Is the XTL 5000 a multi-band radio?

aaknitt · Post by **aaknitt** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:16 pm

My fire department just got an XTL5000. Model number is:
MS20KSS9PW1AN

My chief swears up and down it is a multi-band radio. He says it will do VHF, UHF, and 800 MHz trunking/P25 all in one radio. I'd never heard of a commercial multiband radio before, so I told him I thought that was incorrect. Looking at the model number and comparing it with the sticky on the forum it appears to be VHF only. Looking at the user manual and the XTL5000 page on Moto's website makes it look like it is truly multiband, but that seems too good to be true.

Mutliband: Truth for fiction?

Thanks in advance!

Andy

Fuel4300 · Post by **Fuel4300** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:35 pm

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Althought it would be nice if it did.

The radio is Available in VHF, UHF, and 800 but you can only get one band per radio. In fact, in most cases the range of the radio is in the neighborhood of 50 MHz so in the case of UHF you would need two radios to cover the full 400-520 MHz of the UHF band.

Fuel

aaknitt · Post by **aaknitt** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 9:03 pm

As much as I wish it were a multiband radio, I'm almost glad it's not because I spent almost an hour trying to convince people that it wasn't :-)I'd look really dumb if I were wrong (although I wish I was...a multiband public safety radio is long overdue).

They were told by two local radio shops that it can do all bands. I think this is a case of mom and pop radio shops being out of their league, and some questionable advertising by Motorola.

Luckily we didn't have to pay anything for this radio, so we're not getting ripped off by misinformation. State grant got a radio shipped to every department. What has caused a lot of confusion is that there are two radio grant programs going on simultaneously...one for VHF and one for the new 700/800 statewide P25 system. Both programs are shipping XTL5000s, which means some are 700/800 and some are VHF. Leads to a lot of confusion about what the radio is for.

Thanks a ton for the reply!

Andy

Post by **wavetar** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:07 am

It doesn't help that the literature I've seen at times was misleading...the fact it can cover 700/800 in a single radio is apparently enough to tout it as "multiband" capable.

Todd

Post by Pj » Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:14 am

It can be setup as a dual band radio, but I think its dualband Astro Spectra style - The 2nd radio RX's ONLY in the normal configuration. The execption would be by using the HHCH (Handheld control head) which you normally wouldn't see in normal services. Those are usually used by the 3 letter agnecies.

wd9cms · Post by **wd9cms** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:20 am

The XTL5000 radio's are single band however there is a dual band configuration that can be ordered from Motorola. It requires two XTL5000 radios with special software. In the dual band confonfiguration both radios are controlled by a special W3 hand held control head and interface cable. The two radios can be any band ie. V/U, V/800, U/800. So it is possible to have a multiband XTL5000 based radio system, however, the configuration requires multiple radios to accomplish this.

Post by Pj » Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:57 am

Correct. Its all covered in 9964416H03-O. Interstingly enough, it states that the dual radio software has to come from the factory with it, and its not a flashport option. You can go from dual to singla radio, but not as a single radio to dual.

I haven't seen anything concerning the HRR setup, but I suspect that the XTL is HRR ready out of the box (but 2nd radio can only be used as a reciever).

cbus · Post by **cbus** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 3:56 pm

Pj wrote:Correct. Its all covered in 9964416H03-O. Interstingly enough, it states that the dual radio software has to come from the factory with it, and its not a flashport option. You can go from dual to singla radio, but not as a single radio to dual.

I haven't seen anything concerning the HRR setup, but I suspect that the XTL is HRR ready out of the box (but 2nd radio can only be used as a reciever).

hmmm, so does that mean mot will accept a xtl if it is returned for a firmware/software swap from single radio to duel band setup ?

I might do some ringing around

Post by Pj » Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:12 pm

By what I read into it, if Motorola was to do the upgrade, it would have to go back to the factory/depot. Seeing how some minor things take a case of paper to get going, I don't see it happening.

What I see, if you want a true dual radio W3 setup, you will need to have the chasis ordered with the software. I forgot where I saw it, but I think that software option close to $1000. I'll have to look at my info packet I got from them.

wazzzzzzzzup · Post by **wazzzzzzzzup** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 3:44 pm

for what an XTL5000 costs, it SHOULD be QUAD band! crack pipes anyone? (wheres a smiley with a crack pipe when you need one!)