• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

VHF/UHF Motorola Radios that Support Conventinal P25 and Rebanding

Status
Not open for further replies.

K2GMZ

Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
119
Location
Lakeland Florida
Which Motorola radio's support Conventional P25 and rebanding? The P25 for scanning and the HAM rpts that are going this way, and rebanding capabilty so I can have it for a few years without worry of upgrading. Dont care about trunking or 800 mhz, I was looking along the lines of Astro Saber or XTS3000....any help is appreciated.
 

PeterGV

K1PGV
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Messages
754
Location
Mont Vernon, NH
>> I was looking along the lines of Astro Saber or XTS3000

Well, those would certainly make good choices. As would the XTS-2500 and XTS-5000. Like Grem467 said... "rebanding" doesn't apply to either VHF or UHF so you should be set, but you probably DO want a radio that's capable of narrow channel spacing. Any of these radios that'll do IMBE should handle that as well (er, I think).

de Peter K1PGV
 

K2GMZ

Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
119
Location
Lakeland Florida
PeterGV said:
>> I was looking along the lines of Astro Saber or XTS3000

Well, those would certainly make good choices. As would the XTS-2500 and XTS-5000. Like Grem467 said... "rebanding" doesn't apply to either VHF or UHF so you should be set, but you probably DO want a radio that's capable of narrow channel spacing. Any of these radios that'll do IMBE should handle that as well (er, I think).

de Peter K1PGV


Thanks guys, thats what I meant, for the narrow channel spacing,
 

K2GMZ

Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
119
Location
Lakeland Florida
Can Astro Saber's or XTS3000 be be reflashed?

Can Astro Saber's or an XTS3000 be be reflashed if not narrowband or IMBE enabled?
 

PeterGV

K1PGV
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Messages
754
Location
Mont Vernon, NH
I *believe* that any XTS-3000 can potentially be flashed for IMBE. If you're talking about doing this all legitimate, and having it done by a Moto radio shop or the depot, it'll cost you a good chunk of change.

There is a lot of controversy of whether any arbitrary Astro Saber can be updated to support IMBE. There is certainly a minimum Host/DSP version required for IMBE support. The vocoder board in the Astro Saber apparently comes in two varieties: Early ones have 512K of memory, newer ones 1MB. The conventional wisdom is that AS's with 512K can't be flashed for IMBE, but there have been several very convincing counter examples people have cited (as in "I have a 512K AS and I can guarantee you that it does IMBE").

Note that not every Astro Digital Saber is IMBE... it can also use an older, Motorola exclusive digital encoding technique called VSELP.

If you're interested in Moto radios for scanning/ham use, I'd recommend you spend mucho time at THE resource for Moto information: http://batboard.batlabs.com

My advice: There are a ton of narrowband capable, MBE configured, XTS-xxxx and Astro Saber radios for sale. Buy one that's already properly configured. You'll see several on Ebay and on a couple a week on BatLabs. My best recommendation as a fellow ham (who's gotten into this whole Moto radio thing rather recently) is to register at and hang around BatLabs until you find a AS or XTS-3000 offered for sale. You can quite easily check the reputation of people on the board, and many buy and sell Moto radios frequently.

As in all things, study up and be careful.

de Peter K1PGV
 

K2GMZ

Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
119
Location
Lakeland Florida
Thanks Peter, I've been looking on Batlabs, RR and Ebay to feel it out and do my homework like I did with my other Moto's. I've got my eyes on a few with the specs I think I'll need. I'm kinda shying away from the Astro Sabers and going for an XTS, at least they're not obsolete, at leaset according to Motorola!
 

txshooter

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2002
Messages
0
Location
Texas
Obsolete

The Astro Saber and the XTS3000 are no longer current production radios, but this really does not make them anywhere near obsolete. You can pick up a great Astro Saber for reasonable prices these days. Want a XTS5000 or XTS2500 expect top pay top dollar.
 

K2GMZ

Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
119
Location
Lakeland Florida
txshooter said:
The Astro Saber and the XTS3000 are no longer current production radios, but this really does not make them anywhere near obsolete. You can pick up a great Astro Saber for reasonable prices these days. Want a XTS5000 or XTS2500 expect top pay top dollar.

Thats what attracted me to the 3000's I know the XTS3000's aren't obsolete (see my last post) but the Astro Sabers are getting closer. I figure for the couple of extra bucks on the XTS3000 I have a radio thats not quite in its twilight year.

I just bought 2 XTS3000 III's, one VHF, one UHF from a good Ebay'er, specs are right. Thanks for the info everyone, much appreciated
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top