Kenwood nx-p500

[mcol]

Howdy
Recently my church security group got a private radio license and we were setup with Kenwood nx-p500 radios on our license frequency. The radio shop we used set everything up for us but me being the techy nerd I am decided to some digging to see if we could program the radio's ourselves to save a few bucks and make it easier for our guys to buy their own radios if they wished. So I ordered a radio online and a programming cable and downloaded the free Kenwood software to program it. After messing around with it for a while it became obvious that I was missing something or a lot of somethings and so I started googling and that brought me here. I found a couple of posts that are making me thing that I will not be able to program these radio's with the free software that Kenwood offers to our licensed frequency. I tried finding out how much the license would cost but I'm not having much luck finding that info. So my question is how can I program this radio and or where do I get the license to do so and the software or should I look at a different radio that we can setup ourselves for this and if so what software would be needed etc.
Thanks

 

[devicelab]

Nope it's not worth it. Return the radio and get your money back if you can. Basically you need to go thru a dealer with the proper software and licensing -- and after all of that, it's very cost prohibitive.

 

[mmckenna]

Depends on what your frequencies are.

Out of the box, these radios shipped with 99 pre-programmed itinerant/business frequencies. If your licensed frequency is one of those, then they can be loaded into the available channel slots. If they are not one of those, they can be programmed in separately.

There are three levels of software:
KPG-D5 is the 'free' software. It lets an end user make some minor changes to the radio. It will not give you access to all functions or the ability to program the radio.

KPG-D5-B1K is a license that opens up some additional features in the software. It allows selection of the pre-programmed 99 frequencies and lets them be loaded in the channel slots. It allows features not permitted in the 'free' software version.

KPG-D5-L1K is a license that opens up full access to all features of the radio. It allows not only selection of the 99 pre-programmed frequencies, but allows programming of other frequencies within the 450MHz to 470MHz capability of the radio.

The B1K and L1K features are controlled by a software license key. The only place to get that from is Kenwood or one of their dealers. You would need the appropriate license key and a piece of software called KPT-300LMC which activates it and ties it to a specific computer. For each additional computer you want to add it to, you would need to purchase additional licenses.

List prices for those software keys are around $250 for B1K and $310 for L1K

I agree with DeviceLab. Return the radio and get your money back. You are going to spend a lot of money trying to make this work.

It can be done, but you'd need all the programming info out of one of the existing radios. Making it work in a different radio can be done, but there's a lot of details you need before spending any money.

Unless you really want to spend money on this, it's best to contact the radio shop they were purchased from and work with them.

 

[mmckenna]

Something else I'll point out before you go too far down this road.

If you are in the USA, the FCC rules are very clear. The -only- one who can authorize adding additional radios to the FCC license is the licensee. That's the person who's name is on the FCC license.
You as an employee, volunteer, etc. do not have the authority to add random radios to the license. You, as an employee, volunteer, etc. are not licensed, only the licensee is.

To do that legally, you would want to talk to the person who's name is on the license and get permission (in writing) from them.

 

[mcol]

Thanks for the quick responses. Unfortunately our frequency is not one of the preprogrammed ones. It wouldn't be an issue to get written permission to add radios. I am wonder if there is a radio out there that we could easily and affordably program. If not we can continue to use the radio shop.

 

[kd4efm]

Nx1000 series would be good.
KPGD5 is under 80.00 forbthe nxp500

 

[mcol]

What do you mean KPGD5 is under 80? I can only seem to find the free version.

 

[kd4efm]

I stand corrected, the LMR version for the P-500 is more than 80. its MSRP is 308.50
(as of March 2021 price pages, this has been disco'd)

 

[kd4efm]

Your best to look into the NX-1000 series as mentioned earlier on, send it back.

 

[mcol]

Awesome thanks I'll get it returned I appreciate the help!

 

[mmckenna]

Your best to look into the NX-1000 series as mentioned earlier on, send it back.

I just placed an order for one of our sites, 5 each NX-1300NUK5's. They've got a few NX-3300's already, and since they don't need trunking, these seem like a good fit. Looking forward to getting my hands on them for a bit.