My Portable Lineup

So as of recent I have started downsizing my fleet of portables, and have migrated to an all XTS5000 line up. I have two XTS5000 800 Model 3 portables issued to me by my department and are used on the Salisbury/Rowan (NC) P25 system & will have access to the NC VIPER system in the very near future. I just recently purchased two XTS 5000's, one being VHF and the other UHF Model 2's. One of my 800 portables is missing from the shot because I left it in the charger in my office. I had been using an EF Johnson 5100 VHF portable but the 5000 had a few features I wanted so I'm working on finding it a new home, and my previous UHF portable was a Kenwood TK-390 & I'm wanting to re-home it as well. I decided on all XTS's so I could maximize on my accessories. With all that here's a peak at them. Thanks for looking!!






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Nice to see another's collection.

A very clean looking setup! Just out of curiosity; what does each listen to, and if you have all 3 bands in your area why not use a scanner as oppose to multiple portables?


Thanks,
Thomas

I'm the Chief of the Red Cross Disaster Team in my county & need the capability to communicate on all 3 bands. As noted above the 800's are for the Salisbury/Rowan (NC) P25 system for day to day, and the NC VIPER statewide P25 system, the VHF is for conventional/backup coverage and I also utilize the Quick Call & VMUT (voice mute) feature for paging for calls, and the UHF for surrounding counties that still use UHF, which a fair amount of areas still do. I still have scanners I use from time to time, especially my 396XT I use for monitoring talkgroups on VIPER that aren't in my radios, but in my day to day scanners don't cut it. Hopefully that clears that up a little bit


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That clears it up very much. I use a XPR7550 and BCD436hp combo most of the time but it's always interesting to see how other people do it!


Thanks,
Thomas

BlackSheepDue said:

That clears it up very much. I use a XPR7550 and BCD436hp combo most of the time but it's always interesting to see how other people do it!


Thanks,
Thomas

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The XPR7550 is a great radio. Though not in my collection I've played with one and it seemed solid. Are you using it for conventional and DMR or is it just one or the other?


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FD5722 said:

The XPR7550 is a great radio. Though not in my collection I've played with one and it seemed solid. Are you using it for conventional and DMR or is it just one or the other?


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Just conventional VHF at this point. I'm not into Ham radio and all the current dmr in maine is either not worth listening to or UHF. I bought it because my father(Chief) got one and my 1250 had seen better days. I new he could get it programmed for me and I new I liked the radio so it was a natural choice.


Thanks,
Thomas

FD5722 said:

I'm the Chief of the Red Cross Disaster Team in my county & need the capability to communicate on all 3 bands. As noted above the 800's are for the Salisbury/Rowan (NC) P25 system for day to day, and the NC VIPER statewide P25 system, the VHF is for conventional/backup coverage and I also utilize the Quick Call & VMUT (voice mute) feature for paging for calls, and the UHF for surrounding counties that still use UHF, which a fair amount of areas still do. I still have scanners I use from time to time, especially my 396XT I use for monitoring talkgroups on VIPER that aren't in my radios, but in my day to day scanners don't cut it. Hopefully that clears that up a little bit


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Nice setup of 5000's. Your right, day to day scanners don't cut it.

What is a plus is most do not know if they have purchased there own equipment and are a legit user of a system small pd or fd/volunteer fd the shop and admin could program it up including rx only to a specific system tg and tx rx the rest authorized for. Allot are afraid to ask whow are valI'd users. Of course they will go through the device with a microscope and test it. Some places will do it as long as you sign agreement and the radios vins are added to the db for accountability. Some do it a few wont. Your admin will be ones to determine this so ask first. Worst case is no or yes but they will lock the codeplug after as long as it's on the system. Yes it does beat a scanner. If your not a valid member of public safety your other option is the passive scan method though I stress if you have no clue to start with have someone who can do it for you to non affiliate scan method. There is a few ways. Keep in mind the rx only check box still affiliates a radio tg to a system. It is meant for valid user to follow the system but not allow transmitting on certain tgs.

FD5722 said:

I'm the Chief of the Red Cross Disaster Team in my county & need the capability to communicate on all 3 bands. As noted above the 800's are for the Salisbury/Rowan (NC) P25 system for day to day, and the NC VIPER statewide P25 system, the VHF is for conventional/backup coverage and I also utilize the Quick Call & VMUT (voice mute) feature for paging for calls, and the UHF for surrounding counties that still use UHF, which a fair amount of areas still do. I still have scanners I use from time to time, especially my 396XT I use for monitoring talkgroups on VIPER that aren't in my radios, but in my day to day scanners don't cut it. Hopefully that clears that up a little bit


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Sounds like eventually a few multi Banders would come in handy when the price is right.

I see what you're saying, but you did read that I am a valid user on my 800 system correct? The radios our agency uses are actually owned by the city, and programmed by the city radio shop, and the radios are secured with a password codeplug wise. Not quite sure what all that was about.......... I'm the person that manages who is issued what radio and ensures they are used properly for my agency. You said "Your admin will determine that so ask first"...... If you mean the department using the radio then that is me, if you're referring to authorizing radios to be added that either goes through our county 911 director, or the city radio shop/system manager & the system manager is also the one who programs the radios. It's also up to the 911 Director and System Manager to determine the proper fleetmap for each user agency on the system


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FD5722 said:

you did read that I am a valid user on my 800 system correct?

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There is always one...

kayn1n32008 said:

There is always one...

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So it would seem. And to touch on the note of being an authorized user on whatever system (I forgot to put this in my post earlier), as much as I love using public safety grade radio equipment I am against using them for passive scan on a trunked system. The reason being I have been in the public safety field for over 22 years and rely on our system everyday. The last thing I want to happen to myself or any of our other users is someone set up a radio for passive scan and not know what they're doing, or trying to dupe the ID of a valid system user and putting not only that person but the entire system at risk. Again, this is my opinion and I know others may feel differently and that's fine. I'm not trying to start a debate, that's just how I feel. Again to those that have looked/commented thank you for the feedback!

FD5722 said:

but the entire system at risk.

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If one or two rouge radios can bring a system to its knees, then the system sucks and is not fit for public safety use, full stop.

Rest easy, my friend. No affiliate scan will not end the world.

Easy there...

FD5722 said:

I see what you're saying, but you did read that I am a valid user on my 800 system correct? The radios our agency uses are actually owned by the city, and programmed by the city radio shop, and the radios are secured with a password codeplug wise. Not quite sure what all that was about.......... I'm the person that manages who is issued what radio and ensures they are used properly for my agency. You said "Your admin will determine that so ask first"...... If you mean the department using the radio then that is me, if you're referring to authorizing radios to be added that either goes through our county 911 director, or the city radio shop/system manager & the system manager is also the one who programs the radios. It's also up to the 911 Director and System Manager to determine the proper fleetmap for each user agency on the system


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Ya know, I get the feeling that LosRio's reply was not directed squarely at you. I have a sneaky suspicion that the reply was more of an informational paragraph meant for those of us who have not risen to such levels allowing the possession and use of government-issued radios, as well as the authorized use of personally-acquired equipment. Just sayin....

Outerdog said:

If one or two rouge radios can bring a system to its knees, then the system sucks and is not fit for public safety use, full stop.

Rest easy, my friend. No affiliate scan will not end the world.

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I understand what you're saying, I just don't recommend it just because if not done right it could cause issues with valid system users, especially if they dupe an ID. With that said if the person who is setting up a radio for passive scan knows what they are doing and does it right i don't take issue with that. I guess I should've worded what I said a bit differently. My apologies. I will agree that commercial/public safety grade radios have excellent audio & 100 times better receive sensitivity, especially in a simulcast system such as ours, compared to my 396XT. All I'd like to make sure of is if someone is going to program one and they're new to it that they do their homework first and ask for help if needed.

I will say in the 22 years of being a system user we've not had any issues with people causing problems by using a radio for passive scan. I guess why it makes me nervous is because I rely on our system on a day to day basis and need to be able to rely and know my radio(s) are going to work.

My apologies for not being a little more specific earlier

j714friday said:

Ya know, I get the feeling that LosRio's reply was not directed squarely at you. I have a sneaky suspicion that the reply was more of an informational paragraph meant for those of us who have not risen to such levels allowing the possession and use of government-issued radios, as well as the authorized use of personally-acquired equipment. Just sayin....

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j714friday, going back and rereading that post I think I can see where you're coming from. It wouldn't be hard to take it either way, so LosRio if you see this please accept my apologies if that's in fact how it was meant. I've got no problem admitting when I could be mistaken.

FD5722 said:

I see what you're saying, but you did read that I am a valid user on my 800 system correct? The radios our agency uses are actually owned by the city, and programmed by the city radio shop, and the radios are secured with a password codeplug wise. Not quite sure what all that was about.......... I'm the person that manages who is issued what radio and ensures they are used properly for my agency. You said "Your admin will determine that so ask first"...... If you mean the department using the radio then that is me, if you're referring to authorizing radios to be added that either goes through our county 911 director, or the city radio shop/system manager & the system manager is also the one who programs the radios. It's also up to the 911 Director and System Manager to determine the proper fleetmap for each user agency on the system


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I was referring in general to others who stumble in.

LosRio said:

I was referring in general to others who stumble in.

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Gotcha. My apologies for reading to much into it / misinterpreting what you were saying. Hopefully there are no hard feelings?


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FD5722 said:

j714friday, going back and rereading that post I think I can see where you're coming from. It wouldn't be hard to take it either way, so LosRio if you see this please accept my apologies if that's in fact how it was meant. I've got no problem admitting when I could be mistaken.

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No problem. In general is what I meant. Many will stumble into threads down road well after they close. I know the owner/ user is a valid user of a system. Allot of smaller entities don't know if they had got a radio and passed it by the techs in house or admin of the system they may allow it and be programmed by them for use for the user. Most are afraid to ask, don't know, can't afford it, or have policies already prohibiting it. Others dont. Valid IDs are issued on the equipment and such then the radio is given a clean bill of health by the techs and admin after being at the bench.

Motorola could solve that problem of the random unintentionally person affiliating during a passive scan programmed wrong however since they are not in the business of scanning they ignored that simple problem fix. Other manufacturers have passive scan options to not affiliate. Motorola felt the rx only would be more useful and valid users be monitoring. Though say the town over has radios and programs them up to just monitor a trs they would need now a valid radio Id for each unit, rx only the radio which is useless unless it is public works monitoring and possibly pay subscription fees on the system even though they are just rx'ing the talkgroups still affiliating with the sites. Rx only in trs was meant for pw or a other entity who uses the same system but different talkgroups and given access to monitor without transmitting public safety or vice versa however the entity decided to do it.