Batboard

Hello all,

I'm looking to buy a VHF HT1550. I'm after this particular radio because I need front panel programmability. I am selling my JT1000 to facilitate the upgrade.

I've got a few simple (I hope) questions about the 1550 that I was hoping the experts here could answer....

1) Is there a difference between an HT1550 and a HT1550XLS?
2) I have CPS 06.04.00 - is this sufficient?
3) Is there anything I need to beware of when looking at these radios? (i.e. similar, but different radios that may be passed off as a 1550...general tips when looking for this type of radio)
4) Is there anything else out there (on the Motorola side of the house) that is front panel programmable? (other than my JT1000 of course)

Any tips about this radio (and purchasing one) would be appreciated.

Thanks for your help.

If by "front panel programmability" you mean the ability to directly enter a transmit frequency via the keyboard of the portable, I don't believe the HT1550 incorporates this "feature."

Now I'm lost...

I thought the HT1550 has the feature when used with the appropriate special battery (with the red label). I've seen several sources for this even on the Batlabs information page.

http://www.batlabs.com/htpro.html

Motorola's website talks about this feature too

http://www.motorola.com/governmentanden ... i/id_1771i

Again - maybe this comes back to the question of...is there a difference between an HT1550 and an HT1550XLS??

Make sure you get the FPP battery with the radio otherwise you wont be able to program the radio in the field. Also the Field programmabilty has to activated (per channel) with the software.

Fowler

edit as some posts have appeared while I researched

Yes, It can do FPP with the "red" battery, not sure if it's capable of adding more channels or just editing what you have. If so, it would not be a hand thing to have several "basic" channels pre-programmed in for editing as needed. Something like simple MURS stuff added several times would suffice.

From what I see, the next step up from the1250 is indeed the HT1550XLS (I wonder why they didn't just call it the HT1550?).

I have both the JT1000 and the HT1550XLS. The transmit and receive audio quality seems "better" on the JT1000. The HT1550XLS does not integrate well with other ICOM portables when using DPL (DCS) in a simplex system; the issues I experience are delayed squelch opening and poor received audio quality on the ICOMs when I am transmitting with the HT1550XLS. No such issue exists when transmitting with the JT1000 in the same environment. The RF output on the JT1000 set to low power seems stronger than the HT1550XLS set to high power; I can bring up certain relatively distant repeaters with the JT1000 and not with the HT1550XLS from the same location. The HT1550XLS receiver seems to reject strong nearby frequencies better than the JT1000; I have noticed that the JT1000 will not receive weaker signals when transmitting with the HT1550XLS a few feet away on a frequency -600kHz, the HT1550XLS receives just fine when the converse is true. The HT1550XLS has to be configured to allow frequency editing when initially programed in order to be front panel programmable. The procedure is detailed in the documentation that comes with the "red" battery.

W2MB wrote:I have both the JT1000 and the HT1550XLS

Did /\/\ finally find your JT?

Grog wrote:

W2MB wrote:I have both the JT1000 and the HT1550XLS

Did /\/\ finally find your JT?

They did, I got it back fixed 28 days later. They didn't even know that they had it... Viva La Mexico!

/\/\exi-/\/\oto strikes again

the 1550 is fpp with the correct red battery as long as it is enabled in the radio first per channel but you can only edit what is already in the radio, you can not create new channels with it. your 6.04 software is ancient and will work to an extent, if you have a new radio with new firmware in the radio then the latest version of the cps will give you more options to be able to use as opposed to the old cps. plus the newer cps will let you do the ex500 and ex600 radios as well

My apologies: I had forgotten about the red battery. I've never actually seen one, nor do we have any application where that would be useful.

HT1550 - 160ch Conventional

HT1550XLS - 160ch Conventional plus LTR trunking

PRO9150 - Latin America version of the HT1550, most of the features are compatible.

GP1280 - European MPT1327 Trunking Radio. Rare, but stay away from them.

PTX780 - Asian MPT1327 Trunking Radio. Again rare, and stay away from them.

Thank you all for the input.

For anyone interested...my JT1000 is up on ebay at

http://cgi.ebay.com/Motorola-JT1000-VHF ... dZViewItem

Auction number 270191106544

I use an HT1550XLS with the red battery. It's usefull for me when I go to a site and need to get on a customer's system without having to take a radio out of the customer's hands. However, the red battery is not a powerfull battery and runs dead pretty quick with normal usage. It applies special voltage to the radio which enables the front face programing. So after I program the radio I throw a regular battery back on.

DPL between different make radios is kinda wonky. Sometimes even between same make but different model. I suggest using a TPL instead.

Slightly unrelated:
We had an issue with one customer where their Icoms would unmute anytime the the radio came close to a wireless router (granted it was a lower end Icom) but changing to a TPL resolved it.

a_j_b wrote:I use an HT1550XLS with the red battery. It's usefull for me when I go to a site and need to get on a customer's system without having to take a radio out of the customer's hands. However, the red battery is not a powerfull battery and runs dead pretty quick with normal usage. It applies special voltage to the radio which enables the front face programing. So after I program the radio I throw a regular battery back on.

I kind of figured that would be the best approach. Thanks for confirming!

Speaking of batteries - any recommendations on battery brands? Stick with Motorola? Any others?

If I had to use any of the wairs line (ewwww) I'd just stick with impres batteries, they are cheap enough and one less thing to worry about.

radef wrote:I kind of figured that would be the best approach. Thanks for confirming!

Speaking of batteries - any recommendations on battery brands? Stick with Motorola? Any others?

I haven't had any issues with Honeywell batteries but I know others here have. Impres is probably a good way to go but drop the cash for an Impres charger too otherwise it's just another battery.

i use the 2700 mah multipler batteries and have never had any problems with them and they last 3 or 4 days.