Manual Test Mode for Analog Cellular Telephones by Damien Thorn, Part I, Page 3
by Damien Thorn
Need program codes for a phone not listed here? Try this great resource: http://www.google.com to search the USENET. Select "Groups" from their home page. Enter your make or model and its number into their search engine; you might find what you are looking for.
. . . when a programming battery equipped with an additional contact is attached to the phone. Allegedly this battery can be simulated by grounding the small, black right-hand contact to the antenna connector while attaching a regular battery. The phone and battery should be placed in its charger while using test mode. The above commands can then be entered.
NOVATEL
The following commands apply to the NovaTel 8300, 8301, 8305 and 8320 series phones. It is not known if they apply to other models in the 83XX series, as many of these phones are quite complicated, including commercial billing subroutines in the software for lease and rental applications. Exiting the test mode drops the phone into the billing mode. Depressing END exits the routine.
Power up the phone and lock it (FCN, Lock) so the display reads "LOCKED." Key in #, 8, 3 (or #, 8, 3,* on some versions of firmware) to access the service mode. The display will note "SVC" and numbers represent-ing the model and revision code.
Rather than use direct entry of test mode commands, this phone presents them as a service menu. The 'volume up' control steps forward through the items, and the 'volume down' scrolls through the selections backward. Scrolling through the items will bring you to the "CHANNEL xxx" display. Keying in a cellular channel will load the synthesizer with that channel. CE clears the digits of an entry. Depressing the H/F and RCL keys may allow you to scroll through different channels.
The received audio is muted and unmuted from the item "RX AUDIO [on or off]"and pressing any numeral on the keypad will toggle the on or off state. The "VOLUME, GAIN x" menu item can be used to set the volume by keying in a value from 0 to 7, with 7 being the loudest gain. The "SPEAKER [on or off]"setting may also need to be toggled to produce audio output.
With the NovaTel PTR-800 and PTR-825 cellular phones, test mode is accessed by powering on the unit and keying FCN, FCN, *, 6, 4, 8, 2, 5, 2, *. Unfortunately, most of the diagnostic commands were not readily available at our deadline. 1, 1, x, x, x, x, # is alleged to load the synthesizer to channel xxxx. #88# will re-initialize the phone to factory defaults, so use caution.
Panasonic manufactures a large variety of phones. To identify a given unit beyond what ever brand or consumer model number may have been applied to it, you'll need to find the small tag on the transceiver that actually identifies the hardware.
The Panasonic EB-2501 series transceivers require a jumper on the power cable to enable access to the programming and diagnostic modes. If you're willing to assume the risk, these are the pins that should
connected together. Viewing the 6-pin power cable connector form the cable side, orient the connector so that the retaining clip is up (at the top). From this orientation, the middle pin in the top row should be jumpered to the pin at the far right of the lower row (each of the two rows should consist of three pins). If you're using the internal battery, these two pins can be jumpered at the transceiver's power connector without attaching the cable.
Other Panasonic transceivers use this common test mode command set, however require different programming adapters.
Enter test mode by keying in: *, 0, 0, 0, 0, #. "0" will appear on the display. Key in *, 3, SND and "3" will appear on the display. The transceiver is now ready to accept diagnostic commands.
0, 3, SND, x, x, x, x, SND - Load synthesizer with channel xxxx
0, 5, SND - Mute / Unmute received audio [toggles state]
0, 0, SND, *, 4, SND - Exits test mode.
The Panasonic HP-600 and other portable models may also have diagnostic modes which use the commands listed above. Current versions of the HP-600 do not require any external jumpers to access these modes. The *, 0, 0, 0, 0, # can simply be keyed in immediately after powering up the phone.
Older versions prior to firmware revision SFA13 require a small wire jumper be inserted between two of the contacts on the small plug located at the base of the phone. Figure "A" depicts the proper contacts to be shorted using a small length of wire with tinned ends.
As this is a delicate connector, be careful not to distort the small plastic holes with a gauge of wire too large to fit snugly.
In reviewing my notes and what little information is available outside of Oki's service manuals, a number of discrepancies were noted from source to source. Since Oki's documentation sells for close to the price of a phone itself, we'll have to suffice with what we've collected, and some experimenting may be in order to determine the correct sequence required to access the debugging mode.
With Oki series 21 phones, try the following key-strokes within 8-10 seconds of powering up the phone: Press the 7 and 9 keys simultaneously, hold them for about a half-second and release. Now key in the following: STO, SND, END, RCL, CLR, FUNC. The display should give you some indication that the phone accepted the sequence, such as the Oki 900's "Good Timing" welcome. Depressing the 1 and 3 keys at the same time will drop you to the test mode.
