Batboard

I am being told that there is no flashcode in the XTS5000 series to enable MDC1200 encode of call alert, selective call, radio check, status, or message while in conventional analog mode. What the heck is this, the XTS3000 has a flash option for it. I am told that the flash option of advanced MDC operation is not available on the XTS5000 and that any advanced calling features are only available in digital mode. I have MDC1200 ptt encode and decode, emergency encode and decode, and call alert, selective call, radio check decode by virtue of my firmare 4.00.00. but I guess Motorola does not want to support the encode features on this radio. Should I upgrade to a waris radio? LAUGH! More reasons for my switch to Vertex products. How can you sell a $3000.00 radio with less features than a $735.00 radio?

I believe MDC encode is supported by R05.00.00 firmware. Our department radios are able to encode and I believe thats what their firmware version is.

Mike

gee someone judging a WHOLE line of radios based upon what old firmware will and wont support.

Why is it that Motorola releases radios with firmware that does not support such basic features?

Obviously at the time they said things such as signalling will be supported in later revisions but what about the agencies that purchased these radios? Do they also have to purchase a contract for future firmware upgrades?

Mike

well, go all the way back to the maxtrac.. you had the basic model you could buy (maxtrac 50) then you had the full signalling one (maxtrac 300)

same deal.. one had MDC (and others) and the rest didnt.

the problem with the XTS5k is that people like to judge them based on that god awful 2.20 panter FW and FC.

You have to remember as well, that the 5k is their high tier DIGITAL portable, and it makes sense from their perspective to push ASTRO. Keeping that in mind, since the ID is transmitted with the digital data stream, MDC would have been moot.

the salesman, if doing his job properly (as well as the system manager) could have said "well astro is nice, but we need MDC now" and it can be taken care of.

I suspect the Analog DTMF issue with the 5k is the same deal, they want to sell astro, what better way to promote it than to take analog features away?

"It already does that in digital mode, just use digital"

my .02

i would concur with grem.

most opinions thus far have been on a host and dsp nearly as old as the radio line.

with version 5.00.01 fw and dsp, you'll find many of those missing features.

as with any platform, there are memory limitations (remember what they managed to do with 8k on a saber!... makes me think of the 2048 BYTES the atari guys had to work with!) anyway....

there are also PRIORITIES as well

making sure astro 25 trunking is full up round is certainly much more important than MDC and DTMF.




doug

I will have to agree with all the comments here...

But the biggest problem here is why forget the basics. Now that motorola has stopped producing a cost effective and durable portable worth anything since they x'd off the mt1000, ht/mt2K line the public safety/ "fire service" doesn't have a true portable to use. So big M forces you to buy the nice expensive portable in the XTS family. I guess it is tough crap for all the people using legacy analog systems. Along with that I guess it is also tough crap for MDC encode, man down buttons, etc.... That just doesn't seem right.

I personally would never reccomend or sell the waris seies portables to the fire service. Have you ever taken apart a waris radio with a speaker mic attached that has come out of the fire service. The terminals are all corroded, and mangaled. Most of the times as soon as the radio gets wet it fails, espicially the speaker mics. Not to mention the fact the radios audio just plain out sucks... At least the mt2K jedi series had nice rubber gaskets on the mic connector that somewhat shielded the terminals and connections. And the connections were of much better quality. It was just a better radio with kick butt audio and decent durability. That is just not so on tha waris, they suck.....

Just my 2 cents.

unfortunatly this seems to be the trend with ma /\/\

the HT600 / MT1000 is STILL wins my favorite and most durable radio category.

and look at how much more rugged an ASTRO Saber is compared to an XTS3k..

grem467 wrote:gee someone judging a WHOLE line of radios based upon what old firmware will and wont support.

Grem,

My radio is not all that old. Firmware version 4.00.00, which was manufactured 12/03 and bought beginning of 2004. My radio supports MDC ID and emergency encode and everything else decode. The CPS shows support for encode on call alert, call check, and selective call, but I am told from a Motorola MSS and Motorola direct that the MDC call alert, radio check, and selective call feature IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON THE XTS5000 PERIOD!!! Are you telling me that if I get firmware version 5.??.?? that I will now have these features? Is it just that I have old firmware? Where do you get this information from? If you have a contact at Motorola that you ARE getting good information from, ask him if I should bring my legit XTS5000 in for weekly firmware updates so that it can match the feature set of the waris series as Motorola sees fit to add a new feature every so often. Sounds like a lot of fun sending my radio back to an MSS or the depot everytime for a flash firmware update when MA /\/\ decides to bless us with another basic feature that the $735.00 radios support. At nearly $3500.00 new for this portable just a year ago, I don't see why I might be a little upset that the radio doesn't support some basic analog features. I think Motorola has forgotten that 99% of the radio world is still operating on analog. That has been the same since 2004 when the radio was bought.

Fuel4300 wrote:I believe MDC encode is supported by R05.00.00 firmware. Our department radios are able to encode and I believe thats what their firmware version is.

Mike

Mike, are you guys able to encode anything other than PTT ID and Emergency?

what im saying is that if you needed those features, then whoever sold you the radio didnt do you justice and should have put you in something else.

the radio should fit the user and their needs, an XTS5k doest have ALL the features of all the other radios, thats why they make other radios..

try getting LTR in any astro radio for example, I know of plent of people here that would love a UHF LTR XTS5k, so they can use their ham astro freqs too.

Going off on a tangent here, but Icom's P25 gear can do LTR (no AES, DES etc though).