Batboard

Greetings to all,

Just programmed up new XTL1500 and XTS1500 for the fire department and tested them all, and all seemed to work fine with no problem. Well after getting them installed we had the first chance to use them today and we had problems.
The problem appeared to be that we could not hear dispatch all of the time. However, we could hear truck to truck, protables, and all field units just not dispatch?

So we dived into the problem and have found the following:
- Subscriber unit to subscriber unit is good on simplex & repeater
- Subscriber unit to dispatch is good on simplex & repeater
- Dispatch to subscriber unit is not consistant

It appears that if we call disaptch and dispatch answers before the repeater unkeys the radio speaker is quiet and will not allow us to hear dispatch. If we talk to another subscriber unit or one that is not connected into the system like a comm center is then we can hear them 100% of the time.
I checked ALL settings and even compared them to the settings on my XTS5000 which has been programmed and used for over a year now. Yet the problem is present on both the mobiles and portables. The best part is that even /\/\ is stumped.
I tried changing personalities, modes (non-astro, mixed, astro), and everything under the sun but the problem is still there. In addition it is not isolated to just a PL or DPL problem it affects all decoding on a repeater when the person that I am talking to comes into the repeater in a standard conventional set-up.

The system is a VHF conventional system with multi-rx sites. The system runs a PL of 186.2 and ALL other radios except these news ones have worked on the system with no issues at all.


Can anybody help???

Do the radios have the following firmware installed?

Host R08.01.03 firmware

The bulletin is FSB10044. Radios with the above firmware have major issues with PL. if you have the above firmware it needs to be upgraded to R09.00.00 or later. This is covered under warranty by motorola.

Have you tried programming the radios for receive CSQ? With the ASTRO25, especially in later platforms, the radios are getting more and more picky about the accuracy of the incoming PL. My little manpack RD58 repeater, which has a TS32 board inside, is not quite close enough to absolute to make my 5000 happy (gotta fix that one of these days...). You may have a similar problem.

This is, I believe, a known firmware glitch, for which an update is available. Sorry, I do not have an FRN number; info comes second-hand. (I believe it is part of the 0-5 control head issue.)

Thank you to everyone that replied. Al was nice enough to send me the info sheet and I will be calling Motorola tomorrow for the fix.

These radios were purchased with an OJA grant. Kind of amazing that OJA recommened Motorola more so then Kenwood and upon going along with there recommendation that the radios have issues. Much like "the nationwide first responder network."

Ah back to the good ole' days when a first responder was someone who had basic medical training (around 50 to 60 hours) and assisted with EMS issues on scene, and was not a coin buzz word type phrase!