HKLN4429 Motorola Analog to Digital Upgrade available? Where to buy?

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

I recently bought a XPR 4550 for Ham DMR use. I found out when I got it home that it is Analog Only. I need to buy a HKLN4429 upgrade kit.

I tried to order it from Motorola and they said that I need to buy it from a two-way radio dealer. Does anyone know a dealer I can buy this from?

This does not make sense since I was approved and bought CPS software and Repair Manuals from them.

I also wanted the 20/25khz entitlement and the person I talked to said the only way to get it is by taking the FCC Narrowbanding course. I remember seeing on the forum that I could fill out a form and fax them my ham license. I do not know if something has changed or I just talked to the wrong person at Motorola Solutions.

73 Eric

 

[mikewazowski]

I've never heard of anybody faxing a copy of their licence in. Most just take the course.

 

[N1XDS]

Hello,

I recently bought a XPR 4550 for Ham DMR use. I found out when I got it home that it is Analog Only. I need to buy a HKLN4429 upgrade kit.

I tried to order it from Motorola and they said that I need to buy it from a two-way radio dealer. Does anyone know a dealer I can buy this from?

This does not make sense since I was approved and bought CPS software and Repair Manuals from them.

I also wanted the 20/25khz entitlement and the person I talked to said the only way to get it is by taking the FCC Narrowbanding course. I remember seeing on the forum that I could fill out a form and fax them my ham license. I do not know if something has changed or I just talked to the wrong person at Motorola Solutions.

73 Eric

Hello Eric,

For the 20/25khz entitlement key I had to take the course it was pretty much read on course that was pretty easy to understand. Now for the upgrade kit I would call the people at the Radio Shop located in your area to see what they have to say:

Motorola Two Way Radio Dealer Serving Boston Eastern Massachusetts Comtronics Corp

 

[mikewazowski]

The weird thing is that the upgrade is free.

In CPS, click on the picture of the xpr at the top of the menu. Under device features on the right, you should see that "Digital" is free.

Try clicking on Features/Activate Device Features and see if it lets you activate Digital.

Was this a new to you radio or purchased through a dealer? Maybe it just needs a firmware bump?

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

It says "Available for purchase" for my radio. When I did some research I found out there are analog only version of the radio for users that want to upgrade later. The upgrade is about $120 per radio.

I bought the radio at a local fleamarket and it was likely used as a CMED radio in an Ambulance. So no DMR capability was needed.

I contacted another local dealer and they will order it from Motorola. I will have to bring the radio in for upgrade. They said it could take three weeks, which is fine. There is not too much DMR on 70cm around here due to the radar down on Cape Cod. I am going up to Canada in late august and would like to have DMR available by then. It is going to be fun programming in all the repeaters along the way. I wonder if I could program in all the 70cm Analog and DMR repeaters in North America with 1000 channels. It would likely take me months!

If it is like the other feature updates then the radio shop gets an entitlement ID that allows them to receive a key code to enable the feature based on the radio's serial number.

I got a good deal on a remote kit, which will help with vehicle mounting.

I took the 20/25KHz course and waiting for the process to complete. The radio still sounds good going narrowband through the repeater. I have noticed some loud hams will occasionally pop out of the passband. So the radio is still usable.

I really like the radio.

73 Eric

 

[mikewazowski]

V or U?

I can send you a UHF codeplug with every Canadian UHF DMR repeater for a 4550. You can drag and drop to yours and be done in a few minutes.

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

UHF.

Thanks! I would greatly appeciate it.

73 Eric

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

I got the radio upgraded through a dealer earlier this week and got my 25KHz entitlement today. The radio is working great.

73 Eric