Up one page (Motorola index)
Back to Home 		  The Motorola "Commercial Series" Index Page
(CM200, CM300 and PM400 mobiles,
CP200, CP200 XLS, PR400 handhelds)
Compiled by Robert Meister WA1MIK (SK)
from information provided by Mike Morris WA6ILQ and others.
Currently Maintained by Mike Morris WA6ILQ 		   

Contributions, comments / critiques / suggestions / corrections / updates for this page (or any page) are welcome and appreciated.
Actually that applies to any page at this web site! (even one that just points out a typo).

NOTE: If you are here looking for a Motorola rack-mount CM200 or CM300 aircraft base radio (Sample Photo, opens in a new browser tab) please understand that there was an undesirable duplication of model numbers between the "Space and Systems Technology Group" and Land Mobile Radio Division of Motorola. The Land Mobile Radio CM200 and CM300 mobile radios are covered on this page.
The rack-mount CM-series of aviation base station radio equipment was part of a CM-200, CM300, CM350, CM-400, CM-450, CM-50 and CM51 series of Air Traffic Control (ATC) and Air Traffic Information Service (ATIS) Radios that were actually made by General Dynamics and branded as Motorola.
Example Photos: TX Photo 1     TX Photo 2     TX Photo 3     TX Photo 4     TX Photo 5     TX Photo 6     TX Photo 7     TX Photo 8     RX Photo     (each of these links open in a new browser tab)
These avionics base units have been seen with p-touch labels ranging from from 118 MHz to 280 MHz.
They are AM modulation and not practical for amateur radio 220 MHz use except maybe for the receiver preselectors, and most of those were for the 118-130 MHz range.
Also these radios are no longer supported - see this General Dynamics Service Repair Cancellation Notice.
There are a few more comments on these radios in the CM Series Notes article below.

The "Commercial Series" were the follow-on series to the "Professional Series" (the CDM mobile and HT750/1250/1550 handheld product line, also called the "Waris" series).

Unfortunately the CM mobile series was discontinued in November 2014; they were replaced by the CM200D / CM300D / PR400D (suposedly the same radio, just does both conventional and DMR) or the XPR series of mobile radios (conventional and DMR). Well, it's not the same radio, it's very different inside.
All support of the non-D-series CM radios has been discontinued. Parts are limited.

The CM200 / CM300 / PM400 are the most common mobile members of the commercial series in the USA and were made in three power levels (1-25 (VHF & UHF), 25-45 (VHF), and 25-40 (UHF) watts. VHF radios were made in two ranges, 136-152 MHz (rare) and 146-174 MHz (common). The UHF version radios were made in two ranges, 438-470 MHz (common) and 465-495 MHz (rare). Note that the mobile radios from this series have a MUCH smaller heat sink that the previous CDM or GM300 radios and hence are a MUCH lower duty cycle radio. One piece of literature says it's a 5% duty cycle.

Programming the Commercial Series Radios:

The mobiles in the "Commercial Series" use a 8 pin programing cable (the PMKN4147), but it's a bit different than the cable(s) used on prior models. Your existing regular (microphone jack) RJ-45 programming cable will NOT be able to program the Commercial Series mobile radios, you will get either get no connection or maybe an error message. Motorola wants you to purchase the PMKN4147 cable or an FKN8096B Flash Adapter to adapt your existing RIB-to-8-pin-radio-cable... but instead you can modify your existing programming cable by adding a 100 ohm resistor between pins 1 and 3 of the RJ-45 plug.
The cable that is modified with the resistor is completely backward compatible and can be used with all of the previous radios. See the "Updating the Cable" article below.
You can also program the radio through the accessory connector on the rear of the mobile radio.

The CP150, CP200 and PR400 and similar handhelds is programmed with the PMDN4077AR Programming Cable, which is a USB-A to a 3.5mm (1/8 inch) TRS plug (3-contact, tip, ring, shank). (link opens in a new browser tab).

On the other hand, the CP200D and similar "D" models use the Motorola PMKN4128A which is specified for the CP100D, CP200D, SL1, SL300, SL1600, SL2600, SL3500e, SL4000, SL4000e, SL4010, SL4010e, SL7550, SL7550e, SL7580, SL7580e, SL7590, SL7590e and the R2 handhelds. The PMKN4128A cable, strictly from the radio progamming point of view, is nothing more than a simple 6 foot (2 meters) long USB-A to USB"micro"-B cable. If all you want to do is program your radio, use the cellphone cable you have and save your money.

The actual Motorola PMKN4128A cable is that USB-A to USB"micro"-B cable plus a chunky ferrite core neat the USB-A end and an additional BNC pigtail for audio testing. (link opens in a new browser tab). If you need one it's a readily available cable, even Amazon has it.

The non-"D" version commercial series radios are programmed by RVN4191 CPS, which runs under Windows 95, 98, XP, 7 and probably 8 and 10. The author has a 32-bit Windows 7 Toughbook CF-30 dedicated to radio programming and has not needed to try it on anything later than Windows 7. Let him know if you are successful and he'll update this paragraph. The help files for that CPS mention the CP150, CP200 and PR400 handhelds, the CM200, CM300, PM400 mobiles, the EP450, EM200, EM400, GM3188, GM3688, GM3189 and GM3689, and probably more. Revision R05.16 is the one to look for and use as it is the last one that allows wide and narrow selection and does it on a per-channel basis. Supposedly revision R05.17 is the last one, and the only difference between it and 5.16 is that it is narrow only unless you have a wideband entitlement key from Motorola.

Your author has been told (but has been unable to verify) that:
1) The wideband entitlement keys are no longer available.
2) Once you use a later version you can't go back to an earlier version.
Translation: Once you program the radio with any of the narrowband only CPS Revisions / Versions then you can't go back to a wideband / narrowband version. This locks you into narrowband unless you have a entitlement key. If you need wideband then before you buy a used radio you will want to ask the seller what it was last programmed with.

Update April 2016: An email to Repeater-Builder verified that R05.16 works just fine on both 32‑bit and 64‑bit Windows 10.

Once you have the programming cable and the software you download a codeplug and then you CAN hex edit a saved codeplug file and stretch the frequency boundaries of a CM / PM / CP / PR series... for example a 146-174 MHz radio can be stretched down to 144 MHz amateur radio frequencies. Or the receive side of a 465-495 MHz radio down to 462 MHz for GMRS. Tricking any individual radio to operate out of it's design range depends on the tolerances of the individual receive and transmit RF components... you might loose a little sensitivity and transmit RF power... Most will work, a few might not. See the detailed article below.

Commercial Series Manuals, Brochures, Guides, and Other Printed Material:

Commercial Series Mobiles Product Line Model Number Decoder   10KB PDF
This was extracted from the Basic and Detailed service manuals listed below and compiled by WA6ILQ.
A CP140 / CP160 / CP180 Brochure (handhelds) (2006 vintage)   2.85 MB PDF
A CM200 / CM300 Brochure (2004 vintage)   2.85 MB PDF
CM300 Specification Sheet (2010 vintage)   141KB PDF
CM200 / CM300 / PM400 Mobile Radio Basic Service Manual   6802966C15-A (2004)   3.9 MB PDF
CM200 / CM300 / PM400 Mobile Radio Detailed Service Manual (VHF)   6802966C20-C (2009)   10.1 MB PDF
CM200 / CM300 / PM400 Mobile Radio Detailed Service Manual (UHF)   6881098C00-A (2007)   9.1 MB PDF
CM200d / CM300d Mobile Radio Basic Service Manual   68009618001-A (June 2013)   16 MB PDF
This manual is for the "D" series / MotoTurbo radios.
CM200 / CM300 / PM400 Mobile Radio Installation Guide   68P02966C25-A (2003)   880 kB PDF
Chapters 7 through 10 cover local noise reduction in mobile radios. Worth reading.
CM200 User Guide   6802966C30-B (2004)   975 kB PDF
CM300 User Guide   6881096C22-A (2004)   2.0 MB PDF
PM400 User Guide   6881096C32-B (2004)   2.9 MB PDF
The Motorola Cancellation Memo on the CP200, PR400, CM200, CM300 and PM400 series   2.9 MB PDF
Dated 08-22-2014, Suggested replacements include the CP200d handheld, the CM200d, CM300d and the XPR series mobiles.

Modification Articles and Other Information:

Updating the standard Motorola mobile programming cable so it works with the "Commercial Series" radios   by Robert W. Meister WA1MIK (SK)
Motorola wants you to purchase an FKN8096B Flash Adapter to adapt your standard RIB-to-8-pin-radio-cable to put the mobile radio into programming mode. You can easily modify / upgrade your existing programming cable with a 100 ohm 1/4 watt resistor. This article walks you through the how and the why.
The cable that is modified with the added resistor is completely backward compatible with all of the older radios.
Stretching the Frequency Range of the Motorola "Commercial Series" Radios   by Mike Morris WA6ILQ
This article walks you through the process to hexedit a codeplug (NOT the CPS) to allow operation out of band. Your individual success depends on how far out of range you go... Back in January of 2020 the author needed to stretch a 146-174 MHz CM300 down to 144 MHz (read the article for the details). The same method will allow you to stretch the receive side of a 465-495 MHz radio down to 462 MHz for GMRS. And you could have a 438-470 MHz radio accept a frequency at, for example, 436 MHz or 474 MHz. Emailed reports confirm this process has been succcessful on CM200 and PM400 mobiles and a CP200 handheld... the other "Commercial Series" Radios should be similar. The actual performance of an out-of-range receiver and transmitter is limited by the RF components in the indvidual radio.
The accessory connector on the Commercial Series mobile radios is 16 pins, and is programmed similar to the GM300 product line. It has several programmable digital inputs / output pins, and each can be set to one of several different behaviors. Internally each output pin is buffered with a transistor with the collector pulled up to 3.3V through a 3.3K resistor. Obviously these are meant to work with 3.3 volt logic circuits. The transistor they used is rated for an absolute maximum collector current of 100mA and I'd limit it to 50, maybe 75mA. They are difficult to replace unless you are an expert at repairing a surface-mount board (and have the replacement parts!)
In other words, you CAN NOT drive relays directly with the programmable pins. Pin 4 is different and pulls up instead of down, and can drive the coil of a small relay (max current 100ma and don't forget the reverse biased diode).

Motorola specifies a HLN9457AR or a HLN9457 16-Pin Accessory Connector Kit for the CM series and the M1225s, however there are more reasonably priced sources. Connector / interfacing / cable kits can be purchased from ebay seller "mre1032", Kurt Meltzer, KC4NX / WB9KNX / Meltzer Radio Engineering. (off-site pointer, opens in a new browser tab)
The last time I looked there were over two dozen listings for 16-pin cables for a number of Motorola models that use the 16 pin connector.
Full Disclosure: I have no relationship with Kurt other than as a very satisfied email-order customer and he's not paying me for this recommendation. I think Kurt's cable kits are wonderful and they have saved me a lot of frustration. He's been very receptive to customizing kits. I just have 70+ year old eyes and have big fat fingers that have difficulty crimping the accessory connector tiny pins onto the individual wires, and then getting the pins into the plastic body rightside up (needlenose pliers and a large illuminated magnifying glass are a big help). (off-site pointer, opens in a new browser tab)
The CM200 / CM300 / PR400 Mobile 16-pin Accessory Connector   16 kB PDF
This is a one-page cheat sheet - it's just a PDF of the one page from the Basic Service Manual.
Tip: the odd pins are on the heat sink side, the even pins on the other side.

Photo by David Harrelson, KK4YPR. Click for a larger image.
The front panel microphone jack is a normal 8-pin, not the 10-pin of the CDM series. The Commercial Series mobiles ship with one of these microphones: HMN3596 Standard Microphone, HMN1035 Heavy Duty Microphone, RMN5029 Enhanced DTMF Keypad Microphone, or the RMN5018 Mag One Microphone (Low Cost, 6 months warranty only). The DTMF microphones made for the prior models (Maxtrac, Radius or CDM) will not work with the CM / PR mobiles. The RMN5029 does not have a DTMF tone chip inside the microphone case, instead the keypad sends data to the radio and the radio circuitry generates the tones.
Like the Maxtrac, Radius LRA, GM300 and CDM series the antenna connector is a Mini UHF female and very easy to break if you use a common adapter and use stiff coax like LMR400 or RG213. Your author considers a pigtail (mini UHF male to UHF or N female) to be a requirement for the bench or base operation. The pigtail relieves the stress on the radio connector. The problem got so bad that Motorola came up with the 8 inch long HKN9557A Mini-UHF male to UHF SO239 female Antenna Adapter (for about $30-$50 depending on source), and an 8 foot version as the HKN9088A Mini-UHF male to UHF PL259 male Adapter Cable (about $40-$55). You can make your own for a lot less money... and you will have the option of a different connector. I made up a few mini-UHF-male to N-female cables with RG-400 cable for my test bench and for sites back when I got started with Maxtracs. A friend prefers mini-UHF-male to BNC female for his bench, and I'm switching over as I make new ones. It's your choice when you make your own.
Samlex offers a SEC-1212-SM (12 amp) and SEC-1223-SM (20 amp) power supply and tabletop cabinet that fits the CM200, CM300, CM200D, CM300D, PM400 and also the SM50, SM120, M1225, GTX, XPR2500, DM1600 units.
Three Service Notes: If your wattmeter says you have a low RF power situation on a new-to-you radio...
  • If you are using a "D" series radio (i.e. CM300D) and you are in a digital mode you need to realize that your wattmeter was designed for analog signals and could misread on a digital signal. Program an analog frequency into the radio temporarily and read the power there.

  • If you have a low RF power problem then first check the power setting in the programming software. The low power and high power values in the radio can be adjusted. Each mode can have a different setting for low power and high power. One email reported that out of a fleet of eight surplus radios three were between 10 watts and 14 watts out.... On those three someone had programmed the high power to a lower value. After reprogramming the power value setting all three tested fine.

  • The design of the radio has a thermal sensor circuit on the RF power amplifier. A colleague in west Texas had a a number of radios that had failed with a very low RF power output. It gets hot in the summer in west Texas, especially inside a parked vehicle that has the windows up. He was able to bring them back to full power by simply disassembling the radio, removing the circuit board, flipping it over and cleaning off the PA heat sink pads of the old thermal compound, appling new compound and reassembling the radio.

    His conjecture: the users ran them at high power and the Texas heat dried out the factory thermal compound which shrank, lost contact and as a result the PA overheated. The thermal protection circuit did what it was supposed to do and shut down the PA. In this situation a different / better thermal compound is needed... it might be worth switching to the "Artic Silver" product made for computer processor chips.

Accessories and Parts:

Contact Information:

The author, Mike Morris WA6ILQ, can be contacted via the page maintainer link at the top of the page.

Back to the top of the page
Motorola index
Back to Home

A joint CDM / CM page was created 07-Oct-2016 by WA1MIK from material on the main Motorola page originally written by WA6ILQ.
That page was split and the CM material was moved to this new page in October of 2021

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 Kevin Custer W3KKC and multiple originating authors. All Rights Reserved, including that of paper and web publication elsewhere.