This is the way.
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Harris XL200 Wifi programming?
- Thread starter ma8007
- Start date
I've had this XL-185 for less than a day and I've already played with it quite a bit. There's a lot to learn about it. I discovered it has two mission profiles in it from the factory, a conventional test profile and the NIFOG profile, which is the full version with all bands, even though it's a 700/800 radio. Interesting. It will take the programming for other bands. Of course, it shows that the required features to use those other bands are not present.
The quick reference guides for the XL-185P and XL-200P do NOT show the internal circuit boards. Neither of them. I think that's very interesting.
Not having taken a screwdriver to either type of radio, not having a 200P on hand anyway, I can't open up one of each and do a comparison, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Harris committed to cost cutting by means of, quite possibly, building every radio as an XL-200P and software limiting some to be XL-185Ps instead. I'm betting (a small bet, not my life savings) that the RF boards are the same.
I've found no photos of the internals of these radios online as of yet. Nothing to either confirm or deny my suppositions.
My impressions so far: The radio is surprisingly small. For such a full featured radio, I expected it to be about the size of a P7100 but it's almost exactly the size of a P7300 or XG-75P instead.
The housing texturing is, in my opinion, too smooth. This will rapidly polish up from hand and holster wear and take on the scratched but shiny look of an old radio, fairly quickly. Rougher texturing would also facilitate a better grip.
The buttons are mediocre. The side buttons on the left are an issue. The top button, which is typically the monitor button in conventional mode, would be impossible to find by feel if wearing gloves. The PTT is kind of small. The two lower buttons are also small and not easy to feel even without gloves.
The volume control features one big heavy detent/click when turning the radio on or off. And a bunch of smaller, lighter detents as it runs through the volume range. I don't like that stepped volume choice very much. A stiff but conventional volume control would be better.
The quick reference guides for the XL-185P and XL-200P do NOT show the internal circuit boards. Neither of them. I think that's very interesting.
Not having taken a screwdriver to either type of radio, not having a 200P on hand anyway, I can't open up one of each and do a comparison, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Harris committed to cost cutting by means of, quite possibly, building every radio as an XL-200P and software limiting some to be XL-185Ps instead. I'm betting (a small bet, not my life savings) that the RF boards are the same.
I've found no photos of the internals of these radios online as of yet. Nothing to either confirm or deny my suppositions.
My impressions so far: The radio is surprisingly small. For such a full featured radio, I expected it to be about the size of a P7100 but it's almost exactly the size of a P7300 or XG-75P instead.
The housing texturing is, in my opinion, too smooth. This will rapidly polish up from hand and holster wear and take on the scratched but shiny look of an old radio, fairly quickly. Rougher texturing would also facilitate a better grip.
The buttons are mediocre. The side buttons on the left are an issue. The top button, which is typically the monitor button in conventional mode, would be impossible to find by feel if wearing gloves. The PTT is kind of small. The two lower buttons are also small and not easy to feel even without gloves.
The volume control features one big heavy detent/click when turning the radio on or off. And a bunch of smaller, lighter detents as it runs through the volume range. I don't like that stepped volume choice very much. A stiff but conventional volume control would be better.
I concur with others. I would never risk trying a firmware update over wifi. One little boo-boo (or even interference) and you've got a brick on your hands.
I keep a wifi router on hand which is configured to use the Harris defaults (harrisradio, etc). It's never connected to the internet. All I have to do is plug it in and connect my laptop to it; works like a charm. Little trick I learned from our local Harris shop.
Agreed. It's a little pricey (about $75 on eBay), but works like a charm and far better than spending nearly $200 for a factory cable.
I have access to factory cables at work, but I prefer having my own at home to use with my 100P.
You're mostly correct. I had the interesting thought of buying a 185 and doing a feature upgrade later on to add other bands, but got shot down on that idea. As it was explained to me, the 185 is basically a 200, but with certain bits of hardware left out.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
I think this is where the XL-400 with the appropriate speaker mic comes into play. But I'd agree. I've been running a few XL-200p's for a while now and am still getting accustomed to them.
I actually prefer the click stops on the volume, less chance it gets easily bumped and changed.
As for the programming, it was my first go with Harris radios, and it took me a while to figure out. What really helped was having the NIFOG load already in the radio as a starting place.
Also, check your NIFOG stuff carefully, I recall finding a few minor errors with PL tones….
The XL-ESM is amazing for using with gloves hands. I recommend everyone pick one up. I’ve been loving mine!
The 185P and 200P have different RF boards as you can see from the attached PDFs. This is not a 7300/5300 feature limitation scheme. These are two different RF decks with two different FCC certifications.
-B
The service manuals have everything you need when it comes to internals
Not true the RF decks of 185s, and 150s are single band, I've explored deeply into the XL series and while the base software that they run might all be the same, the hardware is different. Not to mention that the 185s have models such as a 7/8/900MHz model that a 200P would not support in the 900MHz band.
I also prefer the detents on the volume control. The 100P was the same way.
@ElroyJetson Don’t forget that you also have to enable Wi-Fi programming in RPM… it’s not enabled by default.
-B
@ElroyJetson Don’t forget that you also have to enable Wi-Fi programming in RPM… it’s not enabled by default.
-B
Actually those RF boards look the same, except that the 185 is not fully populated. Note that the PC board part numbers on the traces are the same.
I'll take another look at them later, but that's what my first evaluation told me.
I'll take another look at them later, but that's what my first evaluation told me.
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Right, but as far as the FCC is concerned, they are two different pieces of equipment. So the 185 doesn’t have the certs for the additional bands. The pdfs I posted are part of the FCC certification process.
So regardless of hardware similarities, you can’t simply update the software feature set and end up with a 200P.
The way RPM2 works, as soon as you select the XL Portable, the band split into a 136-9XX, so you can load the same mission plan across the XL Portable range and you just get a warning when loading the mission plan that the set or Iden table contains OOB data and you just hit okay.
-B
Yeah, and that's exactly how I'd design a radio product line with the intent being to keep production costs down and thus maximize profits.
Once an all-band radio is engineered, just delete parts to make functionally limited, lower cost radios. Build multiple models sharing the same base hardware and software architectures. Very rational stuff, really. Motorola has done this, too.
Actually GE-to-Harris has been ahead of Motorola in that game, since they've had a common software architecture across their whole lineup since literally their first generation of PC programmable radios. (M-PD, FM-D, etc...)
Once an all-band radio is engineered, just delete parts to make functionally limited, lower cost radios. Build multiple models sharing the same base hardware and software architectures. Very rational stuff, really. Motorola has done this, too.
Actually GE-to-Harris has been ahead of Motorola in that game, since they've had a common software architecture across their whole lineup since literally their first generation of PC programmable radios. (M-PD, FM-D, etc...)
12dbsinad
Member
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2010
- Messages
- 1,953
I'm certainly a fan of the 185/200 series. Harris has certainly stepped up their game with the XL line compared to the radios of yesteryear, especially with fit/form.
A few minor improvements that in my opinion could be made are RX audio, I find the audio to be way too bassy out of the radio itself. More so on analog and quicker channel change response. I find my XL-200 to be pretty slow, especially when tying to "find" a channel.
Other than that, very good rig.
A few minor improvements that in my opinion could be made are RX audio, I find the audio to be way too bassy out of the radio itself. More so on analog and quicker channel change response. I find my XL-200 to be pretty slow, especially when tying to "find" a channel.
Other than that, very good rig.
Having gone over the setup of a different router, VERY carefully, totally by the instructions in Appendix A.2, line by line, and still having no discoverable radio, I have realized that my router does not support mDNS and thus won't work. So I've purchased one of the models specifically listed in the instructions, a Linksys WRT54GS. Old but if it works...who cares?
From the appendix:
For radios to be discoverable on the Wi-Fi network, your wireless router must be
configured to allow Multicast (mDNS). This varies by router manufacturer; refer
to your router’s documentation for specific settings needed to enable Multicast
(mDNS).
From the appendix:
For radios to be discoverable on the Wi-Fi network, your wireless router must be
configured to allow Multicast (mDNS). This varies by router manufacturer; refer
to your router’s documentation for specific settings needed to enable Multicast
(mDNS).
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
This.
For the time, energy, and money spent on this, just get the programming cable.
Mileage varies on this, I'm on R14D07 and don't see the lag on conventional channels like on trunked TGs, I've also noticed that when you switch from say channel 1 to channel 2 its rather quick, but channel 1 to channel 10-16 (AKA a larger jump) makes the radio lag more. Also having scan enabled seems to inflict lag on channel changes.
I've got a programming cable on order but I'll bet anything that I'll have the router in hand and working a week before the cable arrives. Besides, now it's a challenge to make it work over wifi so...challenge accepted. 
I have noticed the roughly half second channel change time for the 185. It's tolerable but I can't say I'm impressed.
Construction quality seems to be typical of a Harris/M/A-Com/Ericsson product. Good, not amazing.
Certainly it's nothing like the build quality of the GE M-PA and M-PD radios. THOSE were solid like nothing else, which is to be expected
given that their entire housings were cast aluminum. Run one over with a fire truck, the battery may not survive, the knobs and control shafts might shear off, but the radio would almost certainly be repairable with not much effort, or even take no damage that matters.
If the M-PA had not been saddled with its own memory backup battery issues, and had been rebandable, I might have kept one around to the present day. While I'm still primarily a Motorola fanboy, the M-PA is the radio that caused me to start to appreciate the power of the Dark Side of the Force.
I have noticed the roughly half second channel change time for the 185. It's tolerable but I can't say I'm impressed.
Construction quality seems to be typical of a Harris/M/A-Com/Ericsson product. Good, not amazing.
Certainly it's nothing like the build quality of the GE M-PA and M-PD radios. THOSE were solid like nothing else, which is to be expected
given that their entire housings were cast aluminum. Run one over with a fire truck, the battery may not survive, the knobs and control shafts might shear off, but the radio would almost certainly be repairable with not much effort, or even take no damage that matters.
If the M-PA had not been saddled with its own memory backup battery issues, and had been rebandable, I might have kept one around to the present day. While I'm still primarily a Motorola fanboy, the M-PA is the radio that caused me to start to appreciate the power of the Dark Side of the Force.
Out of idle curiosity, if I were to obtain a full keypad front cover assembly to replace the partial keypad front on my XL-185, would it be possible for me to change it out and activate the full keypad myself without any special tools? I know this can be done on some legacy Harris radios, like the P7100, but not at all sure with the current generation.
Yes, the radio immediately recognizes the new front housing cover with a full keypad and "enables" the functionality of it without need for depot tools or software upgrades. The disassembly does require a torque screwdriver and full removal of the back speaker housing and then the screws behind the battery. The front cover assembly has two connections, a ribbon cable and the GPS antenna which will need to be disconnected and then re-applied.
Attachments
Thanks. It's nice to know that this isn't really difficult like it has often been with some Motorola radios. Upgrading an XTS5000 from partial to full keypad is "officially" impossible without a trip to the depot and paying too much money. Even by unofficial channels, it's a hassle.
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