Kenwood System Key (TK-5210)

[aschenavar]

I will try to be as clear as I can and to the point for ease of understanding my issues...lol

I have a 5210G v3 that I am trying to program with P25 items...mainly the MOSWIN network if anyone is familiar. I am the systems admin for our Fire Department and we primarily use APX series radios to which I have a Motorola ASK dongle with MOSWIN access. I was playing with the KPG-95DN software yesterday and for the life of me cannot seem to get the software to recognize the ASK dongle or I am just simply not doing it correctly.

I was able to obtain what I believe is the "license id" off a file that was included with the KPG software files. So I used that in the 95DN software to no avail.

I know this is pretty wide open at this point but any ideas? I was wondering if that USB dongle may seriously be JUST for APX CPS. Is that even a thing?

Thanks

 

[a417]

You're trying to use a Moto ASK dongle on kenwood hardware?

 

[KevinC]

I was wondering if that USB dongle may seriously be JUST for APX CPS.

You have chosen...wisely.

 

[WB5UOM]

Think of it this way....
does a ignition key for a Ford work in a Chevrolet?

 

[mmckenna]

I was wondering if that USB dongle may seriously be JUST for APX CPS. Is that even a thing?

You need to have your system admin contact Kenwood. Would be cool of the keys were interchangeable, but it ain't.

 

[jeepsandradios]

ASK will only work in APX/Astro25 Software.

 

[retired25]

Sorry newbie here. I tried to do some searching before I posted this question. I have 2 access keys that we received from Kenwood, they were supposed to be preprogrammed for our system. We signed our life away to get them. I have tried to use them with our KPG-D1N software and I get a error message that the FPU cant start in ASK mode since an Access Key is not connected. Do I need a special driver for the Access Key? Or is the Access Key not programmed to work with my software? TIA.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

I've got a mix of vendors (Johnson, Motorola and Kenwood). I seem to only remember the TK-5000's supporting a Network File and not a physical key dongle.

That being said, I told all of my users that I'm not supporting them with TK-5x10's and NX-5000s due to their poor performance and just the amount of time it takes any resolution since you call JKUSA...they forward to Japan...then claim it's a system issue not a radio issue even though they don't have a system to test against in Japan, then you escalate and go through the process several more times trying to prove it's a firmware/hardware issue on the their end...two months in still not resolved. Motorola responds quickly...and EFJ (who uses Kenwood hardware with their own US based firmware) also responds quickly and are fairly quick (compared to Japan) to push fixes or provide actual useful support.

From one system admin to another...if you don't have any TK-5x10's on the system right now, do yourself a favor and don't start putting any on the system.

 

[kayn1n32008]

That being said, I told all of my users that I'm not supporting them with TK-5x10's and NX-5000s due to their poor performance and just the amount of time it takes any resolution since you call JKUSA...they forward to Japan...then claim it's a system issue not a radio issue even though they don't have a system to test against in Japan, then you escalate and go through the process several more times trying to prove it's a firmware/hardware issue on the their end...two months in still not resolved. Motorola responds quickly...and EFJ (who uses Kenwood hardware with their own US based firmware) also responds quickly and are fairly quick (compared to Japan) to push fixes or provide actual useful support.

From one system admin to another...if you don't have any TK-5x10's on the system right now, do yourself a favor and don't start putting any on the system.

I've got a friend in the industry and his experiences mirror yours with Kenwood. They absolutely refuse to admit thier firmware has issues for the NX5xxx on P25 systems. It's never their firmwares fault. Even when he provides an abundance of supporting documentation.

He has brought firmware issues to EFJ and had them solved rapidly. Specific issues with the VP series firmware and our provincial L3Harris P25 trunking network.

 

[kb0esl]

I will try to be as clear as I can and to the point for ease of understanding my issues...lol

I have a 5210G v3 that I am trying to program with P25 items...mainly the MOSWIN network if anyone is familiar. I am the systems admin for our Fire Department and we primarily use APX series radios to which I have a Motorola ASK dongle with MOSWIN access. I was playing with the KPG-95DN software yesterday and for the life of me cannot seem to get the software to recognize the ASK dongle or I am just simply not doing it correctly.

I was able to obtain what I believe is the "license id" off a file that was included with the KPG software files. So I used that in the 95DN software to no avail.

I know this is pretty wide open at this point but any ideas? I was wondering if that USB dongle may seriously be JUST for APX CPS. Is that even a thing?

Thanks

The tk-5210g v3 can be used on moswin. However you must have the kpg-95dgn with the correct slic file and corresponding license id.

DPS generally did not let too many have it, since there are zero restrictions on id's and talkgroup programming.

 

[wd8chl]

Thanks
I've got a friend in the industry and his experiences mirror yours with Kenwood. They absolutely refuse to admit thier firmware has issues for the NX5xxx on P25 systems. It's never their firmwares fault. Even when he provides an abundance of supporting documentation.

He has brought firmware issues to EFJ and had them solved rapidly. Specific issues with the VP series firmware and our provincial L3Harris P25 trunking network.

We have thousands of them on Ohio Marcs and GCRCN. Still have a bunch of 5910's on MARCS, although they are going to have to go away soon, since they don't support authentication. But they work great. Most like them better than the Moto's, and tons better than Harris.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

We have thousands of them on Ohio Marcs and GCRCN. Still have a bunch of 5910's on MARCS, although they are going to have to go away soon, since they don't support authentication. But they work great. Most like them better than the Moto's, and tons better than Harris.

They should work fine on 800 MHz that's easy. OBT, control channel performance and roaming is the issue the firmware has. Apples to Apples, when comparing to an XTL a 5710 performs almost identically (minus the preamp option being enabled on the XTL) and when comparing a XTS to the 5210 the only performance difference is due to the antenna design differences. It's literally trunking on VHF that they don't do well.