Year 2000 compliance for the
ACC RC-85, RC-96, and RC-850
Repeater Controllers
By Kevin Custer W3KKC & Rich Reese WA8DBW

The ACC RC-85, RC-96, and RC-850 controllers using the latest firmware versions are not year 2000 compliant.  Since I own several ACC 85 and 96 controllers with version 5.x  firmware, I have decided it was time to set the date back to be Y2K compliant.  I did this by setting the date to the current Month and Day, but the year of 1971.  This allows the tracking of leap years and will provide an additional 28 years of capability for the controller.  Since the controller doesn't actually report the year in any announcement, it is not a problem to reprogram the date back several years.  I doubt my ACC's will be in service another 28 years, however they have worked for over 12 so far, several more don't really seem unreasonable.

Update 1-1-2000,   All of my V5 controllers rolled over with no problem using this information.

1971 and 1999 follow the same day format.
Since it is now 2000, program your controller to 1972.

This information is pertinent to any RC-85 or RC-96 using version 5 firmware level, or in the case of the RC-850, version 3.xx firmware.  Older versions of firmware for the 85 and 96 from V2.0 to 4.2 are already year 2000 compliant as they do not track time.  To see what firmware version your controller is running, simply press the Demo prefix and *     If the demo prefix is 3, (default) you would press 3* and the controller will report back the model and version in use.

It takes about 30 seconds to reprogram the year in this version of controller.  The controller will still function for the most part even if not reset, it will loose the additional V5 functions if not set back in time.  These functions include the female voice & sound effects, scheduler, HF remote base, and the time of day clock and calendar.

If you have lost the enhanced V5 features, do the programming sequence below.

Reprogramming sequence.  It can be done remotely.
 

• Key up and enter the secret reset command   9213528835  and unkey.
• (Do Not unlock the controller to enter this command)
• The controller will respond  "OK"
• Unlock the controller using your unique 10 digit unlock code, and unkey.
• The controller will respond "U-L"
• Key up and enter the Month-Day-Year programming sequence with the *4101 command.
• I.E.  *4101MMDDYY  and unkey.  Remember to set the year to 72 for 1972.
• The controller will respond with only the Month and Day.
• Lock up the controller by keying up and entering #, and unkey.
• The controller will respond L-O-C-K.

You are all set for Y2K.

Controllers that have no time tracking system should not have a problem rolling over to year 2000.  I have several Micro Computer Concepts, and NHRC controllers and they fit into this category.
 

Kevin Custer W3KKC
12-1999
Revised 1-1-2000

Visit Kevin's site

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