HT1250LS+ Portables Going Dead On PassPort

[jmcburney]

Does anyone have any history or information on HT1250 LS+ portables going "dead" or completely fading off while turned on that are programmed on a UHF PassPort System? I don't believe its the system but am not completely sure. The portables go dead while turned on and must knob must be turned to off position and turned back on and radio comes back up and reregisters on the system. Not happening on all portables just some.

[exkalibur]

Check SRN's for firmware issues. The HT1250/CDM1250 LS+ series radios have a troubled history with firmware issues. An uplift might solve your problem. What version is your f/w?

[jmcburney]

I have 600 LS+ radios on the PassPort. 500 of the radios were bought within the last twelve months. I will have to go back on the older radios and check on the firmware. Is there a quicker way than getting one and checking in the software?
Thanks.

[slicerwizard]

Radios going stupid / locking up is a very common symptom with older firmware. The C code that runs on the PassPort board (the keypad board) is a spaghetti nightmare (the conventional side, on the main board, is written in decent assembler code); the lockup happens when the radio has been on for a while and the gathered neighbour lists overflow the buffer set aside for them. Once that happens, the radio can do all sorts of bizarre things.

Count yourself lucky - another common symptom is having the radio auto-PTT over any active voice traffic on the radio's home channel; makes for wonderful interference until you DF it.

Another thing found with the old firmware - timers that were only supposed to be used during roaming (site hunting), like how long to wait for an idle OSW before trying another site, were active long after a site had been acquired and registration had taken place; a radio on a perfectly acceptable site would just suddenly auto-roam - a good way to miss important comms.

[jmcburney]

You got it right. Firmware on the radio is bad. Funny how I bought several hundred over the past month and even those have bad firmware. Motorola selling radios with known problems? Sent me the corrected firmware (05.12.02) to be out next month on website.

Another issue....

Repeaters on PassPort going out of tune on their own (digital system)? Any ideas?

[slicerwizard]

Originally Posted by jmcburney

You got it right. Firmware on the radio is bad. Funny how I bought several hundred over the past month and even those have bad firmware. Motorola selling radios with known problems?

You must be new here.

Sent me the corrected firmware (05.12.02) to be out next month on website.

Is it for the PassPort side? (I guess so)
Last time I did PassPort firmware upgrades, it took 15 to 20 minutes per radio (low baud rate x huge C code footprint); you doing all 600 radios?

Another issue....

Repeaters on PassPort going out of tune on their own (digital system)? Any ideas?

Repeaters use either their own internal reference oscillator or a site master reference oscillator, whose signal is fed to each exciter stage. It doesn't sound like a PassPort issue to me. A qualified tech with a service monitor should be able to sort it out. It sounds like you're either a radio shop or end user, so you're stuck with whatever story the airtime provider tells you?

[jmcburney]

I am new and not a tech. I own the system. The firmware flash is taking 5 minutes per radio. Its been a long few days for my guys (techs). Thanks for your input.