Batboard

Posted: **Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:04 pm**

I just recieved my XTS 3000 UHF with display and keypad from ebay! I am about to send it to my programmer to get it programmed. I have a few questions...

What are my options for all the buttons on the radio? Is there somewhere that can explain this to me, and also what doeseverything on the screen mean? Basically I'm looking for a guide or someone to tell me what each of the programming options for each button are, for instance what are my options to change groups/banks and what does the O and the O with a slash through it on the top of the radio mean? ahhh, I feel like such a rookie with this radio, its got so many more options than my old kenwood tk-390!!! Thanks for all the help!!!

-Nick

Posted: **Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:20 pm**

Hi Nick.

Here's a brief rundown of my button/switch preferences:

Rotary Knob: Group Select (Mot. Calls them Modes/Channels)
O/O: Scan on/off switch.
A/B/C: Channel bank select (Motorola Calls them Zones)
Orange: Nuissance delete. (most police depts. use it as an emerency button)
Purple: Monitor (I use the teal button on Jedis for light though- go figure)
Mid. Side: Volume set tone.
Low Side: Light.

If you've got a model III (full keypad) you can enter channel numbers directly; that is, you can hit the "chan" soft key and use the keypad to jump to a certain channel number or hit "ZONE" to move to a different bank.

For menu items:

ZONE- Change to ZONE XX
CHAN- Change to channel XX
PROG- Program your scanlist
DIR- Repeater or Simplex (Very handy for Ham and GMRS use)
VIEW- View your scanlist
PWR- TX power level (lo/hi)
MUTE- Mutes Tones

It took me a while to find the 'perfect set' for button function and menu items. I keep my radios the same (save for the reversed light buttons on my Jedi's)

Welcome to batlabs.

-Mike

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:16 am**

On my radios:

Ø: Coded (crypto enabled)
O: Clear (no crypto)

Purple: Backlight
Side 1: Call Response
Side 2: Monitor

Orange: Nuisance Delete
16-Pos: Zone
ABC: -/Scan Program/Scan

Menu items:
CHAN
PWR
DIR
PAGE
CALL
PHON
VIEW
MUTE

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:47 am**

And me...

Ø: Coded (Secure enabled)
O: Clear (Clear enabled)

Purple: Backlight
Side 1: Monitor
Side 2: Nuisance Delete

Orange: Volume Set Tone
16-Pos: Zone

A- Blank
B- PL Defeat
C- Scan Program

Menu items:

Zone
CHAN
SCAN
MUTE
VIEW
PROG
PWR
PSWD
TXIN
KSET
KEY
ERAS

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:08 am**

Awesome!!! This is what i needed, but i have a few questions...

I plan on only having three bank/zones (the same thing I gather, just three groups of channels), so I assume that the A/B/C would work perfect for this... I cant really think of anything else to put on those.

Secondly, can you have more than three banks/zones, and if so, how would A/B/C selector work say if you had 8 or 9 banks/zones?

Thirdly, is there any way to have user selected PL tones? in case I would like to change or dont have the right ones programmed in the first place?

I guess this radio is set up mostly as an trunking radio because of all the banks, but I plan to just use it for fireground communications and a very redundant duplex system. im assuming that the xts 3000 will still support this duplex, correct?

Thanks to DES-AJ, mr.syntax, and mikegilbert for their responses....it was exactly what I was looking for!!!! Thanks again! -nick

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:01 am**

tnf wrote:Awesome!!! This is what i needed, but i have a few questions...

I plan on only having three bank/zones (the same thing I gather, just three groups of channels), so I assume that the A/B/C would work perfect for this... I cant really think of anything else to put on those.

Yep, it'll work fine.

Secondly, can you have more than three banks/zones, and if so, how would A/B/C selector work say if you had 8 or 9 banks/zones?

The A/B/C selector only has three positions. The other zones would not be accessible from this switch.

You'd need to access the other zones from the ZONE menu item.

Thirdly, is there any way to have user selected PL tones? in case I would like to change or dont have the right ones programmed in the first place?

Not on an XTS 3000.

I guess this radio is set up mostly as an trunking radio because of all the banks, but I plan to just use it for fireground communications and a very redundant duplex system. im assuming that the xts 3000 will still support this duplex, correct?

If just you're referring to an ordinary repeater system, yep.

Thanks to DES-AJ, mr.syntax, and mikegilbert for their responses....it was exactly what I was looking for!!!! Thanks again! -nick

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:57 am**

wow...thanks for the answers. one more thing before I send to get it programmed.

Is there some kind of key lock? I was thinking about getting a porta clip belt holster and was curious if there was some kind of setting to make all the keys lock up...

Thanks again to everyone for the help! -nick

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:00 pm**

I'm not sure.

From my experience, I've never had any trouble with accidental keypresses on an XTS3000, with many many hours of carrying them around in my pocket.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:30 pm**

gotcha...one more thing

is there anything special i need to do for programming if I plan on using a Motorola Commander Speaker Mic with the channel knob on the end of the speaker mic?

the radio was programmed when i recieved it, and when i hit on of the buttons on the side, something comes up on the screen that looks like this |-->| . any idea what that is?

thanks once again! -nick

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:44 pm**

No special programming needs to be done for the mic. It copies the controls that are already on the radio.

The |--->| means talkaround operation is enabled on a duplex channel.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:54 pm**

so heres what i decided to go with now...any suggestions?

Rotary Knob: Channel Select
O/Ø: Scan on/off switch.
A/B/C: Bank(zone) select
Orange: Light
Purple: Monitor (I use the teal button on Jedis for light though- go figure)
Mid. Side: Volume set tone.
Low Side: Nuisance Delete

Menu Items

ZONE- Change to ZONE XX
CHAN- Change to channel XX
PROG- Program your scanlist
DIR- Repeater or Simplex (Very handy for Ham and GMRS use)
VIEW- View your scanlist
PWR- TX power level (lo/hi)
MUTE- Mutes Tones

thanks, as always! -nick

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:18 pm**

tnf wrote:wow...thanks for the answers. one more thing before I send to get it programmed.

Is there some kind of key lock? I was thinking about getting a porta clip belt holster and was curious if there was some kind of setting to make all the keys lock up...

Thanks again to everyone for the help! -nick

Yeah you can set one of the top/side switches/buttons for keypad lock but I honestly do not think you will need it, the buttons are designed to stop accidental operation.

tnf wrote:so heres what i decided to go with now...any suggestions?

Rotary Knob: Channel Select - Yeah just keep in mind that you can only access channels 1-16 from the knob, all other channels you might have in a zone would have to be accessed by the CHAN menu command (i.e if you had a channel 17, 18, etc.
O/Ø: Scan on/off switch.
A/B/C: Bank(zone) select
Orange: Light - If you like tell your programmer to set "automated light on keypress" on, this will mean if you turn a switch, change the voume, or press a key the light will come on for the preprogrammed time limit, depending on your battery it may chew through a very small amount more of power but I have never had a problem with my RNN4007AR 3500mah Nimh batts running for less time because of this.
Purple: Monitor (I use the teal button on Jedis for light though- go figure)
Mid. Side: Volume set tone.
Low Side: Nuisance Delete

Menu Items

ZONE- Change to ZONE XX
CHAN- Change to channel XX
PROG- Program your scanlist
DIR- Repeater or Simplex (Very handy for Ham and GMRS use)
VIEW- View your scanlist
PWR- TX power level (lo/hi)
MUTE- Mutes Tones

thanks, as always! -nick

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2006 2:45 pm**

thanks once again for a lighting fast response.

The most channels I have in one bank is 13, so for now I should be alright to make the channel selector the knob on top.

Thanks for the tip about automated keypress light...that will be a must to get programmed in.

If I were to program the 2nd side button as a keypad lock, would I press it once to lock and once to unlock?

Do you guys think it is worth it to get the programming software so I can tinker with it myself? The program is almost exactly half what I paid for the radio, and it would only be useful for this radio and I could not resell it, so I am little hesitant about pulling the trigger on that purchase.

as far as battery life with regards to the auto light keypress, I have an NTN8923A NIMH battery that came with it...is there any way to tell if the battery is any good or not(i havent had to charge it since messing around with it, though I will before I send it to get it programmed.

As usual, thanks for the fast and knowledgable response! -nick

Posted: **Mon Dec 04, 2006 4:56 am**

One thing to remember with the mic you are using:

The radio will power up on the channel selected by the RADIO'S channel selector, then after it recognizes the mic, it will then update to the SPKR MIC'S channel selector. I'm sure you probably knew that, but many of the self-important idiots that I deal with can't figure out how to keep their channel/TG selections straight. I just tell them the two selector switches have to be the same.
God forbid they should actually look at the display

Just keep in mind the speaker mic takes priority at power up, then it goes to whichever selector is changed most recently.

We used to use the ABC toggle switch for zone selection. It worked great until we outgrew three zones.

Posted: **Mon Dec 11, 2006 9:10 pm**

in case anyone was curious, here is what I ended up with:

Rotary Knob: Channel Select
O/Ø: Scan on/off switch.
A/B/C: Bank(zone) select
Orange: Keypad Lock
Purple: Monitor
Mid. Side: Volume set tone.
Low Side: Direct

I found the setting while programming it that allowed the light to come on whenever i changed the rotary knob, so i decided to go down that route. and since the radio will be in a porta clip holster 99% of the time, i decided to do the keylock just in case things get mashed against it (seat belt receptacle, flashlight, etc.)

Thanks for the help!

Batboard

XTS 3000 button programming question

XTS 3000 button programming question