XTS 5000 Help Needed

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mainegrw
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Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Oct 16, 2017 1:10 am

XTS 5000 Help Needed

Post by mainegrw »

I bought a used 800mhz XTS 5000 recently online for the princely sum of $80. I thought it might be a fun challenge to dabble with P25 trunking a little bit, however its proved to be nothing but challenge and not much fun.

To start, the radio came to me with a completely dead battery, so it sat on my desk for a week waiting for a new one to arrive. With the new battery in hand, I was able to verify the radio has all the options I need to monitor a nearby system, and with some research I setup a non-affiliate scan with a couple talkgroups on the system. I hear nothing at all. As a side test, I programmed a conventional channel with the frequency of one of the system control channels, with the thought of listening to see what signal is present there (obviously not looking for something intelligible, just any evidence of a signal, digital noise or otherwise). If I set the conventional personality mode as non ASTRO, i hear nothing at all, however setting the mode as mixed or ASTRO with a digital mode of CQPSK I will hear breaks in the static (silence) for varying periods if i press and hold the monitor key on the radio.

I have also tried monitoring some local conventional, non-digital frequencies belonging to another nearby system to avail as well. Again, I hear nothing at all, though I'm not sure how active those frequencies are at this time.

Long story short, I've heard nothing on this radio at all, though all signs point to it being fully functional. Any thoughts as to where I might have gone wrong are appreciated. Thanks!
mainegrw
New User
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Oct 16, 2017 1:10 am

Re: XTS 5000 Help Needed

Post by mainegrw »

Update: I've made some progress with this radio finally! I utilized an idea talked about for monitoring trunked systems on an EF Johnson 5100 portable, which doesnt allow for the non-affiliated scan to work. The programming is as follows:

I went ahead and programmed the voice channels listed for the trunked system, each as a conventional channel, with an NAC of F7E (accept all traffic). I then configured the conventional personality to be Astro mode only, then set up an Astro talkgroup list with a single entry, 65535 (unmute for all talkgroups), and strapped it to the conventional personality. I finished by adding all the voice channels to a scan list so that I could monitor all of then at once.

Much to my surprise, after almost 2 months of messing around, I immediately started receiving signal the moment the radio finished writing the program. Next step is to see if I can use the Astro talkgroups to monitor specific talkgroups on the system, though for the time being, theres not much traffic there anyway, and having an open receive is working just fine.
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