Astro25 multi-system scan?

[immelmen28]

On the Astro line of radios it is possible to scan talkgroups from many different trunking systems in one scan list. In Astro25 series radios Moto decided to make this capability an option. I see when creating a scan list, there is a check box for "Muti-system scan" but every radio I have ever seen has this option grayed out. The Help file says this is available when a talkgroup scan list is selected and the radio is mode/option capable.

I have looked at all the flash options for Astro25 and I don't see this option on the list. If its not a flashport upgrade, how is this option ordered/installed?

[Hightower]

What's your flashcode? I can select and use multi system scan only with the scan type set to Talkgroup with a FC is 548008-001482-5 on a XTS5000

If Priority Scan is selected, then multi system scan is greyed out.

You never mentioned what Astro25 radio in question, different models of the Astro25 line have certain limitations vs. other Astro25 models. Would not surprise me if /\/\otorola would leave this option out on the 2500's or 1500's in the astro25 line.

The XTS2500 doesn't have user selectable power option, while the XTS5000 does. The XTS2500 only can have 50 MDC aliases, while the XTS5000 has 100 MDC aliases. The list goes on and on.... It's little things /\/\otorola leaves out of lower Astro25 models vs. the XTS/XTL5000's

[immelmen28]

Radios in question are Astro Spectra Plus 580008-000480-2 and XTL5000 540008-000480-2. The correct type of scan list, Talkgroup, is selected. The firmware on the AS plus is old but the XTL5K's are R12.

[Mfire39]

I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to select multi system scan. I tried it on a few codeplugs from an XTL5000, and an Astro Spectra Plus, both with flashcodes like yours, and a few different versions of CPS. I was able to set the scanlist to "talkgroup" and check the box for multi system scan every time...


-Marc

[Hightower]

Slot 07h - bit 2 in the FDB has the option to enable or disable Multi System scan on the Astro25 radios. So it's possable to disable Multi System Scan on any radio if the CPS recognizes "07h-Bit 2".



The plot thickens......

[akardam]

To clarify, there is much more to a radio's codeplug file than just the flashcode. You can think of these additional configuration bits somewhat along the lines of the old Spectra Moflags. In this case, Multi-System Scan is one of them.

The Astro platform radios didn't use this feature, as any trunking type scanlist let you put in a variety of talkgroups across multiple systems. I'm assuming this feature was made selectable on the Astro25 radios due to the different ways it handles affiliation. In theory, it should be enabled on any radio that has trunking enabled.

To the OP, what you're saying is that on both of the radios (or radio types) in question, when you select Talkgroup scan, the Multi-System Scan checkbox is still grayed out? Can you post screenshots?

[immelmen28]

To the OP, what you're saying is that on both of the radios (or radio types) in question, when you select Talkgroup scan, the Multi-System Scan checkbox is still grayed out? Can you post screenshots?

Thanks for the help with this one guys. The info on Bit configuration is new to me, very interesting. The answer to the above is yes, I have pulled the plug from another XTS5K with a yet a different flash and all are having the same result(using Astro25 CPS R12). talkgroup scan selected, Multi-system scan is still grayed out. All radios in question have trunking in the flash and all of the codeplugs do have more then one trunking system programed into them so that should not be the issue either. Three radios from different sources seems to be more then coincidence. See the screen caps below showing the scan list page side by side with associated the feature set.

[Pj]

Double check the firmware...I am sure you have. Multisystem scan was introduced with R5.

[mike m]

go into your radio wide options and in the general tab check the max number of channels/ talkgroups even if you have new rev 12 firmware but the # of talkgroups only lists 512 then that is the problem.

I'm not sure what the fix is but I have some radios that were flashed from a rev 4 directly to rev 12 and even though they have all the neat rev 12 features such as zone up/down and channel up down, radio preset buttons for # 1,2, and 3 etc which work fine, they still only display 512 talkgroups and they will not let me select multi-system scan.

I have 2 other radios that were originally firmware 10 and 11 and they were flashed along with the above mentioned rev 4 radio to rev 12 firmware and they have all the neat rev 12 features, 1000 channels plus multi-system scan which works.

I'm thinking that you cannot simply do a firmware update from a lower rev to a higher rev that is several revs up without doing all of the intermediate revision upgrades to grab other fixes which later firmware upgrades do not include.

I'd bet that your radio was a pre rev 5 firmware radio that was upgraded to it's present revision without doing any of the intermediate rev upgrades.

By this I mean that a firmware upgrade for example to revision 12 does not contain a cumulative assortment of all previous fixes in it.



Mike

[Mfire39]

Ummm, no... The Astro25 series is not like the Pro series where you have to step bump the firmware if it's too low to start with... You can take a radio with firmware R02.00.00 and bump it to R12.00.00, and it will take on R12.00.00. The problem lies in the upgrade process, what was used to flash the firmware, and whether or not the codeplug structure was updated along with the firmware. Thats when you'll run into the problem of not getting the max chan cap or other little features included with the version in question. There are ways to uplift the firmware without updating the codeplug structure.


-Marc

[Pj]

I had an issue with an XTS5000 that was simialar. If you use an older codeplug and write the radio, it will (in this case) keep showing the older channel values. It wasn't until I read/wrote the radio with a more basic codeplug that I had of the radio that it actually updated channel capacity. Until then, it wouldn't let me expand the channels.

Could be a simialar situation.

[jmr061]

Doing a proper firmware upgrade (ie using an authorized I button and matching cps/firmware) should result in all items in the radio being upgraded. This mean not only host/dsp but codeplug structure, tuning, bootloader, etc.

If it is done in an improper manner only the host/dsp gets upgraded, nothing else. Sounds like this may be the case in this situation. Wonder how old the radios in question are???

Jason

[immelmen28]

Many thanks to everyone for all the good info. Old firmware (R04.) in the AS+ was the issue there.

The jury is still out on the 5K's, I think the last couple posts are onto something.