What are some of the worst codeplugs or features you ever seen on radios in active usen (i.e. a police dept having only 4 channels in on an apx4000 in a major metropolitan area or leaving permanent backlight on)
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Most Mediocre/half-a**ed codeplug(s) you ever seen
- Thread starter IFRIED91
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The Nick Flashcode.
what did it have/not have? haha
An agency that the two-way company I worked for 10+ years ago purchased XTS5000s to replace HT1000s in their entire fleet. They only had 10 channel's programmed, and didn't use any of the side buttons because "it would only confuse the end users." The main police dispatch was in Channel 1, talk around/direct in channel 2, "side-band" in channel 3, fire in channel 4, and so forth. They only scanned a few channels, as the units had mode-slave scan, so they had no choice if they wanted to hear the other channels besides dispatch. It was set to channel 1 (police dispatch repeat) as priority with no nuisance delete. So if the fire channel came up, they were stuck listening to the entire dispatch unless someone on police dispatch channel 1 came up.
We tried to make suggestions with so many options available on the XTS5000s, but they said "no, we don't want extraneous features confusing the end-users." One of the supervisors had to have his HT-1000 forcibly removed from his possession because he said his faithful HT-1000 saved his life in so many instances and wasn't interested in any "new-fangled technology" from any other radio units. That was an uncomfortable situation as I was the sales rep from our company tasked to exchange the old for the new, and train personnel on how to use the XTS5000s over three shifts.
We were able to sell them Impres batteries with six-unit gang chargers, plus extra batteries, public safety mics, and take-home single-unit Impres desk chargers.
We tried to make suggestions with so many options available on the XTS5000s, but they said "no, we don't want extraneous features confusing the end-users." One of the supervisors had to have his HT-1000 forcibly removed from his possession because he said his faithful HT-1000 saved his life in so many instances and wasn't interested in any "new-fangled technology" from any other radio units. That was an uncomfortable situation as I was the sales rep from our company tasked to exchange the old for the new, and train personnel on how to use the XTS5000s over three shifts.
We were able to sell them Impres batteries with six-unit gang chargers, plus extra batteries, public safety mics, and take-home single-unit Impres desk chargers.
im lost
i'd imagine the APX upgrade would be like pulling teeth then
I saw a shop (non Motorola) programming in an APX. They did not understand the system/personality/channel relationship. They programmed the radio (VHF Conventional) with one personality per channel. (There were over 100 "Personalities").
Nick DeLuca used to part together radios on the ebays. He'd then bitbang the most whored out flashcode into them, including mutually incompatible settings, features that no one wanted or even used, and then would ask ridiculous prices for them.
People would bite saying "erhmagerd, this radioz haz Smartzone Omnilink, FDNY signalling, Stored Voice on MPT-1327, Interstellar transport, Long Press on Orange Button for BJ, i needz it for the hamz", and then they'd come *****ing and complaining that their radio is out of tune, can't do half of what it was reported as doing and being a giant hot mess.
One of his favorite flashcodes was
591008-4F1E00-9, which on a 2500 decoded to this (if my decades old notes are accurate);
Code:
H14 Enhanced Digital ID Display
Q498 Hardware Multikey Encryption w/ OTAR
H43 Trunked Remote Monitor/Radio Trace
H38 SmartZone Systems Operation
H04 Conventional Tactical Rekey
Q352 User Definable Soft ID
Q947 APCO Packet Data Interface
Q387 Conventional Voting ScanThere were people who legitimately had factory built radios with 41FE flashcodes, but if you saw it on the ebays...chances are it came from good ol' Nick.
SMH I love the look on peoples faces when they get realize the FDNY emergency Tx/rx tone is essentially non existent unless u have the fdny specific affas set up smh
I once had a sheriff's office codeplug come across my desk that obviously was based on the radio techs APX8000. In the Astro Talkgroup list, they forgot to remove all of the MMDVM Amateur P25 talkgroups from the list. I hightly doubt the SO needed to meet on WorldWide lol.
I left the shop just as the APX line was introduced. I found the programming software very intuitive and enjoyed working on the APX line. WAY TOO MANY models were requiring specific software options for my liking. Again, this was 10-12 years ago.
RFI-EMI-GUY
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Does the average first responder really need more than 16 modes and one zone? The first system I worked on was City of Miami. We had 14 "subfleets", a Dyamic Regrouping position and #16 was an automatic ringdown phone to the supervisors console. After that everyone had to have 800 modes and carry a cheat sheet. I wonder how many dummies out there still cant find their dispatch channel?
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
To me, it's pretty much any public safety agency with a modern radio with capability of having hundreds, if not thousands, of channels and NOT having the NIFOG channels programmed in.
It's been 12 years, most of these radios have been touched in that time. IT'S NOT THAT HARD!
It's been 12 years, most of these radios have been touched in that time. IT'S NOT THAT HARD!
DeoVindice
P25 Underground
Industrial site with a conventional analog 800 repeater that did not cover the entire site. All units were programmed with a single (repeated) channel, no talkaround as management insisted it would just confuse users. Turning off site power for repairs or maintenance turned all company radios into bricks. They were dropping a thousand bucks a piece on full-keypad NX-3420s to do this.
After that, I brought in some personal TK-390s whenever we really needed radios.
After that, I brought in some personal TK-390s whenever we really needed radios.
Hamsexy baby!
I'm just going to say "having more than one person in charge of channel mapping" and leave it at that.
In my area, there is a large radio shop chain throughout the state, which has a tendency to program the default channels into new radios as FRS frequency/channels and rent them out to small end user groups. The radios themselves get engraved with the company initials and a Unit number for their rental fleet. Often times these are Motorola XPR6550 UHF radios, but also Kenwood and Icom as well. These then end up on a site I am responsible for, lost, left, discarded......then I end up with them. I of course "read" them to find out how they are programmed, only to find that they are FRS frequencies. Lots of legal aspects to this, but that is the worst I have experienced, and continue to see in my local area. Good thing many manufacturers put placeholder frequencies into their radios, that may not actually transmit if the attempt is made. Digital capable radios, like the XPR6550 usually have one digital channel and one analog, but both frequencies are taken from the pre-2017 FRS/GMRS list.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
I know there is a large nationwide radio shop that got busted a few times back in the late 1990's/early 2000's for dumping small users on GMRS and FRS frequencies. I thought they'd learned their lesson, but I'm starting to think they forgot.
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