Batboard

Could anyone give me any info on these radios. Are they p25 ? he has them listed as xts 5000 are they really xtl5000 ? if they are modern and are p25 can i put one of the new head units on it? any help would be greatly appreciated. I did the model read but it did not tell me what I needed to know. 73

https://www.gcsurplus.ca/mn-eng.cfm?snc ... =ferm-clos

If your link is correct, you're looking at Astro Spectra VHF 50w radios with hardware encryption... Interesting find, that. They are not XTS or XTL, for that matter. I'm not 100% certain what the most 'modern' control head that can be put on them is.

http://www.repeater-builder.com/motorol ... manual.pdf

Thank you very much sir, you confirmed my suspicions and saved me alot of money, I appreciate it greatly.

According to the model number on the radio, they'll support a W4 head. Any other control head will require internal srec editing and possibly hardware changes.

A couple resources to guide you in your search as you come across more radios:

P25 support is determined by the Flashcode, listed on the back as "Mfg. Code." (Strictly speaking, that's what it left the factory with and it could have been upgraded later on.) A quick rule of thumb is that if it begins with a 1 or a 5, it supports P25. But you can use http://www.akardam.net/moto/tools/decode4.pl to decode the options in that code 540001-001000-2 and see that it includes P25 ("ASTRO IMBE Digital Operation"), and a few other options.

I still use the chart on http://www.batlabs.com/astromob.html for decoding model numbers, mostly to know bandsplit and the like. In my limited experience, the newer XTL radios will actually say "XTL 5000" or whatnot on the top of the model number, while the ASTRO Spectras do not. I'm actually not too familiar with the model numbers, but the old ASTRO Spectras always had "04" as the 2nd and 3rd characters of the model number; the XTL line seems to have 20/21 in their place.

I realize that auction has ended since it had incorrect info, but thought I'd send you a few pointers to aid in identifying additional radios. As you've seen, sellers aren't always great at describing what they're selling.

fogster wrote:A couple resources to guide you in your search as you come across more radios:

P25 support is determined by the Flashcode, listed on the back as "Mfg. Code." (Strictly speaking, that's what it left the factory with and it could have been upgraded later on.) A quick rule of thumb is that if it begins with a 1 or a 5, it supports P25. But you can use http://www.akardam.net/moto/tools/decode4.pl to decode the options in that code 540001-001000-2 and see that it includes P25 ("ASTRO IMBE Digital Operation"), and a few other options.

I still use the chart on http://www.batlabs.com/astromob.html for decoding model numbers, mostly to know bandsplit and the like. In my limited experience, the newer XTL radios will actually say "XTL 5000" or whatnot on the top of the model number, while the ASTRO Spectras do not. I'm actually not too familiar with the model numbers, but the old ASTRO Spectras always had "04" as the 2nd and 3rd characters of the model number; the XTL line seems to have 20/21 in their place.

I realize that auction has ended since it had incorrect info, but thought I'd send you a few pointers to aid in identifying additional radios. As you've seen, sellers aren't always great at describing what they're selling.

I thank you greatly for that information, it helped me very much. It is people like you that keeps the ham and radio people such a great group. God Bless