XTS2500 USMC radio questions

[telxonmaster]

I'm seeing a lot of surplus USMC XTS2500 radios for sale on ebay, and am considering getting one. Having only messed with civilian Moto gear, I wanted to know if these are something worth getting, or something that's going to be a headache.

First off, does it use the same CPS as the regular Astro Digital portables?

Second, I've read on here about accidentally bricking the Mil radios by pushing the orange and purple buttons, sort of a self destruct to keep it out of enemy hands. Is there a way I could turn this off easily, so I don't activate it by mistake? I notice some have a menu option on the screen for "erase", does this simply clear the codeplug, or does it brick the radio too?

The dim screen for night vision isn't an issue for me.

Anything else I should be aware of before purchasing one?

 

[GTR8000]

<retracted>

 

[telxonmaster]

The post I was reading stated the radio was showing a message of "radio killed" or something similar. The consensus seemed to be that it was due to these buttons being pressed, and the radio having the flash option of "encrypted tactical inhibit"

This is the situation I want to avoid, messing something up and having a bricked radio.

Does pressing these buttons on a non mil radio also erase the keys?

 

[GTR8000]

Fair enough, they could've been setup that way, it's been a good while since I've done a deep dive on the ASTRO 25 series.

On "normal" models that button press combination erases the secure keys.

I'm going to blank out my posts because I hate when people post bad info, and so I'm not going to do the same here lol

 

[telxonmaster]

The post in question: XTS2500 "Radio has been KILLED"

I just don't know enough about them, and don't want to get something that's going to be a headache, or end up a useless paperweight.

 

[chrismol1]

Were the military 2500's full power 4 high & 1 low or?

 

[prcguy]

The PRC-153 is mostly a regular UHF XTS2500 380-470MHz but with a dim display for night vision goggles and AES-256 encryption integrated into the keypad. It programs with regular Astro 25 portable CPS. Standard features include P25 and FPP. They get down to around $125 on Fleabay in very good condition and in my opinion an excellent radio for the price.

 

[telxonmaster]

They get down to around $125 on Fleabay in very good condition and in my opinion an excellent radio for the price.

This is why I was considering them, that and I think having a former military radio is kind of bada$$. I have a regular XTS2500, and really like it.
I'd just hate to make some kind of mistake with programming or button presses, and end up with a brick.

 

[prcguy]

If you have any experience with an XTS2500 then you should have no problem programming one. The only thing I don't like is when FPP is enabled you must have a separate conventional personality for the first 200 channels or so and that is a PIA. In a regular XTS I may have only two personalities for all channels, an analog and a digital. But for a FPP radio you will be spending a lot of time matching up parameters for each channel in its separate personality.

This also creates a larger code plug which takes longer to load and if you are using a USB programming cable its more likely to fail during the read or write.

This is why I was considering them, that and I think having a former military radio is kind of bada$$. I have a regular XTS2500, and really like it.
I'd just hate to make some kind of mistake with programming or button presses, and end up with a brick.

 

[DeoVindice]

If you have any experience with an XTS2500 then you should have no problem programming one. The only thing I don't like is when FPP is enabled you must have a separate conventional personality for the first 200 channels or so and that is a PIA. In a regular XTS I may have only two personalities for all channels, an analog and a digital. But for a FPP radio you will be spending a lot of time matching up parameters for each channel in its separate personality.

This also creates a larger code plug which takes longer to load and if you are using a USB programming cable its more likely to fail during the read or write.

This is why I only have one FPP zone on my 153. The way Astro25 handles it is miserable.

Besides for that poorly-implemented feature, I agree. Phenomenal radios, and I've successfully pointed a lot of ex-CCR users towards them.

 

[petnrdx]

I have a pair of those and there is NO backlight and no TX/RX LED.
No light emitted from them whatsoever.
I have never had any problems programming them.
I set mine to 4 watts and 1 watt like any other XTS.
Been told that there was not any lamp or LED installed in them at all.
If anyone knows otherwise, I would really like to know as adding the LED would be nice so that I could re-sell them more easily as I no longer need P25.
These just sit.

 

[prcguy]

All the LEDs are in the display, there is just higher value resistors feeding them compared to a normal radio. You can swap out the resistors but it takes some surface mount solder/desoldering tools. This video will show you how to do it.

I have a pair of those and there is NO backlight and no TX/RX LED.
No light emitted from them whatsoever.
I have never had any problems programming them.
I set mine to 4 watts and 1 watt like any other XTS.
Been told that there was not any lamp or LED installed in them at all.
If anyone knows otherwise, I would really like to know as adding the LED would be nice so that I could re-sell them more easily as I no longer need P25.
These just sit.

 

[N4KVE]

I have three of these radios, & they work great. Only difference is low power is ultra low. And I only have one zone, 16 channels for FPP. When I first got the radios, the FC had to be changed to allow ADP. it wasn’t until later on I had the encryption board loaded with every algo.

 

[Giddyuptd]

If you have any experience with an XTS2500 then you should have no problem programming one. The only thing I don't like is when FPP is enabled you must have a separate conventional personality for the first 200 channels or so and that is a PIA. In a regular XTS I may have only two personalities for all channels, an analog and a digital. But for a FPP radio you will be spending a lot of time matching up parameters for each channel in its separate personality.

This also creates a larger code plug which takes longer to load and if you are using a USB programming cable its more likely to fail during the read or write.

Regarding this we use to use reccomnded at time iogear USB adapter. We never had issues. Oddly if anything hung the radios never bricked but reset at read with this. They were surplus given to us and back then we migrated away from most of the xts until we got those. But it worked.

As for the dim board one with expertise and know how could fix this easily with proper tools and components. Though the dim is handy with thermal and other eye gear equipment we used so we left them alone.

Oh one issue we did notice is many had the common sma break. This was deemed normal wear and tear and the sma was repairable though took proper soldering skills and tools and could easily be whacked by improper heat soldering.

There is a ton of MT1500 ANs right now floating around with the SMA issue nearly on all on a couple of auction sites. A couple large east coast PDs just auctioned off their vhf legacy stuff and they are beginning to hit the 2nd hand market as they are in works going to 700 from vhf.

 

[telxonmaster]

I have three of these radios, & they work great. Only difference is low power is ultra low. And I only have one zone, 16 channels for FPP. When I first got the radios, the FC had to be changed to allow ADP. it wasn’t until later on I had the encryption board loaded with every algo.

So they only hold 16 FPP channels? I have a "regular" 2500 with FPP, as well as a 5000 with it, and have over 10 zones each with 16 FPP channels each. I've never had a problem setting up radios with FPP.

William2910, by SMA break, do you mean between the antenna connector and the board?

 

[n3obl]

So they only hold 16 FPP channels? I have a "regular" 2500 with FPP, as well as a 5000 with it, and have over 10 zones each with 16 FPP channels each. I've never had a problem setting up radios with FPP.

William2910, by SMA break, do you mean between the antenna connector and the board?

No. the default is 256. He deleted the additional 14 FPP zones that the codeplug creates for FPP.

 

[telxonmaster]

Ok, that makes sense. My 2 radios with FPP came from a friend of mine, so were already set up, I just customized what was in them to my needs. I've never set one up from scratch. Some of the zones in mine only have 1 channel each (i only have frequencies in maybe 4 or 5 zones.)

 

[N4KVE]

So they only hold 16 FPP channels? I have a "regular" 2500 with FPP, as well as a 5000 with it, and have over 10 zones each with 16 FPP channels each. I've never had a problem setting up radios with FPP.

I deleted all the FPP zones except one. And as handy as FPP is, in 6 years I have never used that feature. But I’m glad it’s there should I ever need it.

 

[LazyGator]

I bought one of these and when attempting to program the Personalities, I cannot change the Tx / Rx, nor can I delete any of personalities. Including one that I added. Another thing I have noticed is that when the conventional personality tree section is open, there is no general tab among the other tabs for the frequencies. Is the way to fix this also by changing the pre-programmed zones to non-fpp?

 

[prcguy]

As surplused from the USMC you can completely change the tx and rx freqs or delete any of them or their personalities. There is nothing I know of in the programming that is specific to these radios and they program just like any other XTS2500.

I bought one of these and when attempting to program the Personalities, I cannot change the Tx / Rx, nor can I delete any of personalities. Including one that I added. Another thing I have noticed is that when the conventional personality tree section is open, there is no general tab among the other tabs for the frequencies. Is the way to fix this also by changing the pre-programmed zones to non-fpp?