• 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.

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    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).

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Best bang for your buck Motorola Ham Radio

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JRayfield

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Not sure where your information came from, but it's not correct. There are thousands of HT-series portables being used by firefighters and law enforcement, all over the U.S. And they all have a very low 'failure rate' in that environment (I'm speaking from experience).

And Motorola Solutions does consider that series of radios (CDM and HT series), as well as the XPR-series of radios, to be "public safety grade". If asked them, and the answer was "YES".

John Rayfield, Jr.


While you will find Waris platform radios in use by some public safety agencies, the odds of finding them being carried by firemen and police officers is rather low. They're good radios but they're not designed to take the level of mechanical abuse that a fireman or cop can dish out.

You could argue (successfully) that the XTS1500 is a glorified Waris platform radio. So it's a lower cost radio for use by budget challenged police and fire departments, right?

Well, they have a rather high failure rate. Even when used by such high demand users as school bus drivers. (That's slightly sarcastic, btw.) In my last job as a radio tech, a few XTS1500s came in for repair and they all needed new housings and most of them needed new PTT switches on the PC board. They're just not up to the mechanical durability standards of the more expensive models.

It takes a lot to score a mechanical kill on an XTS5000. Or, to be fair about it, on a Harris P7100. I've seen examples of both radios that had been run over by a fire truck and both were restored to working condition after replacing basically everything EXCEPT the PC boards, which were fine.

I usually make an effort to be very dispassionate about radios these days. They're tools. You use what you want. But I also DO have an opinion on various radios and I will offer it now. You do NOT have to agree with it, but it IS my opinion, formulated over 30 years in radio as both a hobbyist and as a professional:

There are people who think their Kenwood and Icom commercial gear measures up to Motorola (and Harris) public safety radios. And the are absolutely wrong, bordering on delusional. In my opinion. In my experience.

Granted, I have not extensively evaluated EVERY recent and current radio on the market. But I've seen enough examples and bench tested them and been inside them and repaired them and used them that my opinion is certainly adequately validated as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, BTW, prices on XTS5000s have come way down lately. You can get a good one for 300 bucks if you look around. That pretty much qualifies as the bargain of the century.
 

JRayfield

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I've been fixing radios for over 40 years, and Motorola radios for about 15 years, and my experience as to the 'ruggedness' of the CDM and HT series of radios has been just the opposite. Yes, they can be 'broken', but we have had very few 'broken' by public safety users.

John Rayfield, Jr.


I definitely think that Harris/Ge/whatever equipment, IF it was intended for the public safety market to begin with, is generally as durable and reliable as comparable Motorola equipment. When you are discussing the concept of the TOUGH portable radio, the M-PA and M-PD, for example, are two types that are unquestionably first rate for toughness and reliability in their day.

It's difficult to argue with a radio that is constructed entirely in a die cast metal chassis. Except for the weight, of course.

As for an M1225 for base radio usage, well, why not? It's not like a base radio on a desk is likely to be subjected to a great deal of abuse under normal operating conditions. I know the M1225 fairly well and it's a basic radio but it's well made.

The HT750 IS mil-spec 810 C, D, and E qualified. It'll handle a certain amount of rugged use. That's obvious by now. But they are not as rugged as the higher tier models , for reasons I've already outlined. Common failures include the housing shedding the entire PTT/monitor button assembly, and damage or destruction of the PTT and monitor switches which are directly mounted to the PC board and actuated by a boss on the back of the PTT button. Overly enthusiastic usage of the PTT button will eventually smash the switch and I've seen those switches ripped right off the board.

One of the distinguishing features of every top tier public safety oriented radio that I can think of is that they ALL have their controls mounted in such a manner that destruction of a control will not result in damage to the PC board. This is a feature that is really a requirement for any radio that is to see the roughest kinds of service.

Any kind of radio that has PC mounted controls is a type of radio that will be a frequent visitor to the repair shop. My last seven year stint as the chief tech at a radio shop showed me this lesson with extreme clarity. Replacement of PC mounted controls was the number one most common kind of repair for portable radios. More radios were condemned as uneconomical to repair due to more extensive PC board damage around the controls than for any other reason as well.

You can try to defend mid tier radios as being suitable for rugged service all you want, but my experience fixing radios every day for the last seven years tells me otherwise. Put mid tier radios into rugged service and they will have a high failure rate due to mechanical damage.
 

ElroyJetson

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DO NOT ASK ME FOR HELP PROGRAMMING YOUR RADIO. NO.
We have had our experiences and drawn our own conclusions from them. Our opinions differ on these radios based on our own experiences with them.

There's no point in arguing with informed opinions based on years of being there and doing that. Because your experience is ALWAYS right. For you.
 

12dbsinad

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There's no point in arguing with informed opinions based on years of being there and doing that. Because your experience is ALWAYS right. For you.


Right, and those are just opinions, differing from the rest of us that are saying the HT and CDM series are considered public safety grade per Motorola. The fact that you mention you would be hard pressed to find a Waris radio in the public safety field shows your understanding of Motorola despite your 30 years experience with 7 years of a repair tech. Please, just stop it. That's great you want to give your opinion, but please stop making it out as a fact.
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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Motorola actively markets MotoTrbo products as being "Public Safety Grade" in Europe and Asia .

Personally in my opinion, Motorola stopped making decent radios after the Saber and Spectra products were discontinued. From that point on they became largely a disposable commodity. From that point on, they were no better or worse than most competition.
 

N4KVE

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Motorola actively markets MotoTrbo products as being "Public Safety Grade" in Europe and Asia .
LOL. I couldn't agree with that. Although I see them used in airports all over the country by the airlines staff. Motorola must have sold thousands of XPR6550's to the airlines, where they will lead an easy life. I just don't see them lasting a decade, or more strapped to a cop's belt.
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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"I just don't see them lasting a decade, or more strapped to a cop's belt."

Exactly how Motorola marketing sees it. If radios wear out at 5-7 years instead of 10, that equates to more $ALE$ !!!! About two years ago, I inspected inventory of Waris radios used for 7 years by a Community College security detail, and indeed the radios were all in very sorry worn out shape. They should have been replaced at shorter intervals.
 

N4KVE

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"I just don't see them lasting a decade, or more strapped to a cop's belt."

Exactly how Motorola marketing sees it. If radios wear out at 5-7 years instead of 10, that equates to more $ALE$ !!!! About two years ago, I inspected inventory of Waris radios used for 7 years by a Community College security detail, and indeed the radios were all in very sorry worn out shape. They should have been replaced at shorter intervals.
Campus police is an easy life compared to real cops. Can you imagine how long a Waris radio would last if used by NYPD, or LAPD. A few months?
 

kayn1n32008

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Campus police is an easy life compared to real cops. Can you imagine how long a Waris radio would last if used by NYPD, or LAPD. A few months?


Public safety is nothing compared to industrial/building sites.

Most police/fire/ems I see have radios in leather cases. Past are the days when the radio was an offensive weapon... Valve jockies tend to throw their radios in the back pocket of their FR covies. They get baged around in the back pocket, off of ladder rings, chairs ect. Industrial users(I am currently working at the first refinery to be built in North America in 30yrs) throw the radio in a free pouch, or in their hi vis vest... Carry their radios by the antenna ect. The Cematrix guys radios are covered in Cematrix which is pretty corrosive. Do not even start on places like waste water treatment plants or fertilizer plants.
 

cmjonesinc

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My cheap Motorola gets abused way more in my industry job than my expensive Motorola did in public safety. Kinda ironic, especially seeing as industry jobs usually have the cheapest thing that will do the job and the emergency services are the opposite.
 

spdfile1

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I fairly quickly skimmed all three pages of comments and I don't think I see anything about the Genesis Line. The P200's, HT600's & MT1000's are great durable radios. However only the MT1000's offer more than 6 channels. I believe past 16 channels they come in 32 & 99 channel versions. Anyways very easily obtainable off ebay and very inexpensive. Parts like batteries can be found at BATTERIES AMERICA for $39 and Supplier of New Motorola Radio Parts Batteries and Accessories. sells all the antennas for $15 & knobs as well (channel selector & volume knob for $12.95). Drop in chargers can also be found cheap on ebay as well. The catch is programming it but if you can't find anyone local to do it I believe Supplier of New Motorola Radio Parts Batteries and Accessories. will program it for under $30. If your looking for something simple the Genesis Series (models listed above) & Jedi Series (HT1000,HT2000 among others) are a great fairly inexpensive way to go.
 

N4KVE

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Last week in Dayton, I saw boxes of MT1000’s, HT600’s, & P200’s for $10 per radio. Some looked new. I thought of this thread at the time.
 

spdfile1

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Last week in Dayton, I saw boxes of MT1000’s, HT600’s, & P200’s for $10 per radio. Some looked new. I thought of this thread at the time.

Awwwww man Gary. I would have been in my glory!!!!!!!! I should have given you $100 to get a little bit of all!!!!!! Make it $200!!!!! Another ham John (K2CIB) went up and I was thinking of asking him to pick up Genesis and/or Jedi stuff for me. Getting closer to getting RSS on the old Toshiba. Can't wait!!!! Just picked up 14 MTX800's and even though I can't transmit on them they were good for there parts such as knobs, dust covers and batteries. Although all the batteries are pretty much no good so I got another ham trying to rejuvenate them. I guess there's a way to run some high voltage across them to bring them somewhat back to life.
 

spdfile1

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I know John, & we stayed in the same hotel there. Bumped into him on the 6th floor in the Marriott.

Wow small world. He was talking on the "67" a couple months ago utilizing P25. I plan on getting an Astro Saber (if that's correct gotta do a lil more research) that does P25. Apparently the "67", the "625" up in Hobe Sound and the 3 county machines can do P25.
 

N4KVE

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A year ago I picked up a VHF Astro Saber for $45 at a free flea in Broward. Real clean. But most of my P25 activity in Palm Beach is on 900, & UHF.
 

spdfile1

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A year ago I picked up a VHF Astro Saber for $45 at a free flea in Broward. Real clean. But most of my P25 activity in Palm Beach is on 900, & UHF.

Yeah I wanna get one soon so me and my buddy can talk P25. Also told Bert (AG4BV) I'll get him one seeing as how he's the president of the JTRG that runs the "625" and he's done a ton for me. I guess there's two kinds of Astro Sabers but only one does the P25. VSELP which doesn't & IMBE which does according to a friend of mine.
 

N4KVE

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Only the earliest Astro Sabers do Vselp. Any 1 meg Astro Saber should do Imbe, & that's what you want. All XTS3000's are Imbe. I use XTS2500's, & an APX8000. The trick is to get an Astro Saber with the newest FW, & a decent flash code.
 
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