Batboard

Our local emergency services run on a vote group P25 system (no trunking near here). An ASTRO (non25) should be able to handle this fully I assume? I'd love the extra channels to mimic my XTL in the car for out of area but not sure my wallet can follow yet.

As for F/TDMA, one of the nearby VKG (police) setups has several towers txing on the same frequency for the same area. I always thought this was TDMA (timed division). They are all Tait/XTL gear. So if it cannot be TDMA how could it work as AFAIK FDMA is frequency divided meaning different frequencies? Or is it timed transmissions per tower to simulate TDMA which is really TDMA anyway?

Also on that note, our Rural Fire Service has just jumped the P25 hurdle and I notice that each region has the EXACT same mobile tx (tower rx) frequency for EVERY tower for that region/council and then different RX (tower tx) per tower. I assume this is to overcome the bs issue we had with the old system where the MCS' would "prefer" a channel regardless of it being out of range each time the radio was powered up? It was real annoying and even my XTL would prefer a tower it hadn't heard and rarely used (other side of the council area). Question there is how to the towers work out then or vote the received signal to work out which tower should listen? Obviously once the tail comes back from a tower the radio will vote to the right tower (well hopefully) but still there has to be some system in place for the towers to not try and step over each other. It is the first time I've seen this practice in use here.

(in it's own thread per request)

Also a seller on ebay currently has some nice P25 gear with a ripsnorter of a flashcode (fully optioned) and when I asked if they were able to "option" my 5000 said that they are basically able to do whatever options they want. I won't mention names or items as I think we need some in the community who can keep this ability alive. Is this a hack of some sort or a person lucky enough to have ASTRO25 lab? Does the ASTRO25 lab need an SRIB like the old JEDI/ASTRO (I'm assuming not given the programming lead but want to double check for remote upgrading etc)? Is that mongrel i-Button required for ASTRO25 upgrades? (no I'm not asking for the lab either)

Is it possible to install G474 multi radio in anticipation of the hardware changes but without them for pre-planning (and hoping/wishing) of finding a dual harness? Or does that option outright require the mods straight up?

Has anyone found a way to squeeze FPP onto an XTL5000 (alike the XTS2500/5000)? Or is this still an impossibility? (would be REAL nice)

Does anyone know of anyone in Australia able to shave the upper tx VCO resonator (and do it cleanly)? I need to go up just 4mhz extra to finally make the radio more than just an expensive scanner again (originally was used around 415) and my hands and eyes are not as sharp as they were. IF I can get the extra 4 I can finally retire the MCS2000 from service and reduce an antenna from the car.

So you have P25 simulcast repeaters?

TDMA/phase 2 means that one transmitter on one channel can tx two conversations at once.

The astro25 programming cables vary for different radio types, you don't need SRIB to write codeplugs and use the tuner.

Anyone can hack up flash codes, this is in the codeplug but nobody here will tell you how. You can do it at any time.

As for your final question, if you trim the vco to move it up, then you still have the problem of the frequency limits in the codeplug, you will need further tweaks to get the radio to tx properly up there. The typical result for moving a vhf radio into the 2m ham band is that there is no deviation when tx out of range.

Thanks for the reply.

Is that what they call them (simulcast)? Buggered if I know how the radio votes without some TDMA type control (mind twist). Though most here still think it impossible .

Yeah I have a standard lead for my XTL already, was wondering if that is capable of advanced stuff as well compared to the Jedi's I have that needed a completely different lead set.

Hmm thanks for that info, more research yet again.

I already have 477.xxx programmed in, one of the old Moto techs was kind enough to let me in on the override for the CPS out of band. Just need the VCO to lock up that few megs higher, currently stops at 474.