p1225 adding channels

[Ronin55]

Hello all.

Im fairly new to the radio world. Im working in a communications shop in Northern Nevada and I recently came into posession of some p1225 radios and a couple of gp300 that I plan on useing.

The thing is, three of the 1225 (out of four) have 16 channels on the selector. The last one has only two. And both of the gp300 have only two channels.

I have lots of doner radios in the shop for both models. Is it a matter of installing a new channel switch with 16 positions? Or is there more hardware to it ?

Anyway, this is my situation and I'm hoping that someone can inform me on what I need to do to upgrade these radios. Or if Im living in a fantasy world .

Thanks in advance for your input. And thank you for your time.

[kf4sqb]

The GP300's should be expandable by removing a stop from the channel switch and hacking the codeplug or the RSS with a hex editor. The info in how to do this can be found on the main Batlabs site, http://www.batlabs.com.

The P1225's, sadly, aren't expandable. You are forever stuck with two channels.

[Ronin55]

Thanks for the reply.

So what is the primary difference between the 16 channel 1225s and the 2 channel 1225s? Im not disputing what you had to say about this, however Im wondering what the physical differences are. LIke I said, I have donor/spare parts radios on hand that are 1225 with the 16 channel feature, perhaps I should see what I can do to make one of those functional.

In the mean time, I shall see what I can to to upgrade the GP300 models. Should I just add the knob and channel assembly from the donor GP300 into the functional radios in place of the 2 channel assembly?

Again, thank you for your input.

[Satelite]

Hello :
The GP300 can be expanded to 16 ch only if its a pre manufacture date of 1994.
!994 and newer can not be hacked for extra channels as the adress lines needed in the code plug are removed by M to stop the hacking.
If you have a 8ch GP300 then regardless of the date it can be hacked to 16 ch.
This also is true for the P110.
You can turn a P110 into a GP300 and also can put the P110 into a GP300 case if youd like.
Both are pretty much the same radio other than the code plugs program.
As stated earlier = P1225 can not be hacked for added channels.
Satelite

[Rayjk110]

There is an add-on board available, made by Scholer-Johnson for the x1225ls series radios. I think it was $80 or something like that, but it adds a crazy amount of conventional channels, and a lot more LTR talk groups. I think the only downfall is that you have to use their RSS for the radios, but I'm not sure. There's also conversion boards for the SM50s, but it'd probably cost more for that board than the SM50 cost.

[Ronin55]

Cool enough, I guess Ill have to deal with it as is then.

Three two channel radios and three 16 channel radios. That'll save me some work I guess.

Thank you all for your replies. I appriceate your help.

[kf4sqb]

Thanks, Satelite. I haven't played with the GP300's, I just knew it was possible, but I didn't know about the "cutoff date". As for the P1225's, if I'm not badly mistaken, the firmware (which I don't think is upgradeable) is the only difference between the 2 and 16 channel models. IIRC, it already has a 16 position switch in it with a block on it to prevent it from being switched beyond channel 2. The 2 channel GP300 should be the same way. If they are the same as other radios in the Radius series, the stop is plastic. If you pull the channel knob off, you'll see the stop sticking up beside the shaft of the switch. It is possible that the stop may be metal. Either way, you can simply cut the stop off flush with the top of the radio's case, or you can replace the 2 channel knob with a 16 channel knob. You get the same results either way. With the P1225, the only way you would have any possibility of expanding channels is to replace the firmware chip, which would require an SMD rework station and a lot of skill. In other words, its probably not worth trying.

[Ronin55]

Awesome! Thanks for the reply. Now I know whats what. When I get to work today Im going to look for those tabs. Well on the GP300 anyway. Ive got a third GP300, but the battery is bad on it. However if putting it up to 16 channels is a reality, then I will have to look into a new battery for it.

Man now I wish I was at work already. . . how twisted is that?

[Satelite]

Hello
Thats pretty twisted and now all you have to do is :
ADMIT YOU ARE A RADIO AHOLIC.
There is no cure other than buy / steal / trade for more radios.
Sorry to hear about your incurable illness but its not fatal !

Satelite
PS:
This forum is a radio aholics area to talk out his RF troubles.

[Ronin55]

Super Cool, Im a member of something. . . no. . hold it. . . I have a problem dont I. . awh man !!

LoL

Thanks for the welcome. I look forward to learning what I can.