to have it.

Conventional Repeater Voting Receiver Service Manual 6 MB PDF
This writeup describes the conventional voting receivers and the voter (which appears to be a JPS brand unit). VHF, UHF, 800 and 900 MHz units are described, including both single and multi-channel voting systems.
Model numbers include CVR, RDM, 2xxx, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2031, 2061, 2081, 2034, 2044, 2054, 3039.

51XX and 53XX model number breakdown Provided by Jon KD5SFA

Accessing the Radio Test modes in the 5100 and 5300 series radios Compiled by Robert Meister WA1MIK
How to get into the radio test mode, the various frequencies and modes, and what all the buttons do.

Anybody want to do an overview and programming article on the 5100 handheld and 5300 mobile radios?

5100-series Digital/Analog Portable Radio Operating Manual 728 kB PDF May 2002 version.

5100-series Digital/Analog Portable Radio Service Manual 13.5 MB PDF December 2004 version.

5300-series Digital/Analog Mobile Radio Operating Manual 1.6 MB PDF December 2004 version.

5300-series Digital/Analog Mobile Radio Service Manual 21.6 MB PDF January 2005 version.

The PPL-6xxx was one of the last series of crystal-controlled radios, the PPL-6050 was the VHF version and the PPL-6060 was the UHF version.

PPL-6060 UHF repeater conversion A conversion of the PPL-6060 to a GMRS repeater by Jim Sharp

PPL-6060 UHF Transmitter Tuning Tuning instructions for the transmit section by Matt Krick K3MK

PPL-6060 UHF Receiver Tuning Tuning instructions for the receive section by Matt Krick K3MK

PPL-6060 Service Manual 3.3 MB PDF file donated by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY

Does anybody have the PPL-6050 service manual (the VHF version)?

The Challenger 7171 Service Manual Part 1 3.1 MB PDF file

The Challenger 7171 Service Manual Part 2 2.3 MB PDF file

A web page on the two models of the UHF Challenger by Joel Huntley WA1ZYX (offsite link)
This offers an intro on two models: the 7184 and 7186 complete with photos, a link to downloadable RSS, the programming procedure, interfacing to a repeater controller, and more. These radios program right up on the amateur UHF band.
Note: Another option to soldering the programming cable to the pads in the radio is to just hacksaw a piece off of the connector from the drive end of an old 5.25 inch floppy cable and use it.

Supposedly the Challenger was designed as competition to the Motorola MaxTrac, and does everything it does but better. Anybody want to do an overview and programming article on the Low Band, High Band and UHF Johnson Challenger Line? Or separate articles?

Tune-Up Instructions for the 7180-7187 series. 1.3 MB PDF file

As far as we know, there are three programs that are used to program the Challenger series:
1) QB7171 Programs the 7171A, 7171B, 7151A and 7151B models.
2) QB7172 programs the 7172A and 7152A models.
3) RP7175 programs the 7171C, 7151C, 7172B, 7152B, 7175, 7155, 7160, 7161, 7162, 7163, 7164, 7165, 7166, 7167, 7180, 7181, 7182, 7183, 7184, 7185, 7186 and 7187 models.

In a posting on the EFJ yahoogroup a gentleman reported that the model numbers in the 71xx series of Challengers were organized such that:
> The VHF units were 715x and 716x (the 5x were 1st generation and 6x were 2nd generation) > The UHF units were 717x and 718x (the 7x were 1st generation and 8x were 2nd generation) > > The following numbers replace the x as mentioned above: > > 1 = 2 Channel 25 watts (VHF) 15 watts (UHF) > 2 = 8 Channel 25 watts (VHF) 15 watts (UHF) > 3 = 2 Channel 40 watts (VHF) 35 watts (UHF) > 4 = 8 Channel 40 watts (VHF) 35 watts (UHF) > 5 = 20 Channel 40 watts (VHF) 35 watts (UHF) > 6 = 99 Channel 40 watts (VHF) 35 watts (UHF) > 7 = 99 Channel 100 watts (VHF) 80 watts (UHF) > If it had a -5 after the number it was a remote mount system > > Tom Crowley KCØVII

751x and 754x "Falcon" handheld radios 1.1 MB PDF
The 751x (high band) and 754x (UHF) handhelds are 32 channels, synthesized, PC programmed and conventional-only. The VHF models cover 136-174 MHz in two ranges, and the UHF models cover the UHF band in four ranges (comonly called "splits"). Any specific radio is made for only one split and it is not practical to change the split. The split is encoded in the model number. For example, the model plate might say "242-7640-032". The second last digit, the "3" in the "-032", is the split: 1=136-150 or 400-430, 3=146-174 or 450-470, 4=470-490, and 5=488-512. This is all documented in the manual.

761x and 764x "Falcon" mobile radios 4.1 MB PDF
These models are essentially the Falcon handheld in a mobile box with a 45 watt (VHF) or 35w (UHF) power amplifier behind it. These connect to a PC directly; they do not need the RPI box.
Here's the revision to the manual. 434 kB PDF
Since the mobile is based on the Falcon handhelds above, the splits are the same, and documented in the manual.

8640, 8644, and 8655 Radio Manuals plus 900 MHz Information can be found here.
Also includes some Field Advisory notes and conversion info.

98xx service manual (ver 2) 14.2 MB PDF file donated by Art Bross KC7GF.
This manual covers the 984x UHF radios, the 988x 800 MHz radios and the 989x 900 MHz radios. Here are the operating manuals:
"Low Tier" (minimal display) units, 782 kB PDF, and the "High Tier" (full display) units, 914 kB PDF.
Here's the early version service manual if you need it 10.1 MB PDF file.

DTMF Microphones manual 1.1 MB PDF
Contains hookup and schematics for 250-0751-0XX DTMF microphones.

Call-Guard tone tables This page has two tables explaining the EFJ tone numbering scheme. "Call Guard" is Johnson's name for CTCSS tone squelch.

Here's the schematic of the Remote Programming Interface 540 kB PDF
This was EFJ's version of the Motorola RIB and is part number 023-9800-000. Originally it was developed to program the 9800 and 8200 series radios, but was eventually used to program most of the programmable radios. There is a homebrew version on Joel Huntley's page listed above, along with the pinout of the Challenger 7184 and 7186 programming connector. Schematics for the cables that go between the RPI and the radios are in the next article.

Programming cable information can be found here

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Page created 27-December-2005 by Mike Morris WA6ILQ.

This web page, this web site, the information presented in and on its pages and in these modifications and conversions is © Copyrighted 1995 and (date of last update) by multiple originating authors and Kevin Custer W3KKC. All Rights are Reserved, including that of paper and web publication elsewhere.

	UHF Desktop Repeater (Model 600) manual 4.3 MB PDF This is a 20 watt crystal-controlled UHF desktop base or repeater station, model 242-0600-XXX and most of the ones out there are 450-470 MHz. It is a unique product that converts between a repeater or base station at the touch of a button. Donated and scanned by Will Armstrong KC4YBZ, cleaned up and submitted by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY (SK).
	The CR1000 (earlier) and CR1010 (later) are Johnson's continuous duty high power conventional stations (repeater or base station). Once set up they are darn near bulletproof stations. The best way to use the CR-series station is to set it up as a full duplex base and use an external repeater controller such as an Scom, RLC/Link, NHRC, ICS, etc. Neither the 1000 or 1010 are synthesized and if you pick up one second hand MAKE SURE IT COMES WITH THE CRYSTAL ELEMENTS / TCXOs. They are very rare to the point of being pure unobtanium. In short, if you don't get a set of them with the station you will have to adapt something external to substitute for it. A "reference" (whatever that means) schematic is in the manual on the receiver schematic page, there is nothing on the TCXO listed on the exciter schematic. If you can't cobble up something then your station is just so much scrap. If anyone is successful in mating a CR-series station to an external source (such as a Motorola Channel Element or to a GE ICOM) please let us know! These are excellent stations and do not deserve to be junked. Don't forget that the transmitter modulator is inside the TCXO (the transmit and receive TCXO are identical - but the modulator in the receive TCXO is unused). My first effort would be to start with a set of Motorola Mitrek or Micor elements, since the transmit element contains a modulator. The GE elements could be used as well, however the various versions of the GE transmit elements come with or without a modulator, please see the "GE ICOMs" page for details.
	CR1000 Repeater Service Manual In several sections courtesy of Carl Beaudry VA2CMB
	CR1010 Repeater Service Manual 9.3 MB PDF courtesy of Clay Brown KI4ONH Note that the unit supports a standby battery, and the power supply has a charger in it - which consists of one 5.6 ohm resistor from the +15v DC line to the battery (see figure 8-8). This overvoltage can cook your site battery and kill it all too soon. I really suggest you remove R10 from the power supply (or just lift one leg) and use an external modern multistage battery charger.
	CR1010 Repeater Alignment by Clay Brown KI4ONH
	Repeater CW Identifier card 846 kB PDF donated by James Duram This is for the "023-3823-330" card. The next document below looks like the manual for it.
	CR1010 Indentifier PROM programming 123 kB PDF courtesy of Clay Brown KI4ONH The identifier in the control drawer is a pain to use as the MCW speed and tone frequency are fixed, plus you have to hand code the callsign in binary, then burn it into a 256x4 PROM chip (an 82S123 that is difficult to find) using a made-for-the-job EFJ external programmer box. And the box was limited and you had to use two separate program cycles, one for each 128x4 half. Your page maintainer was told that it is possible to make a plug adapter that lets you use a 27xxx or 27Cxxx series PROM (and a modern programmer) in place of the 82C123 chip. The other option is to use an external repeater controller to do the IDing (and more!) and just disable the internal identifier.
	Repeater DC Remote Adapter card 770 kB PDF donated by James Duram This is for the "023-4231-001" card.
	Repeater Type A Call Guard card 1.2 MB PDF donated by James Duram This is for the "023-3823-055/056" card. The inclusion of this card added CTCSS to the station.
	Connecting a Com-Spec TS-32 CTCSS encoder / decoder to an EFJ Repeater 145 kB PDF donated by James Duram
	Anybody want to do an interfacing article, i.e. connecting an external repeater controller to an EFJ station?
	1100-series VHF Repeater Service Manual 8.6 MB PDF August 1996 version.
	If anyone has additional information on the "1100" series stations we'd love to have it.
	If anyone has manual scans or other information on the "1200" series stations we'd love to have it.
	Conventional Repeater Voting Receiver Service Manual 6 MB PDF This writeup describes the conventional voting receivers and the voter (which appears to be a JPS brand unit). VHF, UHF, 800 and 900 MHz units are described, including both single and multi-channel voting systems. Model numbers include CVR, RDM, 2xxx, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2031, 2061, 2081, 2034, 2044, 2054, 3039.
	51XX and 53XX model number breakdown Provided by Jon KD5SFA
	Accessing the Radio Test modes in the 5100 and 5300 series radios Compiled by Robert Meister WA1MIK How to get into the radio test mode, the various frequencies and modes, and what all the buttons do.
	Anybody want to do an overview and programming article on the 5100 handheld and 5300 mobile radios?
	5100-series Digital/Analog Portable Radio Operating Manual 728 kB PDF May 2002 version.
	5100-series Digital/Analog Portable Radio Service Manual 13.5 MB PDF December 2004 version.
	5300-series Digital/Analog Mobile Radio Operating Manual 1.6 MB PDF December 2004 version.
	5300-series Digital/Analog Mobile Radio Service Manual 21.6 MB PDF January 2005 version.
	The PPL-6xxx was one of the last series of crystal-controlled radios, the PPL-6050 was the VHF version and the PPL-6060 was the UHF version.
	PPL-6060 UHF repeater conversion A conversion of the PPL-6060 to a GMRS repeater by Jim Sharp
	PPL-6060 UHF Transmitter Tuning Tuning instructions for the transmit section by Matt Krick K3MK
	PPL-6060 UHF Receiver Tuning Tuning instructions for the receive section by Matt Krick K3MK
	PPL-6060 Service Manual 3.3 MB PDF file donated by Eric Lemmon WB6FLY
	Does anybody have the PPL-6050 service manual (the VHF version)?
	The Challenger 7171 Service Manual Part 1 3.1 MB PDF file
	The Challenger 7171 Service Manual Part 2 2.3 MB PDF file
	A web page on the two models of the UHF Challenger by Joel Huntley WA1ZYX (offsite link) This offers an intro on two models: the 7184 and 7186 complete with photos, a link to downloadable RSS, the programming procedure, interfacing to a repeater controller, and more. These radios program right up on the amateur UHF band. Note: Another option to soldering the programming cable to the pads in the radio is to just hacksaw a piece off of the connector from the drive end of an old 5.25 inch floppy cable and use it.
	Supposedly the Challenger was designed as competition to the Motorola MaxTrac, and does everything it does but better. Anybody want to do an overview and programming article on the Low Band, High Band and UHF Johnson Challenger Line? Or separate articles?
	Tune-Up Instructions for the 7180-7187 series. 1.3 MB PDF file
	As far as we know, there are three programs that are used to program the Challenger series: 1) QB7171 Programs the 7171A, 7171B, 7151A and 7151B models. 2) QB7172 programs the 7172A and 7152A models. 3) RP7175 programs the 7171C, 7151C, 7172B, 7152B, 7175, 7155, 7160, 7161, 7162, 7163, 7164, 7165, 7166, 7167, 7180, 7181, 7182, 7183, 7184, 7185, 7186 and 7187 models.
	In a posting on the EFJ yahoogroup a gentleman reported that the model numbers in the 71xx series of Challengers were organized such that: > The VHF units were 715x and 716x (the 5x were 1st generation and 6x were 2nd generation) > The UHF units were 717x and 718x (the 7x were 1st generation and 8x were 2nd generation) > > The following numbers replace the x as mentioned above: > > 1 = 2 Channel 25 watts (VHF) 15 watts (UHF) > 2 = 8 Channel 25 watts (VHF) 15 watts (UHF) > 3 = 2 Channel 40 watts (VHF) 35 watts (UHF) > 4 = 8 Channel 40 watts (VHF) 35 watts (UHF) > 5 = 20 Channel 40 watts (VHF) 35 watts (UHF) > 6 = 99 Channel 40 watts (VHF) 35 watts (UHF) > 7 = 99 Channel 100 watts (VHF) 80 watts (UHF) > If it had a -5 after the number it was a remote mount system > > Tom Crowley KCØVII
	751x and 754x "Falcon" handheld radios 1.1 MB PDF The 751x (high band) and 754x (UHF) handhelds are 32 channels, synthesized, PC programmed and conventional-only. The VHF models cover 136-174 MHz in two ranges, and the UHF models cover the UHF band in four ranges (comonly called "splits"). Any specific radio is made for only one split and it is not practical to change the split. The split is encoded in the model number. For example, the model plate might say "242-7640-032". The second last digit, the "3" in the "-032", is the split: 1=136-150 or 400-430, 3=146-174 or 450-470, 4=470-490, and 5=488-512. This is all documented in the manual.
	761x and 764x "Falcon" mobile radios 4.1 MB PDF These models are essentially the Falcon handheld in a mobile box with a 45 watt (VHF) or 35w (UHF) power amplifier behind it. These connect to a PC directly; they do not need the RPI box. Here's the revision to the manual. 434 kB PDF Since the mobile is based on the Falcon handhelds above, the splits are the same, and documented in the manual.
	8640, 8644, and 8655 Radio Manuals plus 900 MHz Information can be found here. Also includes some Field Advisory notes and conversion info.
	98xx service manual (ver 2) 14.2 MB PDF file donated by Art Bross KC7GF. This manual covers the 984x UHF radios, the 988x 800 MHz radios and the 989x 900 MHz radios. Here are the operating manuals: "Low Tier" (minimal display) units, 782 kB PDF, and the "High Tier" (full display) units, 914 kB PDF. Here's the early version service manual if you need it 10.1 MB PDF file.
	DTMF Microphones manual 1.1 MB PDF Contains hookup and schematics for 250-0751-0XX DTMF microphones.
	Call-Guard tone tables This page has two tables explaining the EFJ tone numbering scheme. "Call Guard" is Johnson's name for CTCSS tone squelch.
	Here's the schematic of the Remote Programming Interface 540 kB PDF This was EFJ's version of the Motorola RIB and is part number 023-9800-000. Originally it was developed to program the 9800 and 8200 series radios, but was eventually used to program most of the programmable radios. There is a homebrew version on Joel Huntley's page listed above, along with the pinout of the Challenger 7184 and 7186 programming connector. Schematics for the cables that go between the RPI and the radios are in the next article.
	Programming cable information can be found here