Batboard

Just curious, I always see people who are selling XTS 3000's that they have just got them aligned by a professional tech, etc.

Are there any symptoms that are evident when an XTS 3000 is actually in need of an "alignment" or tuning?

My XTS 3000's seem to work just fine... even out in the field... even in locations where there might be spotty coverage (canyons, valleys, etc). I haven't seen any issues with them. Then again, I could just not be "realizing it".

Hoping someone can shed some light.

Thanks in advance!

SJXTS3000

XTS 3000 M2 UHF
XTS 3000 M3 UHF

It has been a common (and valid) advise that if you buy a radio without tags or with non matching tags that you have it aligned. This is because the quick dirty and easy way to modify these radio's can change the tuning data. So if a radio has been modded at any point, its nice to know it was aligned.

Batwings21 wrote:It has been a common (and valid) advise that if you buy a radio without tags or with non matching tags that you have it aligned. This is because the quick dirty and easy way to modify these radio's can change the tuning data. So if a radio has been modded at any point, its nice to know it was aligned.

What if it was modified (i.e. flash upgraded) by a certified Motorola tech who knew what he was doing?

Aside from "rule of thumb" what actual symptoms would warrant looking into a re-alignment? (anything in the Tx/Rx audio to listen for?)

In my case I purchased a UHF "Nick" XTS3000 when the market was flooded with them. It worked great, but was only used in analog on ham freq's. When I programmed in a simplex imbe freq, it rx'd fine, & tx'd to my Astro Saber, but could not tx to my XTS5000. I sent the 3000 to a pro on this forum [thanks Jim] & now the radio is perfect. The dev settings were off. However, some people on this forum either work for, or have a friend who works for a 2 way shop, & they routinely align the radio before putting it up for sale. These people have great reputations, & a prospective buyer knows he will get a radio that works as good as new. Certainly better than taking a chance with a radio from an auction site, or one from China. GARY N4KVE

Poor Astro TX or RX would be one of the first, poor performance at one end of the band or as Gary said a radio that will talk to some units but not others.

As far as your other question it would depend on whether they really new how to save the tuning data or not. Does the serial number match the tags?

One "bad XTS" syndrome I've learned to recognize is continuous lost packets ("Donald Duck Audio") in areas where the digital signal received is very strong. You'll encounter this more often when working digital simplex but it should be relatively rare when working on a well-engineered trunked digital system.