Really old school question - STX portables

[batdude]

probably not very many around these days that remember the STX.

The STX821 was one heck of a radio for it's day

anyway - firmware.

does anyone have a firmware list of what capabilities each firmware set had?

I seem to remember GPL/GPS 1.1 was a good firmware version.... but I forget.

TIA

 

[N4KVE]

GPS was the best, then GPL, & last was REL. don’t remember any version #’s though. Great radios in the day. Still have a few mint examples.

 

[MTS2000des]

Had many STX800s and a few 821s with REL. I threw away dozens of REL controller boards new in package about a decade ago when I took my current position. The found a few STX821s in a sheriff's warehouse along with a couple of old APD MT1000s. The 821 I saved has REL firmware and serial number dates to April of 1991.

 

[northstarfire0693]

The old STX. Great radio for its time. You still see some on Ebay every now and then.

 

[MTS2000des]

I carried an STX821 as a daily driver back in the last 90s into the 2000s. It became useless even before rebanding as Nextel interference drove the front end of that 1980s era receiver crazy. Within a block of any Nextel site, it went deaf with desense.

 

[N4KVE]

I carried an STX821 as a daily driver back in the last 90s into the 2000s. It became useless even before rebanding as Nextel interference drove the front end of that 1980s era receiver crazy. Within a block of any Nextel site, it went deaf with desense.

In the mid to late 90’s I lived a block away from a Nextel tower. Several times when LE showed up for a disturbance their MTS2K’s were useless. But after a few tries they’d get through. Funny, when the Nextel tower was being built, the owner of my apartment building asked the tower crew what they were building. They replied “it’s a tall CB tower” so the truckers could “get in” from further away since the tower was being built at a Peterbilt dealer.

 

[batdude]

GPS was the best, then GPL, & last was REL. don’t remember any version #’s though. Great radios in the day. Still have a few mint examples.

I want one!

 

[KevinC]

All the ones I did in the mid 90's were GPL, still have 3 or 4. Thought I was "it" when I got my MTS2000.

 

[MTS2000des]

But the real question is how many talkgroups/systems could you ram into an STX821E? I

 

[Echo4Thirty]

All the ones I did in the mid 90's were GPL, still have 3 or 4. Thought I was "it" when I got my MTS2000.

It was back before Motorola SUCKED! /s

Just had to get that in there to rib ya. lol

 

[ecps92]

But the real question is how many talkgroups/systems could you ram into an STX821E? I

Hmmm
I think before mine died, I think I had 14 different Systems some duplicates, for different zones/tg's in addition to 15-30 conventionals...

 

[batdude]

I seem to remember 16 systems and 255 TGs per system. I am struggling to remember the DOS RSS for this radio.

 

[KevinC]

I seem to remember 16 systems and 255 TGs per system. I am struggling to remember the DOS RSS for this radio.

Pretty sure I loaded my last one with 16 personalities with 15 TG's* each, all on the same system.

The 16th slot on each personality was the "ATG", so if I remember correctly I could listen to a total of 20 TG's at a time (the 15 I assigned that ATG plus the 5 in the scanlist). It took a lot of thinking to monitor stuff in those days. And this was all on a Type 2 system.

 

[batdude]

Pretty sure I loaded my last one with 16 personalities with 15 TG's* each, all on the same system.

The 16th slot on each personality was the "ATG", so if I remember correctly I could listen to a total of 20 TG's at a time (the 15 I assigned that ATG plus the 5 in the scanlist). It took a lot of thinking to monitor stuff in those days. And this was all on a Type 2 system.

your memory is very likely better than mine! this was a LONG time ago these days .... 30+ years now.

 

[KevinC]

your memory is very likely better than mine! this was a LONG time ago these days .... 30+ years now.

I'm recharging the battery now, if it comes back to life I dial through and count.

 

[batdude]

I'm recharging the battery now, if it comes back to life I dial through and count.

I bet the power grid just dipped.

 

[KevinC]

I bet the power grid just dipped.

Sorry for the late response, had to pull out the generator. The transformer that serves me blew up for some reason. Anyway, the keypad is a little funky after 30 or so years and doesn't want to cooperate. I'll swap it with a different one later and see if I can go through the systems. Really surprised the battery pack charged at all.

 

[mikegilbert]

I've got its conventional brother, the MX800. Wish I'd out my period correct stubby 800 antenna on it for the photo. Might have to redo this set. Also managed to find an ex-LAFD full keypad model.

Love this old STX ad.

Period correct stubby on my Saber Si:

 

[KevinC]

Took a while to menu through all the systems, but this one with GPL is 16x16.

Ah, the good old days…(pay no attention to the STX800, all mine were 821’s after a board swap)

 

[wa8pyr]

Pretty sure I loaded my last one with 16 personalities with 15 TG's* each, all on the same system.

The 16th slot on each personality was the "ATG", so if I remember correctly I could listen to a total of 20 TG's at a time (the 15 I assigned that ATG plus the 5 in the scanlist). It took a lot of thinking to monitor stuff in those days. And this was all on a Type 2 system.

We had bunches of STX821s. If I recall correctly, on our Type II radios we could run 16 zones with 16 talkgroups per zone and a mix of systems, total of 256 talkgroups/channels. Didn't have to have an ATG in the last channel. Great radios in their day.

When we went through rebanding, the standard replacement was an XTS2500, firmware limited to 16 zones and 16 groups/channels per zone. For a not-so-small fee you could upgrade to 'full' XTS2500. On the other hand, EFJ offered a tricked out 5100 portable, P25 digital ready (basically their XTS5k equivalent), for no extra charge; that's the route I took for my two personally-owned STX821s.